A statesman, soldier and musician … that is the colourful life of famous Fijian composer and Southern Brothers Band leader Ratu Manu Korovulavula.
The Fiji Times caught up with Ratu Manu at his residence at Whippy St in Nabua and asked him to talk about his musical career and his part in the formation of the Fiji Performing Rights Association.
Ratu Manu said he grew up during the World War years when soldiers were in Fiji; Americans, New Zealanders and Fijian soldiers.
“Now my father was an officer in the Fijian army, so whenever they come to my home they always sing and I used to listen to them,” the 84-year-old Ratu Manu said.
“One song that I remember vividly was The White Cliffs of Dover, There’ll Be Blue Birds Home Over the White Cliffs of Dover.”
He said during those days he spent most of his time in his village in Kadavu because the schools were taken over by the NZ soldiers and they had a visit from a well-known Fijian scholar at that time, Ratu Ravuama Vunivalu and his wife Adi Varanisese Babakola who was a very good friend of his father.
“He was singing the song My Happiness, Evening Shadows makes me Blue, and when I heard that song it inspired me and I wanted to learn the song so I sat beside him and he wrote it down and taught me the song.
“So from that day this is still one of my favourite songs.”
It was probably one of his inspirations in his early years as a young musician and he said he was just 12 years old at that time.
“My interest in music started to expand and develop from there and when school resumed at the end of the war, one event we always looked forward to was Palm Sunday singing in church.
“We were at the old Jubilee Hall in Toorak and we always sing with the girls from Delainavesi (now Ballantine Memorial School) and we the tenor voices always tried to do our best to impress the girls.
“I was so confident because I had a good voice and I could sing the tenor voice very well that during the last rehearsal, the famous Fijian choirmaster and composer Anare Raiwalui was conducting, and in the hymn Haleluya chorus, there is a part where the tenor voice had to rest and count four beats, and I silently counted and after 1, 2, I yelled out the next verse ‘And he shall reign for ever and ever’ while everybody was still waiting for the other two beats. The eyes of the whole church was upon me.”
He said he only wished there was a deep hole in the floor where he could disappear to.
“That was one event I will never forget.”
He said after his stint with the Fijian army contingent in Malaya he came back and thought of starting a band, but the interest had started earlier when he used to entertain fellow soldiers in Malaya.
“So that’s how I started the Southern Brothers Band. We started by firstly buying our own instruments from the South Seas Music shop, which was opposite the Post Office at that time.”
He said when they were in the army they used to entertain soldiers, including Fijians, so when they came back and formed the band it was immediately popular because it was well known by Fijians from all over Fiji who were in the army.
“We were invited to play all over Fiji and we played because we loved it.”
Members of the band included Manu Korovulavula (band leader on saxophone), Saiasi Lagilevu (clarinet), Viliame Taubale (drums), Josaia Muakalou (guitar/steel guitar) and Nacani Korovulavula (trumpet).
The band was so popular in the 1950s and 1960s with their Fijian hits Au moce buna au qai tadra and Ena veiveigauna.
“And I’m now in the process of finalising my book ‘Manu Korovulavula — The Southern Brothers’, which has all the details of the band, how it started, the members and so forth,” Ratu Manu said.
On performing rights
The Fiji Times Backtracks team then asked him about his part in the formation of the composers and performers organisation, now known as the Fiji Performing Rights Association (FPRA).
He said: “I didn’t know that there was an organisation of church choir composers and conductors and that renowned Fijian composer and conductor Sir Josua Rabukawaqa was the head.
“Local composers master Eremasi Tamanisau Sr and Dr Manoa Masi were also members of the organisation. They invited me to one of its meetings and that’s where I was elected chairman of the then Fiji Composers and Performers Association, the forerunner of FPRA.
“Just as well Sir Josua also knew me well being an army officer in Malaya and also knew my interest in music, so the change went well.
“You see the Australasian Performeing Rights Association (APRA) only recognises composers and supports any organisation which supports them, but in Fiji all composers are performers anyway. This is why the name was changed later to Fiji Performing Rights Association (FPRA), which looks after composers and their rights.”
He said while the association had grown, there were a few areas where improvements could be made.
He was particularly concerned about the term for board members and the fact that by now the association should have purchased its own property.
Eremasi Tamanisau Jr, the current president of FPRA, says the organisation had grown over the years thanks to the work put in by past chairman Ratu Manu and founding members who were now deceased, such as Eremasi Tamanisau Sr and Dr Manoa Masi.
“Membership of the organisation is open to composers, authors and publishers of music. Our membership now stands at 730 as of the last AGM in November 2016 and today the members own more than 10,000 songs,” Eremasi Jr said. Eremasi Jr said since 1994, FPRA members benefitted from royalties which they had received yearly.
“From $20,000 paid out in 1994, FPRA has consistently paid royalty to members culminating in a $200,000 payment made in January this year which is the royalty payment for 2016.”
On the concerns raised by Ratu Manu, the president said his concerns were raised at the last AGM in November 2016 and they have been taken on board by the members of the board.
“On the term of board members this will be dealt with at the next AGM, but the issue of the property is one which we are working on right now,” he said.
