MW6-015 - Interview with Ben Kepas, Malay Town, Rabaul

Tape#1: Music Background, Experiences and Journey of Ben Kepas from 1970s to 1990s' Side A & B: Ben Kepas was born on 30th December 1953 at Kerevat, ENB Province from mixed parentages with father of Bouganville and New Ireland provinces and mother of Ambonese, Indonesia and East Sepik Province. His musical interest and development started at the age of 5 years where his exposed to his uncle as a musician (father's elder brother) which had influence for Ben's passion for music at an early age. He played instruments of guitar, accordion, bandjo, mandolin and on occasions Ben will access these instruments to try out his abilities to play them. His father then bought him a guitar so his guitar talents and skills further developed. When growing up in Rabaul during his childhood years to teens, he was aware various leading and pioneering musicians in the mixed race community like George Kasi, Phillip Tabuchi, Paul Cheong as wel as the indigenous community mainly from Matupit Island who had early exposure to musical instruments and genres that were introduced to Rabaul. These local musicians included Ephraim Tami, Ephraim Bakut and Mangut family. Ben Kepas started as a musician in Kavieng with the band, New Ireland Drifters playing the guitar on string band to electric power band as lead guitarist. The band's music styles were 5 key and 3 key with a Buka influence due to his parentage. He moved to Rabaul in the 1970s' involved with string band competitions then focused on power bands later. He joined the Ex-Tremors formed after original Tremors band moved on as the lead guitarist. As the band was based in Rabaul town, the demand was to be performing the music of country western and rock and roll to suit the residents and modern taste of contemporary music. Ex-Tremors had a rapporteur of songs from from popular groups of the Beatles, Chuck Berry, Credence Clearwater Revival and others and they were popular performing in clubs, halls and functions such as Crusaders Club, Pioneer Hall, RSL Club, Kambiu Club and others. At that time there were also other power bands in town such as Devils, Cats Squirrels, Winterwood, Bendalaros mainly with the Chinese mixed race and local bands such as Tsunamists, Brown Eagles. Ex-Trevors in the mid 1970s went on tour to perform in North Solomons (Bouganville) mainly at Panguna and Arawa mining town. They return to Rabaul then the band broke up due to mismanagement issues despite a successful tour. Various notable band members or musicians that were involved with Ben's musical journe were Jack Nima, Richard Tarek, Joe Kameta, Donald Lessy, Daniel Biang, Frank Lou, John Wong, Levi Graham, David Kepas, Michael Lessy, William Kepas, Fabian Tadoi. Other bands he was involved in include Reserve band, Pila Zeck Mates, Devils, Apple Sun, Rasterman Vibrations and Molachs in Rabaul and Beachcomers in Kavieng. The managers he had been involved with in various bands Nason Palom, Junias ToKilala, Eddie Schultz, Michael Woo. Most of the experiences with band management has always been not good in terms of payments for their performances to sustain them as musicians so they kept on breaking up and forming new bands with either own instruments or brought be new managers. Successful recording of albums and labels by bands 1970s-1980s have been with Apple Sun (NBC) and Rasterman Vibrations with (EMI NZ). Again despite high incomes from royalties of sales, returns were still not realised to the benefit of musicians. Ben shared that women bands were not popular and the music industry and in Rabaul and Gazelle Peninsula was male dominated. There were only 2 known female Tolai string bands were ML Daughters of Bitakapuk and Cousin Ladies from Vunadidir. There were known female musicians in mixed race bands like Rita King and others. The Tolai Warwagira events attracted string bands and power bands in NGI and NG Mainland due to winners prize money ranging up to K500 in the 1970s for 1st prize award. Ben describes the music developments in Rabaul from his experiences in performances and recordings as enriching having to work with other musicians with town with the mixed race community, from other known PNG artists and local Tolai musicians of his musical career in the 1960s to 1980s' and emerging ones from the early 1990s'. (Steven Gagau, June 2019). Language as given:

磁带1号：本·凯帕斯（Ben Kepas）1970至1990年代的音乐背景、经历与历程 A面与B面：本·凯帕斯于1953年12月30日出生于东新不列颠省（East New Britain, ENB）凯雷瓦特区，父母血统多元：父亲来自布干维尔（Bougainville）省与新爱尔兰省，母亲为印度尼西亚安汶（Ambonese）籍与东塞皮克省人。他的音乐兴趣与素养启蒙于5岁时，时任音乐家的叔父（父亲的长兄）对他早期的音乐热情产生了深远影响。他接触过吉他、手风琴、班卓琴（banjo）、曼陀林等乐器，并会偶尔练习以提升演奏能力。其后父亲为他购置了一把吉他，进一步推动了他吉他演奏技艺的精进。在童年至青少年时期于拉包尔（Rabaul）成长期间，他接触到混血社区中的多位领军先锋音乐人，如乔治·卡西（George Kasi）、菲利普·塔布奇（Phillip Tabuchi）、保罗·张（Paul Cheong），以及主要来自马图皮特岛（Matupit Island）的原住民社区音乐人——这些音乐人较早接触传入拉包尔的乐器与音乐流派，其中包括埃弗拉姆·塔米（Ephraim Tami）、埃弗拉姆·巴库特（Ephraim Bakut）与曼古特（Mangut）家族。本·凯帕斯的音乐生涯始于卡维恩（Kavieng）的新爱尔兰漂流者乐队（New Ireland Drifters），最初担任弦乐队吉他手，后续随乐队转型为电声乐队时出任主音吉他手。受自身血统影响，该乐队的音乐风格融合了五声音阶、三声音阶与布卡（Buka）地区音乐元素。他于1970年代迁居拉包尔，先后参与弦乐队赛事，之后转向电声乐队领域。他加入了由原“震颤者”（Tremors）乐队成员组建的“前震颤者”（Ex-Tremors）乐队，同样担任主音吉他手。该乐队以拉包尔镇为驻场据点，需演奏乡村西部乐与摇滚乐以适配当地居民与当代流行音乐的审美偏好。“前震颤者”的演出曲目涵盖披头士（The Beatles）、查克·贝里（Chuck Berry）、清水复兴合唱团（Credence Clearwater Revival）等热门组合的作品，他们在十字军俱乐部（Crusaders Club）、先锋大厅（Pioneer Hall）、RSL俱乐部、坎比乌俱乐部（Kambiu Club）等场所演出，广受好评。彼时拉包尔镇还有其他多支电声乐队，如Devils、Cats Squirrels、Winterwood、Bendalaros（成员多为混血华裔），以及本地乐队如Tsunamists、Brown Eagles。1970年代中期，“前震颤者”乐队前往北所罗门群岛（即布干维尔（Bougainville））巡演，主要在潘古纳（Panguna）与阿拉瓦（Arawa）矿业城镇开展演出。巡演取得成功后乐队返回拉包尔，但因管理不善最终解散。参与本·凯帕斯音乐历程的知名音乐人包括杰克·尼马（Jack Nima）、理查德·塔雷克（Richard Tarek）、乔·卡梅塔（Joe Kameta）、唐纳德·莱西（Donald Lessy）、丹尼尔·比安（Daniel Biang）、弗兰克·卢（Frank Lou）、约翰·王（John Wong）、莱维·格雷厄姆（Levi Graham）、戴维·凯帕斯（David Kepas）、迈克尔·莱西（Michael Lessy）、威廉·凯帕斯（William Kepas）、法比安·塔多伊（Fabian Tadoi）。他还参与过其他多支乐队，包括拉包尔的Reserve乐队、Pila Zeck Mates、Devils、Apple Sun、Rasterman Vibrations、Molachs，以及卡维恩的Beachcomers乐队。他合作过的乐队经纪人包括纳森·帕洛姆（Nason Palom）、朱尼亚斯·托基拉拉（Junias ToKilala）、埃迪·舒尔茨（Eddie Schultz）、迈克尔·吴（Michael Woo）。他表示，多数与经纪人的合作在演出报酬支付方面都不尽人意，难以支撑音乐人维持生计，因此乐队不断解散并重组——要么使用自有乐器，要么更换新的经纪人。1970至1980年代，取得成功专辑发行与唱片签约的乐队包括与国家广播公司（NBC）合作的Apple Sun乐队，以及与新西兰EMI（EMI NZ）合作的Rasterman Vibrations乐队。尽管版权使用费收入可观，但音乐人并未从中获得应有的收益。本·凯帕斯提到，女子乐队在拉包尔与格泽勒半岛（Gazelle Peninsula）的音乐行业中并不受待见，该行业整体以男性为主导。仅有的两支知名托莱（Tolai）族女子弦乐队分别是ML Daughters of Bitakapuk与来自Vunadidir的Cousin Ladies。混血乐队中也有知名女音乐人，例如丽塔·金（Rita King）等人。1970年代，托莱瓦瓦吉拉（Tolai Warwagira）活动会邀请新爱尔兰群岛（NGI, New Ireland Islands）与巴布亚新几内亚本土（NG Mainland）的弦乐队与电声乐队参与，头等奖奖金高达500基那（Kina）。本·凯帕斯结合自身1960至1980年代的演出与录音经历，阐述了拉包尔的音乐发展历程：与混血社区音乐人、知名巴布亚新几内亚艺术家以及本地托莱族音乐人合作的经历，再到1990年代初的新兴音乐人加入，极大丰富了他的音乐生涯。（史蒂文·加戈（Steven Gagau），2019年6月）