The late Eremasi Cama Tamanisau Sr, one of Fiji’s greatest composers and songwriters of the past 60 years, has composed more than 300 musical works, many of which are registered with the Fiji Performing Rights Association and The Australasian Performing Rights Association.
Some of the classics he created include the famous vanua songs, Ena Dela Ni Wai Siliva, Rewa Au Cibi Tu, Cabe Na Lotu Mai Na Yatu Lau, Tagimoucia Ga, Siga I Tailevu, Isa Lei Lawaqa, Na Luvequ (Verata), and Na Noqu Vanua.
This week I’ll concentrate on two of Tamanisau Sr’s masterpieces, firstly the song about Kadavu, known as Liwavi Au Na Tokalau.
It’s a song about the island where he had lost his heart to Tavuki’s Bulou Evisake Druadrua Bolakoro.
And secondly, the song on the mystical old capital of Fiji, the award winning Sai Levuka Ga.
Liwavi Au Na Tokalau
Again The Fiji Times Backtracks team visited Eremasi Tamanisau Jr to get the background and inspiration behind the songs.
Eremasi Jr started by saying that his mother the late Bulou Evisake was from Tavuki, Kadavu.
Christmas and New Years at Kadavu
“Back in 1963 while my parents were both teaching at Tagaqe, Nadroga, we decided to go as a family to Tavuki to visit my maternal grandmother, Bulou Elisabeci Sesenabaravi, and spend Christmas with her as she was getting on in years,” Eremasi Jr said.
He said her grandmother was at that time being looked after by her aunt in Drue in Sanima, Kadavu.
“So the whole family converged at Drue for Christmas with my grandmother; my father joined us two days later because of some logistical problems with the ship Taivalevadra.
“It was the Fijian festive season at that time and we were going to spend Christmas and New Year and one thing that my father found unique in Drue was the sound of joyous singing and merriment reverberating through the village from far out and he asked where the singing was coming from?
Sere Voli
“He was told by some relatives that it was from the people of Navuatu, a village about 60-70 metres away from Drue; this is what we call in Kadavu Sere Voli, (sing along).
He was told that the group from Navuatu would just walk over in a large group singing in joyous abandon and making merriment as they went and as soon as they got to Drue they were thanked through the presentation of a whale’s tooth (kamunaga) and were also requested to stay longer in Drue to provide entertainment and merriment for everyone for as long as possible.
“So being traditionally obliged they could not leave so later on they had to present another kamunaga to request the people of Drue to eventually release them.”
Dawa galore
“So in between Drue and Navuatu, about a 70 metre-stretch, you have to weave your way around volcanic rocks which litter the island of Kadavu and there were dawa trees which were abundant in the area, huge trees which have probably been there for hundreds of years and dawa was in season and the fruits would just splatter onto the volcanic rocks and on the ground which we kids would normally charge for.
He said his uncle Ratu Apakuki would just climb up a dawa tree, shook a branch and they would fall straight into baskets held by children on the ground.
“It was dawa galore,” Eremasi Jr said.
Mangos trees “loaded”
He said on the perimeter of the village would be mango trees and they were also in season. Loaded!
“They would just fall and it was just too much to collect. We the kids would just leave them and when fresh fruits fall the ones at the boundary of the pile would move outward when new ones hit them, hence the song verse, Qera toso na maqo (the mangoes fall and move).
Harvest of land and sea
We were honoured to have been hosted at Nakaselala, the chiefly residence of the Tui Drue Ratu Malia.
“The late Tui Tavuki, Ratu Peceli Nanovo (MP Ratu Sela Nanovo’s father) was also present at the celebrations in Drue and because his wife was my mother’s elder sister.
“Out of respect and joy the people of Drue would go out to sea to dive, fish and catch at least one turtle every day.
“It was a feast of the land, and a feast of the sea; the harvest of the land and harvest of the sea,” he said.
“This was what inspired my father and it was a big surprise for the people in Drue when tata told them, ‘before we go for our next sere voli at Navuatu this is a song I’ve composed hence the song Liwavi Au na Tokalau. Eremasi Jr said a large part of the song was composed at the beach in Suesue which traditionally belongs to the Korovulavula family of Naikorokoro.
The lyrics are reproduced below with the writer’s own translation which depicts in words and music Mr Tamanisau Sr’s experiences on Drue and Navuatu in Tavuki Kadavu during that festive season.
The essence of Kadavu
The song has developed into what people of Kadavu now refer to as the Kadavu “national anthem” and everywhere the song is sung you will find Kadavu people stand up and lift both hands in the air to salute the tune; the writer knows this well because he’s also happily married to a bulou from Kadavu.
And in the words of the first chairman of the Fiji Audio Visual Commission Taniela Bolea a decade or so ago: “The song Liwavi Au Na Tokalau depicts the essence of Kadavu during the festive season.”
Lyrics: Liwavi Au Na Tokalau (own translation)
Liwavi Au Na Tokalau (The easterlies blows on me )
Baravi kei Kadavu (On the shores of Kadavu)
Qera toso na maqo (Mangoes fall and scatter)
Ena dela ni veivatu (On volcanic rocks)
Marau tawa yalani (Infinite joy)
Ko cei me tukuna (Who can explain it)
Oqori dina na yanuyanu mai na Sauca (It’s truly the island of the South)
Chorus:
E lutu sobu na karobo (In the fall of dusk)
Cabolo mai na sere voli (The sing along starts)
Tou mai ia tou lako vakoro (Let’s all go as a village)
Marau tawa yalani (Infinite joy)
Au mai donuya tu (I’m finally experiencing)
E Kadavu na yanuyanu ni sautu (On Kadavu the bountiful island)
Maravu na wasawasa (the sea is peaceful)
Sekavula na cakau (it crashes white on the reefs)
Era nunu na cauravou (the young men go dive fishing)
Ki vanua na kaba dawa (On land the climb dawa)
Marau ni yabaki (The merriment of the festive season)
Au mai donuya tu (I’m finally experiencing)
Oqori dina na yanuyanu mai na Sauca (It’s truly the island of the South)
Sa i Levuka Ga
I asked Eremasi Jr how his father had dreamed up this romantic song about the “Old Capital” Levuka and what was he trying to say through the song.
I understand from Eremasi Jr that the song also won his father, Tamanisau Sr, the APRA Special Merit Award in 1984.
He said: “At the end of 1965 tata was teaching at Kadavu Provincial School, Vunisea in Kadavu and he was transferred to Nasinu Teachers College (NTC) in January 1966 as lecturer in music and Fijian.”
Eremasi Jr said the principal at NTC at that time was Jack Stevens and his wife was a local part-European called Emily Stevens (nee Sinclair).
“Emily recognising tata’s talents in music made a request to him saying, ‘Eremasi please compose a song about Jack and I; we met at Levuka, fell in love and got married so here we are’,” Eremasi Jr said.
So the only information that the Tamanisau Sr got from Emily Sinclair Stevens was that she used to work at Morris Hedstrom’s in Levuka as a cashier in those days and Jack Stevens was the principal of Levuka Public School and every day Jack Stevens used to buy groceries from MH’s in Levuka and after a while the shopping started focusing on one cashier only — Emily.
“Tata said things developed from there, they fell in love and got married and Jack was then promoted to be principal of NTC and they met Tamanisau Sr there.”
Very little background information
“So when the request came there was very little background information given to tata. They did not elaborate much on the background and that is why if you look at the lyrics of Sa i Levuka Ga, it talks about things in generality.
However tata clearly recalls in his trips to Levuka in his younger days the thunderous roar of waves crashing on the reef.
So he decided that this was to be the couple’s wedding bells in the lyrics of the song hence the last two lines of the chorus, which reads in iTaukei, Dau vadugu tu, Na kena cakau, Lali ni neirau vakamau.
“So it was really a song about Jack and Emily’s romance and eventual wedding.”
But the lyrics, based on the limited information, were still well constructed and evokes a deep and nostalgic, romantic feeling.
No wonder Sa i Levuka Ga won the APRA Special Merit Award in 1984.
Lyrics: Sa i Levuka Ga
1. Sa i Levuka ga, au nanuma tu
Na kena veilasa kece
Da vovotu mai, ena veiveigauna
Veisiga kei Levuka
Chorus
Veivatuloa, ka koro makawa
Seva na veibiau, kei Viti e Loma
Dau vadugu tu, na kena cakau
Lali ni neirau vakamau
2. E makare tu, vei au oqo
Na noqu gauna e Levuka
Ena noqu tu, kau raica lesu
E rui kamica dina vei au
