For more
than a century, Fijians have farewelled tourists and
other travell-ers with this song.
Ratu Mara's father, Ratu Tevita, composed Isa Lei in
1915 by modifying the words of Si'i
Lili Viola, which had recently been composed in
Tonga to court the future Queen Salote. The song was
brought to Fiji by two Tongans who taught it to Tevita.
He then modified the lyrics to farewell his visitors.
But in his heart, he was farewelling the Edenic
lifestyle of his youthful days on Lakemba
Island.
In 1962, Ratu Tevita Uluilakemba,
wrote a letter to The
Fiji Times describing how heard two Tongan men, an
assistant GP and a police sergeant who were temporarily in Suva
on work duties, sing Si'i Lile Viola at yaqona parties
there. He fell in love with the lifestyle evoked by the song and
wrote Isa Lei as a song of farewell to the two Tongans
when their boat returned to Tonga.
1. Isa! Isa! vulagi1
lasa dina
Nomu lako au rarawa kina
A'cava beka ko a mai cakava
Na nomu lako, au na sega ni lasa.
Alas,
alas! truly delightful guests1
Your going fills me with sorrow
Whatever the reason you came,
Your departure leaves me bereft.
Isa lei, na noqu
rarawa
Ni ko sa na vodo ena mataka
Bau nanuma, na nodatou lasa,
Mai Suva nanuma tiko ga.
Oh,
oh, my sadness when you embark
this morning. Please remember the
joy we shared in Suva;
those memories will always remain.
2. Vanua rogo na nomuni vanua
Kena ca ni levu tu2
na ua
Lomaqu voli me'u bau butuka
Tovolea ke balavu na bula.
Isa lei . . .
2.
Famous is your land.
If the seas weren't so rough2
I would really like to exchange where I stand and live out a
long life there.
3. Vanua rogo na
nomu yanuyanu
Kena kau wale na salusalu3
Mocelolo4,
Bua5,
na Kukuwalu6
Lagakali7,
baba na rosi damu.
Isa lei . . .
3.
So desirable is your tiny island
Its forests are floral garlands:3
Fragrant Nettle4,
Gardenia5,
scented Pandanus6and
Aglaia7,
all surrounded
by red roses.
1.
The delightful guests. Tourists are
fed the schmaltzy story of Ratu Tevita composing it in
1916 for Andi
Litia Tavanavanua (1900–1983) from Bau, when she
visited his home island of Lakemba.
They are not told she eventually married an older man,
Ratu Epeli Ganilau.
The guests were actually the two Tongan men who taught
Ratu Tevita the song Si'i Lili Viola about
the paradise that was Tonga; an isolated, simple,
untroubled tropical Eden abundantly endowed with
fragrant flowers and young women where the simple
Polynesian fish-coconut-taro village lifestyle was
followed.
It conjured up memories of his own childhood on the
very similar Lakemba
Island, so far from Suva, where he now felt so
alienated in this
Polynesian-Melanesian-English-Indian-Chinese-tourist
city that controlled the huge island's
copra-sugar-gold-tourism economies, but which from
birth he was duty-bound to deal with.
Lakemba
Suva
2. Rough
seas: this is a metaphorical phrase: Ratu
Tevita had duties to fulfill in Suva. Remember that
the Fiji Islands are in the middle of an ocean
renowned as being pacific or peaceful. 3.
Salusalu: a massive garland of
flowers and sweet-scented leaves, presented to
distinguished guests at formal occasions. A Polynesian
Lei has a single string of colourful flowers around
the neck, but a salusalu has multiple strings of
flowers hanging from a cord tied at the back of the
neck.
4. Mocelolo 'mothelolo':
or Dendrocnide vitiense,
has small fragrant scarlet flowers. It is in the
stinging nettle family, and related to the NZ ongaonga
bush and the Australian
Gympie-gympie tree. So be sure to carefully identify
it before picking any flowers.
5.
Bua, or Bua ni Viti, or Se-ni-tiare,
or 'Tahitian' gardenia, is actually indigenous to
Vanuatu, Fiji and Tonga. Its flower is usually white
and it has a delightful scent.
It was taken by early Polynesians to the Cook Islands
and Tahiti, was first collected by Europeans in
Tahiti, and has become the signature flower of those
island groups.
6. Kukuwalu
(Pandanus joskei) is
a fragrantly-perfumed plant indigenous to the wetter
coastal parts of Fiji. It is rarely cultivated, and
when a gardener in Suva tried to do so, it took seven
years to flower.
7. Langakali:
(Aglaia saltatorum) is a shrub or tree five or more
metres tall, belonging to the mahogany family, and
found in Fiji, Niue, the Solomons, Tonga, Vanuatu and
Wallis-Futuna Islands. It has been harvested for its
tiny but fragrant flowers, and it is now a threatened
species due to habitat loss. 'Lagakali' is its name in
Lau and Bau, but other local names are 'kautoa,'
'misi,' 'cavucavu' and 'kula.'
During Prince Tungi
Mailefihi's courtship of Salote in 1915, he
commissioned a member of his singing group,
Tu’ivakano Polutele, to compose this song.
1. Si'i, lile
viola lose hina
Fisimoto matala he lilifa,
Isa ete nofo 'l he toafa,
To'eloto tangi 'i he potulala. x 2
My
darling, redolentof violet
lilies, white roses,
a flower bud blooming on towering cliffs,
alas, I wander in the wilderness
showering tears on the desolation.
Fakapo he kohai te ne
lava,
'E te manatua 'ae 'ofa'anga,
Ne ngangatu mai o alaha,
Feluteni si 'eku 'ofa
ta'engata.
Woe
to me, for who can get over
thinking about my loved one, awakening
memories of the fragrance?
Return to me, my love.
2. Ake ma-i pe va'a he peau,
Tofu faingata'a ene ha'u,
Ka neongo si'i lupe ni kuo 'alu,
Ho sino na te u fua pe'e au. x 2
Will the
waves roll the canoe
on the point of coming ashore?
although you, wild pigeon have now
departed,
your body splendid
with overripe breasts.
Fakapo
he kohai te ne lava,
'E te manatua 'ae 'ofa'anga,
Ne ngangatu mai o alaha,
Feluteni si 'eku 'ofa ta'engata.
Woe
to me for who can get over thinking
about my loved one, awakening
memories of the fragrance Return to
me, my love.
I
learnt this version when dad was
stationed in Suva during WW2.
1. Isa! Isa! happy visitor indeed,
Sad shall I be when you are gone;
You came, I wonder what your need?
Your going leaves me quite forlorn.
Isa, Isa you are my only treasure;
Must you leave me, so lonely and forsaken?
As the roses will miss the sun at dawning,
Every moment my heart for you is yearning.
Isa lei,
'tis my great sorrow
That you will sail away to-morrow.
Forget not, when you are away
Our happy hours in Suva Bay.
Isa
Lei, the purple shadow fall,
Sad the morrow will dawn upon my
sorrow;
O, forget not, when you're far away,
Precious moments beside old Suva bay
2. Your country now so well is known,
That were it not for heavy seas
I'd wish, to me it might be shown
Could I but have long life of ease.
Isa, isa: my heart was filled with
pleasure
From the moment I heard your tender
greeting.
Mid the sunshine we spent the hours
together—
Now so swiftly those happy hours are
fleeting.
Yes!
your isle-home is so well known,
Flowers for wreaths its woods enclose:
Mocelolo, Bua and the Lagakali, grown
On hillsides, too, the sweet red rose.
O'er the ocean your island home is
calling,
Happy country where roses bloom in
splendour.
Oh, if we could but journey there together
Then forever my heart would sing in rapture.
I
researched and assembled this web document to the best of
my ability in Feb 2024.
If you can improve it in any way, with more information or
improved translations,
please email
me. Vinaka vakalevu, John Archer.
