The chiefly island of Bau has been pivotal in Fiji’s history, and it will be remembered fondly by all Fijians including the institution of the Methodist Church, when Ratu Seru Cakobau embraced Christianity and made traditional approaches to other influential chiefs of Fiji to do likewise.
At the apex of power, Bau cast her powerful influence to all corners of Fiji in the 1800s and even on modern Fiji; it’s a wonder that such a small island located off the east coast of the main island of Viti Levu, could rise to such prominence.
Bau is the seat of the traditional head, so to speak, of the Kubuna Confederacy and the chiefly centre of Tailevu Province. It is divided into three villages — Bau, Lasakau and Soso.
The island, through the reign of Bau’s warring chiefs Ratu Tanoa and his son Ratu Seru Cakobau, maintained their influence in politics and leadership in various parts of Fiji despite some dissension from some factions.
But it was the ceding of Fiji to Great Britain that laid the foundation of modern Fiji after it subsequently gained independence on October 10, 1970.
The chiefly island of Bau lies in the Bau waters now commonly referred to as the ‘Wai Siliva’ or Silvery Waters.
Inspiration
This was what inspired one of Fiji’s greatest classical iTaukei songwriters of the past 60 years, the late Eremasi Cama Tamanisau Sr, to write and compose the moving classic about Bau… ‘Ena Dela ni Wai Siliva’.
To grasp how the song had originated and the inspiration behind the song, the Fiji Times Backtracks team visited and interviewed his son, Fiji National University senior lecturer in Electronics and Telecommunications, Eremasi Tamanisau Jr, at his home in Namadi Heights, Tamavua.
“Tata’s second posting as a teacher was to Kiuva back in 1951, and he, being a naturalist; he loved nature; would engage one of the village youth to paddle him around the Bau waters; they would go fishing, and would camp out on one of the smaller islands either in Telau or Toberua, eat fish roasted over charcoal embers and more or less enjoy what the sea had to offer,” Eremasi Jr said.
He said one thing that used to amaze his father was the way in which the waves reflected the sunlight during the day and the moonlight at night.
“It’s always a beautiful silvery pattern and this enchanted him and it was something that always remained at the back of his mind. It was to be his inspiration when he finally put the lyrics to paper years later,” he said.
“After several postings as teachers (both my parents were teachers), we ended up at Tagaqe District School in Nadroga however, with yearly trips back to our village Naisaumua for Christmas and New Year festivities.
Origins of the song
Eremasi Jr said his father dropped them off at the village during the holiday season back in 1959 and went straight to the Nausori Club and this was where he met Bau chief and also a renowned Fijian songwriter Ratu Tevita Naulivou.
“They naturally came together because of their love for music and this was where the request was made by Ratu Naulivou who said to him, “Eremasi, o sa lai vulica sara na sere ni veivanua tale e so, o se bera mada ga ni vulica e dua na sere kei Bau…au kerea me dua na sere kei Bau.” (“Eremasi, you’ve composed songs about other places in Fiji but you haven’t yet composed one about Bau…I want a song about Bau.”) And to reinforce the request the Bau chief presented a bottle of whisky.
“Being a kai Verata, he was traditionally obliged to agree to the request and this was at the back of his mind when he returned to Tagaqe.”
Wai Siliva lyrics
Back at Tagaqe Mr Tamanisau Sr used to play with a Tongan band on some weekends, led by Albert Bailey based at Korolevu Beach Resort, a top resort in Fiji and the region at that time; he would join them, sing with them and relax on the beach with them for a few drinks afterwards.
It was during one of those sessions in 1960 that Mr Tamanisau Sr looked out to the sea at Korolevu beach and saw the moonlight over the waters, hitting the waves with silvery reflections and the scattering of light; this sight took him back to his earlier days of fishing around Bau waters and he suddenly remembered Ratu Naulivou’s request for a song about Bau.
Eremasi Jr said: “He immediately tore off the top of a carton of beer and began writing on it the lyrics of the famous Bau song we now know as, ‘Ena Dela ni Wai Siliva’.
Ratu Naulivou’s family
The Fiji Times team spoke to Adi Cakau Cockburn, the eldest daughter of the late Bau chief Ratu Naulivou, who said: ‘The song ‘Ena Dela ni Wai Siliva’ is a classic; it encompasses the Matanitu o Bau; the song conjures up the feeling of belonging as a Bauan; it brings out not only what I call ‘Bauness’ but also ‘Fijianness’ in people from the chiefly island and all iTaukei and Fijians for that matter.”
She said the family was happy that their late Ratu had been part of the origins of a timeless piece of art and that the late Master Eremasi Sr was meticulous in putting together the lyrics to cover all that Bau represented to the Fijian people and its role in the origins of the modern Fiji we now aspire to.
Wai Siliva Group … Echoes of Fiji
Meanwhile, the late Dr Rusiate Nayacakalou, who was instrumental in the recording of the first LP for the Wai Siliva Group called, ‘Echoes of Fiji’ in 1968, said: “Wai Siliva, from which the group derived its name, is among Mr Tamanisau’s best known songs in Fiji. From the eastern shores of Viti Levu one looks out over the sea, now silvery against the rising moon, and sees the tiny islet of Bau, home of the descendants of Ratu Cakobau who led the chiefs of Fiji in ceding the country to Queen Victoria in 1874. In the calm of the evening she lies peacefully, set like a pearl amongst powerful kingdoms; but in history she stands out like a fountain from which Fiji’s blessings have flowed.
“The Wai Siliva (Silvery Waters ) Group is a non-professional group of young men and women who drifted together in 1967 because of a focus of common interest in songs. Initially its nucleus was a group of students at Nasinu Teachers College who performed weekly at the GPH. It was later expanded to include the Tamani sisters of the well-known Tamani Trio, the instrumentalists known as the Fiji Three and the Maka ni Korocawiri Quartet.
‘It’s my national anthem”
The Fiji Times Backtracks team also spoke to Bau chief Ratu Epenisa Cakobau who simply said: “Ena Dela ni Wai Siliva is my national anthem; it’s Bau’s national anthem and I’m proud of it.”
Soloists
The lyrics of the song are reproduced in this article with the writer’s own translation of the chorus which is normally sung in solo by a female member of the group. And there have been several renditions of the piece beginning with the Matasere ni Qasenivuli iTaukei in 1960 where the late Fugawai Boila was the first soloist.
This group was followed by the the Wai Siliva Group’s first LP labelled ‘Echoes of Fiji’ in 1968 in which the solo for the Wai Siliva tract was performed by famous Fijian songwriter and singer Ilisapeci Tamani.
In 1980 the group was revived by Mr Tamanisau Sr, with the help of local choir director and composer Dr Manoa Masi, under the name of Wai Siliva 80, with members made up of the Tamanisau and Masi families and close relatives and friends. And in the rendition of the Wai Siliva song, recorded on cassette tape through the South Pacific Recording, the solo was sung by Asenaca Masi-Ravuvu.
The Wai Siliva 80 group, at the request of Mr Tamanisau Sr in 1998, also helped out in a CD disc recording for the Fijian Teachers Association (FTA) choir and the famous Wai Siliva song with some variations was also part of the recording. Mrs Masi-Ravuvu again took the solo part in this rendition.
I was fortunate and honoured to have been part of the Wai Siliva 80 group and this is why I know so much about the background story of this famous timeless piece about our chiefly island of Bau and its Silvery Waters (Wai Siliva) and I’m sure it will surely remain with Fijians forever.
Lyrics:
1. E na dela ni Wai Siliva
Ciri malua koto ko Viwa
Kiuva, Kaba rau coka
La’ki Toberua sara
Mai cake Moturiki, Verata
E loma yanuyanu Turaga
Ki vanua Batiri, Namara
Viribaiti mai wai
Vanua talega
E na Dela ni Wai Siliva
SOLO (own translation)
Vula e Bau e mosi ni tukuni
(Moonlight over Bau is heartbreaking)
Veiyalovi na kemu i rairai
(Your sight is beckoning)
Taladrodro na i boi ni kau salusalu
(The aroma of scented trees and flowers overflows)
E lumisa e na i serau ni vula
(They glisten under the moonlight)
Isa Bau ko gadrevi ka domoni
(Oh Bau you are loved and adored)
Rui qoroi na kemu i rairai
(Your sight is adoring)
Serau, lumisa salusalu kei Bau
(Bright and luminous the flowers of Bau)
Ena Dela Ni Wai Siliva
(On Silvery Waters)
2. Kemu i rogorogo au cibitaka
Ko vueta noda Viti lomani
Mai na rusa kina bula
Mai na beci kina cibi
Ena lotu ko dolava na sala
Titobu rabailevu na i tavi
Ko colata e veiveigauna
Ki Bau lomani ko na dau divi tu
Ena Dela Ni Wai Siliva
