IF PAULINE Kamali had her way, Fiji’s first reggae band, Exodus, would have enjoyed the financial fruits of their musical success.
The Tubou St, Suva, resident was part of the group’s songwriting team in the early ’80s and saw first-hand the band’s rise from poverty to stardom.
In the ’80s and ’90s, Exodus established itself as one of the country’s most sought after live music acts after the release of their debut album Music Is The Food Of Love.
Released in 1984, the album went to the top of the local and regional charts and took the boys from the streets of Suva to headlining concerts in New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna and Vanuatu.
More than three decades after the release of their mega-successful album, the surviving members of Exodus — Freddy and Henry Moore, Leo Heatley and Tall John — live in abject poverty and struggle to put a roof over their heads and food on the table for their families.
Kamali said while their situation could be put down to mismanagement on the band members’ part, it was also a result of a lack of understanding of the business end of the music industry.
“They had an amazing product with their songs, voices and entertainment appeal, but they did not know the value of their songs or how to ensure the music they were so passionate about would take care of themselves and those who were depending on them,” she said.
“I was so taken by their music and the situation that they were in so I approached them in the mid ’80s and asked to manage the band, but at the height of their success, there were a lot of people feeding them with big ideas and promises that were never kept.
“At the end of it all, people made money from them and walked away with their pockets full and the Exodus boys squandered whatever was left and now they are struggling just to make ends meet.
“I just wish we could wind the clock back and set things right because they really deserve to be recognised for their contribution to Fiji, however small it may have been.”
Kamali had befriended the ragtag band in the early ’80s, well before the group had earned its fame.
“I used to see them perform at clubs and thought their music was very appealing,” she shared.
“They played beautiful songs with simple chord structures and very strong melodies and harmonies.
“They sounded better live than they ever did in their recordings and I really believed in their music and what they were about.
“Exodus never tried to be anything they weren’t, they composed and sang songs about real life experiences and they sang songs that had strong and positive messages.”
Kamali not only hung around the band in its early days, she also penned one of their biggest hits — The Youth Of Today.
“I come from a very musical family. My eldest sister, Elizabeth, won the very first talent quest that was held in Suva in the ’60s and another sister, Della, used to sing with one of Suva’s top bands, Ulysses.
“So music was something I grew up with.
“At a very young age I learnt how to play the guitar and began to write songs.
“And The Youth Of Today was a song about me and my life at the time.
“Young people these days don’t know how lucky they are, they have so many platforms to raise issues and to talk about the things that affect them.
“They can contribute to society in a way that we never could and when I wrote The Youth Of Today, I was lamenting the way young people in my time were told to keep quiet and listen.
“Our views, visions, wishes, observations and contributions were not given the opportunity to be heard and that’s why the opening the line of the song says ‘the youth of today, have so much more to say.’
“During my teenage years, girls were pretty much brainwashed into thinking that their lives would be centred on being good daughters to their parents, wives to their husbands and mothers to their children.
“I had dreams of so many other things but we were not allowed to or given the space to voice these dreams or aspirations.
“So, like almost every girl from my era, I just fell into a design that I had no say in and became a wife and mother.
“And it just makes me so proud to see strong women in today’s world making a difference and contributing in a way that we were never allowed to.
“And many of them are wives and mothers too.”
Some of her greatest prides are the poetic works by nephew Darren Kamali in New Zealand and the musical exploits of her 15-year-old grand-daughter Hannah.
“Hannah is such an amazingly talented kid,” Pauline said.
“I used to play guitar to her from the day she was born and I continued doing that as she grew from a baby to a toddler and began school.
“One day, she said ‘I can play guitar too’ and she just picked it up and began strumming and I was just blown away.
“She has taken a few of her uncle Darren’s poems and put them to music, she’s really creative that way.”
While Pauline is enthralled by her grand-daughter’s musicality, she still has hopes of developments on another musical front.
She remains hopeful that the Heatley and Moore brothers and Tall John will take another shot at reviving their music career.
“If they can get their act together, I still believe Exodus has a lot to offer Fiji and the Pacific.
“It’s so sad to see them struggling to make a living when they have so much talent and they should be using that talent instead of wasting their lives away doing menial jobs.
“I know those boys so well and I know they’re not happy living the life they are forced to live today because of mistakes they made in the past.
“Everyone deserves a second chance in life and I think Exodus deserves it too.”
