“I learnt music the hard way, but because I loved music so much and I wanted to become a singer and to be something in the music industry, I didn’t care and took it all in my stride.”
These were the words of award-winning local composer, performer, singer and charity worker Laisa Vulakoro when she was interviewed by The Fiji Times Backtracks team earlier this week.
She said starting in the music industry in the early 1980s was difficult and a struggle for her.
“I’ve been involved in the music industry since 1981 and it hasn’t been an easy journey; it’s up and down; as you know in Fiji this is difficult, especially for a woman, an iTaukei woman for that matter.
“I started off as a back-up vocalist for renowned local performer Melaia Dimuri at the Hyatt Regency (now the Warwick Resort) under an experienced band run by Bill Beddoes called Nostradamus,” Laisa said.
She said she remembered her first audition with the Nostradamus Band back in 1981.
“And when I got the job I was very happy … I was told I will be paid $40 per week for performing Mondays to Fridays.
“I was happy just getting the job and I didn’t care whether I was paid or not; that’s how much I loved music; my passion was in music,” she said.
Laisa said there were so many obstacles for a woman in the music industry; like balancing work and becoming a mother and getting back on the job again.
She said some partners also did not want their wives to be on stage, to parade themselves and become “public property”.
“That’s why we women had to find other jobs when this happens. But I deal with it always, that’s how I started out,” Laisa said.
“It was hard, but looking back at it now how hard the journey was. The kids now have it all too easy; they have the internet to learn from, they have music schools which we never had in my time.”
She said they were at the mercy of band boys and had no choice but to learn from them.
“They can be mean sometimes, but to me that’s how they taught me. That’s how I learned — I learned the hard way.”
She laughingly said she used to be told off by the band boys who told her “you can’t sing; you sing flat”, but she realises now that it was all a learning progress for her.
“And now that I look back and having all the kids that I guided in music, I’m glad that in my days there were no music schools, the schooling was practical; all on stage from the band boys.
“And I learnt from Bill Beddoes, Robert Verma, Tui Ravai, Waisea Vatuwaqa … these were the people I looked up to when I grew up in the music industry.”
From that difficult beginning Laisa grew to become one of the most successful local composers and performers of the local music industry from the 80s up to the present.
Laisa, who never received formal training in music and now known in Fiji and throughout the Pacific as the ‘Vude Queen’ (pronounced Voon-Day Queen), or ‘Pop Queen’, has gone on to successfully record 15 albums.
She has also toured widely throughout the Pacific and to Australia, New Zealand and the US.
While her primary working career had been as cabaret singer for functions and resorts, parties, weddings and important functions, her style is primarily contemporary Fijian, but she also enjoys performing a wide variety of styles from jazz and blues to rock and country.
In 2003, along with fellow composers and performers Seru Serevi and Saimone Vuatalevu, she was awarded by the Government of France for her long service to the development of music and arts in Fiji and for her outstanding contributions to charity and community development projects.
Described by a newspaper columnist as Fiji’s ‘First Living National Treasure’ for her ability to entertain and bring together people of all races, age groups and walks of life, Laisa continues to promote Fiji at any opportunity.
She is currently the only female director of the Fiji Performing Rights Association (FPRA) for the past 12 years and has worked hard over the years to promote local musicians and provide opportunities, mainly for our young local musicians through the development of a viable music industry in Fiji.
Laisa is well known for her work to support single mothers and “street kids” and has on many occasions given her time to fundraise for various charity groups around Fiji and the region.
When asked what was her favourite song in all the albums she had recorded, she said it was Na Jule ni Hanahana composed at Natadola beach in 1994.
The lyrics of this favourite song is reproduced below.
1) Toso mai matasawa, toso mai matasawa
Vakavodoka mai na lawa i na waqa
Toso mai matasawa x 2
Vodoka mai na lawa i na waqa
2) Tou mai lele i na toba x2
Sa ra vude na jule vakaloloma
Mai lele i na toba x 2
Sa ra vude na jule vakalolo….ma!
Chorus: Na Jule ni Hanahana x 2
Ji qoro na harahara
Era riu e ra rido
Era ridorido wa, e ra ridorido ma
O na jule ni hanahana aule…..aule
3) Yavi mai ra huravou x2
Na jule ga e dai me kematou
Yavi mai na huravou x 2
Na jule ga e dai me kematou aule…
4) Sa qai bala i na waqa x 2
Udolu na jule ni natadola, hanahana
Qai bala i na waqa x 2
Udolu na jule ni hanaha….na
Chorus
5) I Natadola me da cabe, Natadola me da cabe
Na Jule sa ra ula e na nuku e ra lade
Natadola me da cabe, Natadola e ra cabe
Na Jule sa ra ula e ra la…..de….
6) Au mai tu voli koi au
Au mai sarava na biau
Sa ra yavi mai na rau, soli sara mai na qau
Au qai matalau, au sa qai matalau
Jule ni hanahana ga me qau…aule !!
Chorus …. then repeat last last line!
* Next week on Backtracks
Seru Serevi: How my father inspired me
