Viliame Odrovakavula
13 May, 2021, 8:00 pm
From left: Joji Toge, Jone Rusa and another band member at Namada Village in Nadroga. Picture: ATU RASEA
Jone Rusa still remembers the nights when his father, Ulaiasi Vasuitaukei, would get home from work with a couple of bags of yaqona and ask for a mix.
Rusa said he and his brother, Joji Toge, would leave whatever they were doing and get the utensils ready.
They knew the night would be a combination of music and history lessons.
“That was how my brother and I learnt how to play the guitar and sing,” Rusa said.
“It was so beautiful to share a basin of grog with our father and sing all the old timers and Cripple Serenaders songs.”
21 April, 2021, 2:30 am
Ratu Meli Navurai of Namada village stands infront of a house where the Naitasiri rugby team supporters punched and kicked a villager on Saturday night.Picture:ATU RASEA
Namada villager Semi Kunavatu and his two cousins were about to leave home for a family function when they were allegedly assaulted by a group of Naitasiri rugby fans over the weekend.
“We heard rowdy cheers as a bus approached the village and then suddenly a group of men were at our door,” he said.
Mr Kunavatu said he later found out the reason the fans accosted them was because two young boys from Namada had thrown soapy water at the bus because of their rowdiness.