IN 1981, a Fiji businessman took Australia’s most renowned reggae band from the low-paying pub circuit to earning thousands performing with the best of the best in the Land Down Under.
Suva-born and Lautoka-bred Len Anthony literally took Un Tabu — a band that featured two Fijians living in Sydney, drummer James Purmodh and bassist Rupeni Davui — from the $500 a night scene to the big league where the group pocketed in excess of $13,000 for a 90-minute show at the height of their popularity.
“You know I’ve heard Fijians cop so much flak in terms of hard work and productivity and yet when you look back at a band like Un Tabu and other groups that came up including Mataqali Music which featured Fijians in key roles, it just shows how much we can achieve when we set our minds to doing something,” Anthony shared during a recent visit to the country.
“You see it in the sports field with people like Vijay Singh going to the top of the world in golf and Serevi being crowned the king of sevens rugby and the huge number of Fijians in the lucrative European rugby circuit.
“Fijians have made, are making and will continue to make significant inroads in all facets of sports and industry. But what they do need, as was my experience with Un Tabu, is a lot of encouragement, the right type of push, discipline and firm grounding.
“In so far as the local musicians in Fiji and Fijian musicians based in Sydney, we have enormous amount of talent.
“But again, typical of musicians and maybe of most people generally, it is difficult to get them together and to keep them together.
“And then there is another common trait, musicians sadly to some extent have a tall poppy syndrome — everybody thinks they’re the best either individually or in a group sense.”
Before taking on management of Un Tabu in 1981, Anthony, who turns 70 this year, had spent the bulk of his 42 years in Australia engrossed in industrial relations, labour and construction law and was knee-deep in the human resource business.
“Like all people from Fiji, I appreciated good music and knew how to play a bit of guitar.
“I was pleasantly surprised at the black music scene in Sydney in the ’80s and even more surprised when I was approached by Un Tabu to manage the group.”
Anthony initially declined the offer because of career commitments but reconsidered later.
“I took it on as a challenge even though at the time I did not know much about the music scene.
“When I started managing Un Tabu, I had no idea of the industry speak.
“In the early days, while negotiating with promoters and venue owners, when I was asked about how many brackets the band played, I literally thought they were talking about wall brackets.
“And when I was asked about lights, I said ‘yea, our soundman has his own torch’. I thought they meant torchlights.
“That’s how naïve I was.”
When Anthony took over management, Un Tabu’s line-up included Purmodh on drums, Davui on bass guitar, Renaud on steel drums, Jemmot as lead vocalist, Steve Harris on keyboards and guitarist Alan Manu.
“However, the most colourful and talented musician in the band was Jorje Morales.
“He was born in Puerto Rico but lived in New York and was a scholar of the New York Conservatorium of Music.
“Morales earned his stripes as percussionist for Carlos Maureiro, a renowned latin American musician.
“He also played for jazz musician Billy Howards.”
According to Anthony, Morales came to Australia in the early ’80s as part of Roberta Flack’s band and decided to stay in Sydney.
“When I was first invited to hear Un Tabu at a rehearsal in 1981, I immediately saw their potential. But, being an outsider, I could also identify areas that they could pick up on and after months of hard work, I took them from a $500 a night band to a band that earned $13,800 at one particular gig at Selina’s Coogee Bay Hotel for a 90-minute bracket.”
Anthony said while the 22 months he spent with Un Tabu were not easy, it was satisfying to see the group develop and grow.
“Un Tabu became so big that it came to a stage where I had to decide between the band and my job and I simply chose to continue with my career.”
Two months after Anthony walked away from the reggae outfit, Un Tabu called it quits. However, the success he had with the seminal reggae outfit had caught the attention of other Australian bands.
“While I was involved with Un Tabu, I also got heavily involved with Bart Willoughby, the drummer and lead singer of a very famous Australian band called No Fixed Address
“They were the first Aboriginal band to have got into reggae and black music and they were amazing.
“They did a lot of originals and I assisted them get their act together and tour all around Australia.
“No Fixed Address certainly could be considered as pioneers as far as indigenous Australian music is concerned.”
Anthony also lent his managerial expertise to assist Doug Williams, an African-American bassist and singer from Chicago who crossed the Pacific Ocean to make Australia his home in the ’70s.
More recently, Anthony has met members of Un Tabu and after a 35-year hiatus, the band is looking at a reunion of sorts.
“I have met the boys since and I am at this stage planning a reformation of Un Tabu.
“While I am certainly past the stage of managing anymore, I want to at least get a reunion gig together I believe Un Tabu’s music is still relevant to what is going on around the world today.”
