Talking with Legends of Fiji's music history - JOE HERITAGE

“This interview was recorded in Sydney, Australia, in MARCH 2023, a few days after the GOLDEN DRAGON JUBILEE.

ROUTE 679 – talking with and about [the unknown by mainstream] legends of the region, these legends are getting old in body regardless of their youthful spirits, human lives are finite… JOE passed away in May 2024.

We didn’t talk much about ‘Mantis’ in the interview, further reading below. 

I was a professional live band singer from 1990 till 1999 [with a nightclub hit in Asia mid 90s] and performed with ALL the top Fiji musicians and also organised one of the biggest music concerts ever in Fiji in 1998 called ‘Bula Rocks The Park’, plus being one of the first faces of television and a known radio voice and a known model of that time, and a known global journalist…I am the perfect person to talk about it.” – Sandhya Nand Ohmega 

Know your music history – MANTIS
1. Audio Culture [NZ]
‘Mantis’ by Teneti Ririnui, Oct 2014
 
“Already well-respected musicians before they arrived in Wellington in the early 1970s, Fijian band Mantis left behind some memorable shows and one brilliant, much sought after Pacific psych-rock-funk album.

The origins of the band go back to the late 1960s and the nightclub scene in Suva. With more relaxed licensing laws than New Zealand at the time, live music thrived almost every night of the week in Suva’s nightclubs. All the clubs had their own house bands that played three or four sets a night.

Former Fijian journalist and senior reporter/director at TVNZ for Asia Downunder, Bharat Jamnadas: “At the time there were four or five nightclubs in Suva and a lot of really good bands playing in them … the audiences were a great mix of locals, expats, tourists and often seamen and people working on visiting cruise ships.”

The Fijian capital’s first and most popular nightclub was the Golden Dragon. Its resident band was the Dragon Swingers. They proved a fertile breeding ground over the years for some of the country’s finest musicians, including jazz guitarist Tom Mawi. Among them in the early 1970s was another brilliant guitarist and the band’s musical leader, Waisea “Wise” Vatuwaqa, lead singer Ken Janson, bassist Joe Heritage, keyboardist Ronnie “Paspatu” Sammuel, drummer Paul Stephen and his cousin, percussionist Rupeni Davui.

Heritage: “There was a group of people who were part of a film crew that were at the Dragon who approached me during a break and asked if I’d like to be interested in a small part of a movie they were making and if I could come to their shoot the next day.
The rest of the band supported Heritage at the film shoot the following day and in four or five takes his minor film debut was over. 
 
The same group of people from the film crew came to the Dragon again that night. Bill Benn went up to Heritage afterwards and asked if the band would like to go to Wellington. He asked for the full names of the members of the band so he could send tickets. Although the others didn’t believe the offer, Heritage provided the names to Benn. 
Two weeks later, having completely forgotten about the offer, Heritage received the tickets in the post. Although there was no offer or guarantee of work, most of the band was interested in going, except for Janson. The only band member who was not a full time musician, he had commitments with his shop in Suva.
 
Ken Janson’s tribute post to Joe here.
Ken Janson the legend, a glimpse here.
 
“Because they were such good musicians, […] members of the band [were] as backing players for a range of recordings he produced at EMI Studios, […..] 
They recorded an up-tempo version of Booker T and the MG’s’ ‘Time Is Tight’ in one take. “This is how good they were … no other band in Wellington could do that,” […]

[…]the band was soon signed by Phonogram. More studio time was booked […] ‘Night And Day’ was recorded with Heritage on lead vocals.[…]

In his regular column in the NZ Listener at the time, Ray Columbus wrote, “Mantis, the Fijian rock group from the Golden Dragon in Suva have made lots of new fans in the capital with their Santana-style music […] I hope it gets the chance to do well for them.”    

 
2. You Tube
‘Turn On To Muisc] – Mantis [1973]. Full album.

Vocals – Joe Heritage (A1, A4, A5) Waisea Vatuwaqa (A2, A3, B1) / Keyboards – Ronnie Sammuel / Lead Guitar – Waisea Vatuwaqa / Bass – Joe Heritage / Congas, Percussion – Reuben Davui / Drums – Paul Stephan

3. Fiji Times
‘Mantis album sold out in one day’ by Felix Chaudhary*, August 4, 2016 
 
“AN album recorded by the cream of Fiji’s musical crop in the ’70s and re-issued last year, sold out the day it was released. And in the process, the members of Mantis wrote themselves into Fiji and New Zealand’s music history books as the producers of the fastest selling album in the Pacific. 
[…]
The quintet was the house band at the Golden Dragon nightclub on Victoria Parade in Suva when they were given the opportunity to travel to New Zealand by a film crew that visited the country in the early ’70s.  The band changed its name from the Dragon Swingers to Mantis and in the four months they spent in Wellington from July to November 1973, the five boys from Fiji caused more than a stir on the New Zealand music scene.
“People really did not believe we were from Fiji,” shared one of three [then] surviving members of the band, bass guitarist and vocalist Joe Heritage.”

[READ MORE]

* Felix Chaudhary is one of this region’s top music journalists.
 
4. Rockasteria
Mantis – Turn On To Music (1973) Fiji,
– pleasant hard funky boogie, 2013 edition.
 
“This psychedelic funk classic is firmly established as one of the most collectable albums of all time. Recorded by a quartet from Fiji, it was only released in New Zealand, where it appeared in tiny quantities on the legendary Vertigo label in 1973. An irresistible blend of originals (notably the epic “Island Suite”) and covers…” 

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