'Music in Fiji Time' with Siriaki Boleasi (interviewed by Malachi Doyle)

Siriaki Boleasi is lead guitarist of the band, Naigani Serenaders from Naigani Island Resort Fiji, the very first sigidrigi or ‘classical Fijian string-band music’ album to be released through iTunes and Spotify.

In February of 2019 I interviewed Siriaki Boleasi, interested in the question of how Siriaki learned to play guitar, and the recording of the album, Naigani Serenaders Volume 1 in 2012.

It was a thoroughly interesting and relaxing (thanks to the kava imbibed) afternoon when I interviewed Siri in Boronia, Victoria, Australia at the home of the album’s producer, Dr Robert Wolfgramm.

When reading this text, a Fijian ‘reserve’ might be inferred by a Western listener on the part of Siriaki, but I feel the afternoon might be better understood not in terms of Western-style interviews but in terms of Fijian conversation, a talanoa, where there are always multiple foci of attention and people are patient and considered and it’s as if the group who has the word, rather than one particular person. I have decided therefore to include an excerpt from the chat as a group-created interview rather than a One Vs One.

Bula Siriaki, I thought to start out our little chat, I would ask you about your earliest memories of music. At what age you started thinking about music, how you got into it, how did you learn to play and where you played?

Bula Mal, I learned to play from my elders, when they would sit around at home playing. I'd watch them play and that's how I got interested in playing.

Did you learn a particular part that you had to sing?

No, it’s just come in naturally

And you’d be singing at church and that?

Yeah, at Church and around the Kava bowl.

At what age did you start?

Maybe 10 years old I started, while watching my uncles, my dad singing, and I watched which chord they put their fingers on. And when they leave one I just grab a guitar, yeah self-taught, yeah.

So you knew how to play before you’d ever picked up a guitar, yeah?

That’s how I learned to play. I didn’t go to like a school where they teach music. I just taught myself by looking, listening.

Do you remember how you got your hands on your first guitar or did you play ukulele first?

No I played guitar. Back when I was 10 years old. That’s when my mum bought me my first guitar. & I still remember the brand.

Where did she buy the guitar?

In Levuka, yeah, that’s where I grew up.

Where did you grow up? Was it a village or a town?

A little town. It used to be the capital. On a hill, yeah, overlooking the harbour.

Lovely, so you have early memories of the sea? And the sea is important to you?

Yeah.

I’m interested in this question about not going to music lessons, just kind of picking it up. Would that be a similar experience for the rest of the guys in the band?

Yeah.

Have you spoken to them about their early memories of music?

We all came through the same thing.

You grew up in the same town?

Yeah.

So you knew each other as kids?

Yeah.

And there are/were some brothers in the band?

There were two brothers in the band. All of us came from the same town and two were brothers and there’s another guy who’s from the mainland - Sione Soro who plays ukulele, myself, and Te (who has since died) play the guitar, and then the brothers who sing and play as well). And then we all met up at the Naigani Island Resort

That’s where you take your band name from?

Yeah.

Can you describe the resort? Is it locally owned?

Yeah, it’s locally owned. It’s owned by Sir James Ah Koy.

Does it feel different to the foreign owned resorts?

Yes, much, much different.

In what way?

We get more privileges than people at overseas owned resorts.

How do you describe the kind of music you make? What do you call that kind of music because it’s different to the stuff that’s in the nightclubs isn’t it?

We play mostly ‘classical string-band music’. If there are Fijians staying in the resort we’ll play more Fijian songs. If there are guests from Australia, New Zealand or America, we’ll play mostly their songs.

What do you prefer to play?

Both (laughs).

You can’t lose (laughs).

In the Western kind of music, who do you play?

We play like Rock n Roll, Elvis Presley, John Denver, Country songs, Eagles, all the songs that we know that the guests will know.

Are there any songs that you feel don’t suit ukulele and guitars?

Yeah there are some Fijian songs we don’t use ukulele or guitar.

Why is that?

Coz it’s sung in a choir.

Is there a difference in what those songs are about?

Most of the songs we use ukulele and guitar on are just for guests. And the ones that the choir do are church songs.

Spiritual songs?

Yeah.

And they mean more to you?

Yeah.

(Effect of the kava we’re drinking hits)

I feel as a musician the older I get I wanna do a truer kind of music.

Is there a kind of recording you would like to make?

The more time I sing and play the more I learn new things and I want to put them in.

Do you have a favourite lead guitarist? Or do you have other lead guitarists you look up to? Both in Fiji and outside of Fiji?

Yeah. I come from a very musical family from my mum’s side and my dad’s side. All musicians.

And was there someone in particular you admired?

One of my uncles: Wu, He’s still living.

Did he play in the hotels and resorts?

Yeah he plays most of the resorts in Fiji. And he’s well known. He made a few tours overseas.

What kind of tours did he play?

In Fiji, he was one of the top guitarists in Fiji.

What kinds of places did he play overseas?

Doing concerts.

Venues?

He toured New Zealand, Vanuatu, That’s the tours I can think about.

So, is there a rivalry between Fijian and Maori musicians about who plays that Island music best?

Laughs.

What’s the difference?

Fijians used to play mostly acoustic guitars and when new technologies came in like when Fijians started using electrical guitars things turned out differently. People started touring all over the Pacific Islands.

What do you feel is the most important instrument in Fijian music?

I think the guitar.

What about the voices?

And the voices too.

Is there a pecking order in the band with who wants to play ukulele, who wants to play guitar, who wants to play lead guitar etc. A kind of competitiveness?

Yeah, yeah. (Laughs) And really we know who plays each instrument better than us. So we give each first choice. As for me I don’t wanna play ukulele. I play lead guitar.

But Every band member is good at a specialized instrument. We all know. I can’t play the ukulele because I know there is someone better than me.

I’m totally in awe of Fijian ukulele playing, when you hear the garbage that Westerners play jing jingga jing jing jingga jing. The Fijians are going like jugajinggagagajing jugajinggaggajing… (Both laugh) Do you know how that happened, how Fijians play that rhythm? Do you know where that would have come from?

(Plays a juggajing#@$%!!!!!!!!!!! complex polyrhythm with his voice and laughs)

It just come up naturally, by playing together more often, we just do new things.

Is there a culture of wanting to show who can go the best? A competitiveness between the band members?

When did you learn your scales or do you think about it in terms of scales?

I just listen and follow.

What musical heroes did you have growing up? Both inside Fiji and outside of Fiji?

Inside Fiji, one is Jese Mocenibitu. He’s a very well-known singer in Fiji and he sings still today. He sings Fijian and English songs beautifully.

What is it about him?

He sings more solo, he plays guitar.

Is it his singing or his guitar playing?

It’s both.

Is there a particular feeling that he can give that no one else can do? What is it?

He’s got this special voice that is very different from other singers. He’s a baritone.

We in the West hear about Mexican singers, we hear about Brazilian singers we hear other stuff, why is it that Fijian music doesn’t get the attention?

Maybe because the music industry is not really that good. Like, in Fiji, once you record a new song, you sell your CD, that’s it. People will take your CD and download, burn it and then give it around, and no need for them to buy your CD.

So if you’re trying to making a living out of it?

Very, very hard.

So if you want to make a living out of music, what do you do?

You just, like me, go to the resorts and… haha (resigned laugh)

Is it frustrating?

Yeah?

That was going to be my final question: If you had an unlimited budget and full artistic control, you could do whatever you wanted, you could choose your engineers, you could choose your producer, you could choose your musicians – what kind of music would you make?, how would you record it?, what would it sound like?, what kind of music would it be?

I would prefer Fijian music.

Would it be something similar to what you’ve done with the Naigani Serenaders?

Yeah, yeah.

“Nai Vesu ni Bula Vakawati”, is that a...

That’s a sad song.

It’s a beautiful song.

Yeah. That song talks about when one of them was dying and he’s telling her, the wife what to do when he passes on yeah…

That’s the single. If I’m biased. That’s the one that gets me. A soaring chorus.

Yes. Just kinda. Yeah.

Do you know who wrote that?

Umm,… no.

Do you know the composers of many of the songs?

Some, yeah, some.

Are they usually local?

Yeah…, some from the North, near where you went, near Qamea.

What about the back story? What about the story that’s not in the song? What does it mean? What does music mean to Fijian people, when they hear Fijian Classical String-band Music?

In Fiji, after a day’s work from the plantation, people will just get together around the Kava bowl and sit down and then play and sing just to like feel relaxed and wind down.

And is the idea to just forget about the day?

Yeah.

We also discussed the diminishing numbers of young Fijians able to play guitar and ukuleles and the threat to the sigidrigi musical form. This form gives to Fiji and other Pacific Islands a music culture which connects generations. With globalization, commodified ‘Youth Culture’ and a ‘programming’ rather than performing approach, many of the traditional or older ways are lessening in vibrancy and complexity. Siriaki was asked if the women in Fiji were also abandoning the traditional rug-weaving and fabric dying, but quietly reassured me that they continued with these older traditions, despite many changes to Fijian culture. The internet, social media, music streaming were a direct threat to the ‘Fijian way’ but still the community has more heart and cohesion than Doomsdayers might fear. It was a real privilege to be with Siriaki that afternoon and to listen to his feelings behind his group’s beautiful soulful sounds. I thoroughly recommend checking out Volume 1 by Naigani Serenaders to ease the mind and spirit. Thank you.