KNOWN mostly for his iTaukei hits, Savuto Vakadewavosa is a household name and so iTaukei events at community or national levels are never complete without his vude numbers.
Nowadays though, the young musician better known as the Vude Prince is an example of the wisdom of reinvention.
While growing up in the US, the Natewa, Cakaudrove native had a love for music and upon returning to Fiji has been rather strategic about pursuing his passion as a career.
Aligning himself with the vude veterans such as Laisa Vulakoro and Seru Serevi, the young Savuto quickly learned how to make and churn hits similar to the King and Queen of the genre in the form of ‘Sa I Vagadaci’ and “Bulou Noqu I Tau”.
Seven years ago though, Savuto met DJ Ritendra online and began a friendship and artistic exchange which resulted in a reinvention and a “misunderstanding”.
While most of his songs come from an emotional place, Savuto likes to write about real life experiences which can either motivate or excite his fans.
‘Misunderstood’, the result of his collaboration with DJ Ritendra, is similar in that it’s reality but very different in that like the word means, it is about friendships gone wrong because of a miscommunication.
“The song is about how painful it is or how much it got to me when friends of mine made assumptions about my decisions without trying to understand it,” Savuto said.
“I felt so helpless and it got me down for a long time.”
“Moments” is a word Savuto likes to use a lot and most who spend time in his company will soon understand how Savuto sees life.
At least in terms of his painful experience, Savuto sees it as a moment that will go, but one he can draw life lessons from and eventually, if the moment has left a huge impact, they will turn into a song.
“They were close friends of mine so when that happened, it was very painful. They want us to go back to where we were before, but it has taught me to draw a line,” Savuto said.
The song helped him get over the hurt and so every lyric of the song ‘Misunderstood’ speaks of the pain of friendships or love gone wrong.
“The song can mean anything for whoever listens to it because it’s a real situation that so many people can relate to it. While for me it was about friendship, it can also be about love and apply to other situations.”
Most musicians want their song to have a huge impact, some in the hook and catchy rhymes of the lyrics and some in the music.
When two artistes, each from totally different backgrounds and genres collaborate, each of the artistes will want the song to make an impact everywhere. So with Savuto, he wants the lyrics to make a difference to people, to help them understand that life will sometimes deal you blows.
“When I completed the first draft, there were a lot of curses and swears and as I read through it and edited it, it helped me heal and the song took on a new identity as a result.”
For DJ Ritendra who most days can be found focussing on his computer science and maths postgraduate studies — the collaboration is about professional respect.
Copping some flak over the years for mixes he makes of local songs, DJ Ritendra’s main goal, asides from creating a hit with Savuto, was to raise the profile of techno, funk, pop and rock as genres worth listening to.
DJ Ritendra said he had been working on mixing songs for a long time before he gained some respect as most people form such an attachment to original tracks.
As more DJs pick up better equipment and collaboration takes place between electronic musicians as opposed to composers, Ritendra said he started to gain some respect.
The chance encounter between the two artistes on facebook not only led to ‘Misunderstood’ but both musicians say they hope the song which can be best described as pop funk will help local music lovers realise there are many musical ways to tell a story.
“At the end of the day, there are so many stories out there in the songs artistes make and I guess I wanted to prove to myself that I could sing other genres because I do enjoy it. I only hope people like the way I tell this story.” Savuto said.
As if a completely new genre wasn’t dramatic enough, Savuto and DJ Ritendra decided they would continue that trend with a new music video.
“When we released the song, we had a mixed reaction.
“While it was similar to my other hits in terms of social media likes, the comments weren’t very forthcoming. We had one or two negative reactions, but for the most part, it seems people like it,” Savuto said.
One of the best things about having been a young star, Savuto has grown up and made waves with other young creative geniuses like him.
One such star is JMatt Jr, a pianist, choral singer made more famous for his production techniques having worked on the big productions of the University of the South Pacific’s Oceania Centre for Arts and Culture.
JMatt has written and produced songs for a few other big names in music, all girl group Accalewas being one of them and lately his artistic flow has moved into videos.
“When we decided to do the song, we had an idea of what the video should be like as well and knew exactly who should shoot it.
“The thing though with JMatt and the creative team who helped to conceptualise the video — I had to sit back and let them honestly interpret our song in a video,” Savuto said.
The interpretation is another first for Savuto and probably for Fiji, a music video that doesn’t have the artiste.
“They wanted a video that was about the song, the messages and hidden meanings of the song and not about me and I liked that.”
The video, shot at the Peninsula Hotel and featuring some lighting works by Stage Tech and choreographed by local dance star Jed Taylor, was released on Fiji One’s ‘Groove Thang’ two Saturday shows ago.
Like the song, the video with some sexual elements, dark lighting and artistic cinematography is also meeting mixed reactions.
“I just want people to rise above the Frey and look deeper into what they see.”
