A legend of the Fijian ’60s clubbing scene, old timers will remember Jimi Nathu as a member of some of the country’s leading bands like Sangfroid Ride, The Deltones and Maroc 5 in a career that spanned close to two decades.
Now, Nathu is expected to be one of the stars to perform at this year’s Golden Dragon Diamond Jubilee Fiji celebration on Friday.
With his unique voice and vocal range, the music veteran was the first local artist to be crowned king of music in English and Hindi singing contests, winning talent quests at the Old Town Hall in Suva and Hindi talent quest in the late ’60s.
Tomorrow’s grand reunion will bring a lot of memories and emotions among the greats, especially remembering how Nathu used to lie in bed at his Carnarvon St home in Suva and listen to Ken Janson singing at the Golden Dragon nightclub on Victoria Pde.
“As a young high school kid, every night I used to hear them play and I would have like a mouth organ and play it while listening to them,” Nathu reminisces.
“I used to wonder what it would be like in the Dragon nightclub.”
Sure enough, a few years later he managed to perform his first song live on stage — 1969’s Bad Moon Rising by Creedence Clearwater Revival.
Although he’s dabbled with instruments such as the guitar and keyboard, singing has always been his strongest forte.
With his love and passion for music, Nathu went on to become one of a handful musicians who recorded LPs and performed with Fiji’s other maestros such as Tui Ravai, Waisea Vatuwaqa, Sakiusa Bulicokocoko, John Kamoe and Luke Uluiburotu.
His first album was called Made In Fiji and consisted of rock covers while his second, Something In My Heart, was purely an original.
“My music was measured against what was available from big stars and the people rang in and voted and requested, and I topped the Hit Parade on Radio Fiji,” Nathu told The Fiji Times.
“Local radio supported my music by playing my songs alongside the big hits of international artists at the time. This was a big boost and it inspired other artists to compose their own music.”
Speaking on the importance of music making for the younger artists, Nathu said he felt that Fiji had fallen behind at one point since the ’70s and ’80s.
“Songs about sex, drugs and promiscuity are being played day in and day out, and what do you think that is doing to our young people?
“We have world class music that is available locally with good lyrics and great messages but these are being relegated to the local hour and not given the prominence they need.
“The bulk of music being played on radio now should not even be considered music because it is only suitable for nightclubs.
“When local artists are given the airtime, recognition and respect, they push themselves to do even better because the competition gets tougher.
“And when this happens, live production gets a boost and this results in more concerts and live shows.”
At the upcoming reunion, Nathu will once again be in the same room as those who started out in the Dragon Nightclub with him 40 years ago.
“It will be an emotional night for me,” he laughed.
“This reunion will bring together a lot of us who had started out together and I am really, really looking forward to seeing my old friends.”
Another person who’s as excited as Mr Nathu is Kuki Nayacakalou, one of Fiji’s greatest musicians that has stamped his mark in the local and international music scene.
At five years old, Kuki’s father would give only four ukuleles to him and his five siblings and would be told to learn and play.
Whoever missed out on the ukulele in the morning would have to miss the whole day of learning. This was how Kuki’s musical inspiration stemmed from, his family.
“It was always in the family,” Kuki said.
“My father was a pretty smart guy. He would give us four ukuleles but there was six of us.
“If you wake up and didn’t get a ukulele, that’s it for the day. You don’t get to learn how to play until the next day.
“Whoever was playing the day before would have to record it in their memory and when you get the chance, they start from the beginning.
“So that was my introduction to music education. I’ve never had any music training. I just played by ear.”
Just like the many talented artists who were made in the 60s, Kuki’s first live performance was in a nightclub when he was only nine years old.
“My neighbour was the one who took me there,” he laughed.
“I was just tagging along like a little kid to the Phoenix theatre and then during intermission, my neighbour took me to Bali Hai night club, took me up to the bandstand, gave me a guitar and I played a song.
“The first song I played, at nine years old was the 1973 Long Train Runnin by The Doobie Brothers.
“This was mid early ’70s, and that song had just come out.
“Right after that, we snuck in back home. No one knew what happened that day,”
From performing in that night club, to performing with renowned artists such as jazz player Brian Simpson, Kuki will be re-living his past musical experiences with old friends and loved ones tomorrow at the Grand Pacific Hotel.
“I am very excited. It is such a nice gathering. A friendship gathering through music,” he smiled.
“Just to revisit all the music that really inspired us all.
“From the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s, I am trying my best to recreate the sound of guitar from that era so I should be able to get pretty close because a lot of music from that era was very driven by guitars.
“Oh I tell you, our Indo brothers and sisters loved Santana’s Black Magic and Purple Haze by Jimi Hendrix.
“They were very influential in my life and I can’t wait to perform them at the Golden Dragon Jubilee Celebration at GPH.”