DURING his 37 years at sea, Percy Bucknell composed some of the most endearing iTaukei songs ever written.
Songs like Na Bu Ko Drau A Solia — still sung with gusto at parties today to the wistful Biu Ko Suva Nikua, Bucknell has spurned out hit after hit since his first composition Isa Na Yakavi Ni Siga Ni Sucu, a tune composed when he was 25 years of age in 1932.
Bucknell passed away in Sydney Australia in 1997, aged 90, but his songs continue to be played over the radio and have been recently revamped by local artists such as Makare.
Bucknell was born in Ba in 1901. His father, Basil came to Fiji more than a century ago and married his mother Adi Akanisi Soki — a member of the chiefly house of the Tui Ba in Nailaga.
Bucknell’s command of the iTaukei language developed as he grew up in Nailaga and he began to fall in love with the sigidrigi music that was the only form at entertainment at that time.
His passion for composing began as a youngster and developed further when he worked as a ship engineer.
During his stint at sea, a sea voyage from Suva to Labasa took up to one week.
It was during this time that he began writing songs about his journey and the people he encountered along the way. What makes his songs so appealing are the heartfelt lyrics, often telling tales of real life love affairs or describing the scene as the ship he was working on departed shore or steered past a particular spot.
“Dad just had a way with words which was quite strange for a kai loma in those days,” shared his daughter, Agnes Mitchell.
Although Bucknell is now acknowledged as a prolific composer and one of Fiji’s finest after being inducted into the Fiji Performing Rights Association’s Hall of Fame at last year’s ceremony, no one knew who he was when his songs were first broadcast over the radio.
While working as a receptionist at The Fiji Times in the ’70s, Mrs Mitchell, familiar with all her father’s music, said she overhead an announcer on Radio Fiji attribute one of his songs to another composer.
“So I rang them up and said the song that was just played was composed by my father.
“They acknowledged my call but never mentioned that he had composed the song and even when his songs were played after that they never mentioned his name.
“Dad didn’t like being interviewed, he just loved composing songs in Fijian because he said it was such a beautiful language with words that had so much more meaning than if the songs were written in English.”
Frustrated with claims by many as authors of her late father’s songs, Mrs Mitchell approached the then editor of Nai Lalakai, Luke Vuidreketi.
“I just wanted people to appreciate the fact that he wrote a lot of songs that other people were taking credit for.”
In August 1971, Nai Lalakai ran a series of articles about Bucknell’s songs and the inspiration behind the lyrics.
“Every song told a story.
“Biu Ko Suva Nikua was written while he was an engineer on an inter-island ship. Watching a couple hugging and kissing because one was boarding the ship to leave the other inspired the lyrics of that song.
“One song that people always got wrong was Sa Moce Lei Sisi.
“People always thought the song was about a girl called Sisi but in actual fact he composed the song about Lydia Valentine.
“She was very close to dad and he called her ‘sis’.
“She was a very beautiful lady and she was married to a coloured American guy and they used to live at the Suva Hotel.
“We lived up the road from them and mum and dad would drag us all along to go and visit them all the time.
Vakaraubuka Niu Yadra, another well-known tune, was composed while Bucknell was in Levuka.
“It was written about the late Tina Vollmer, a member of one of the pioneering families in the Old Capital.”
Percy’s son Chris said one of his biggest thrills was hearing his father’s songs being performed over the radio.
“Before Radio Fiji (now FBC) the station was called ZJV and it was located at the Fintel building on Victoria Pde in Suva.
“Because a lot of the Fijian music had not been recorded in the 1930s, music groups would actually go and perform them live inside the studio in-between the radio announcements.
“There were some really good iTaukei musicians at that time like Joe Cava from Suvavou Village, he was an excellent steel guitar player and really good announcers like Ravuama Vunivalu.”
Percy Bucknell’s compositions include timeless classics such as Vei Bogi Kece Au Lasa Voli Kina, Vorovoro Malau Kei Vuo, Isa Mai Dia Mo Ni Taura Na Ligaqu and many others.
