Details

Latitude

-4.216355

Longitude

152.175

Start Date

1993-06-21

End Date

1993-06-21

Tape# 1: Musical experiences of early bands of Rabaul Side A&B: Willie Seeto was born in 1942 with mixed parentage of Chinese and Tolai. He attended Rabaul High School and learnt music by listening to records and playing electric guitar mostly bought in Australia on trips. Willie was one of the pioneering musician with with band Tremors, being "guria" or earthquakes from the volcanoes near Rabaul. The band played mostly country western learnt from records and Radio Rabaul broadcast music. Willie become involved with other bands like Winterwood started by Greg Seeto who owned Soundstream and Pacific Gold Studios. Famous musicians John Wong, Frank Lou, Desmond Woo were mentored by Willie. Pre-independence 1975 music scene and social life in Rabaul was vibrant with festivals and celebrations in the mixed and multural community of Rabaul town. He played his guitar on a few popular country western songs during the interview. Willie was also encouraged to see the music taken up by Tolai's in the 1970s' and were fast learners who got their inspiration to contemporary music from the multi-racial community in Rabaul when they come into see band performances and festivals. Later they formed bands and played into the 1980s' and 1990s. One example was Tolai musician later become a vocal singer for Barike, Matalau Nakikus who did his recording on composed some "Wan Kantri" as feature on the UNESCO celebrations in Rabaul. Desmond Woo was born in 1960 and educated in Queensland, Australia. At the age of 12 he was already playing in the Tremors band as a drummer and was in school bands during boarding school. When he returned he was in the Cats Squirral band with other multi-racial people living in Rabaul. With his connections with Willie, Greg Seeto and other musicians he continued with his music mainly in clubs and functions in Rabaul. (Steven Gagau, August 2019)

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