HE threw an eggplant at his primary school teacher, got a spanking from the school head and ran away home.
At the mere age of 12, well-known local singer and composer Maciu Salauca, a school drop-out, refused to continue with his education and stayed home in Vaturova, Cakaudrove.
Maciu, the lead singer for Waikataka Vure was in Year 7 at Vaturova Junior Secondary School, Cakaudrove in 2005 and had a different view from his teacher about an issue which resulted in his eggplant “javelin” throw.
He stayed with an uncle at Sevaci Village in Vaturova for about two years until his dad, Isikeli Drevacu, a schoolteacher by profession, took him to Suva to continue his studies.
“But he refused to go back to school and wanted to sing and write songs, so I bought him a guitar and ukalele,” Maciu’s dad said.
“I then asked the Na Uto Solo singers to help develop his singing talents and after six months he could sing just like them.”
Today, Maciu and his team has released nine albums, own a big grog farm at Sevaci Village and have travelled for the purpose of music.
Maciu believes God-given talents should always be developed.
“I dropped out of school and wanted to sing. I have always loved singing and I know that I was born with this talent of singing because the villagers along Vaturova and Saqani are naturally talented singers,” Maciu said.
“At first, I was helped by my uncles and the members of Na Uto Solo on how to write songs and to compose a tune for the song until I got a hang of it.
“Composing songs is not difficult at all now for me and creating a tune for the songs I write.”
Maciu composed his ninth album but details of that album he would not release as yet.
His singing career has won the hearts of rugby players in France such as Fiji-born Virimi Vakatawa.
In his eighth album, Noqu Daulomani, Maciu composed a song titled “Yaca” and talks about his friendship with Virimi.
“We met on Facebook, started talking, became friends and then we met about two years ago for the first time,” he said.
“Last year, we had a concert at the Civic Centre in Suva and Virimi came to join us and we now call each other ‘yaca’ (namesake). He loves our songs so much that he has asked for us to call him ‘Maciu’ and that is why I composed the song “Yaca”.
“In France, friends of Virimi have also called him by the name of Maciu and early this year, he called me to tell me that we are now brothers.”
Their friendship has seen Virimi financially support the group with recording expenses.
“He always tells us to contact him if we need help for our album recording or for travelling expenses and we are so blessed to have met Virimi,” Maciu said.
“For all the nine albums we have released, it is getting easier for me now to compose songs and give it a tune.”
Piracy though is his biggest challenge.
He has heard of how copies of his original song have been duplicated and sold around the country.
“It’s hard to get to the root of this, like who exactly duplicated my songs and sold it for their own income but authorities need to do something about it,” Maciu said.
“It is robbing us of our income and affects our plan because our budget is affected. We have done a lot of local concerts and we have received a lot of money from it too so it all helps with our music tour.”
So to supplement financial costs, Maciu and his five-member group have started a yaqona farm in their village of Sevaci.
The yaqona farm, which they started six years ago, has helped them in many ways.
“We have paid for travelling expenses from the yaqona income and we have also decided to be based in the village, so we can also expand our farms. We will travel to Suva when we need to record a new album or hold a concert on Viti Levu.”
Maciu has plans to release more albums and help the youths in his village develop their musical talents.
He believes the people of Saqani and Vaturova are gifted by God with musical talents.
