Temprance

Semi Kaitani’s voice is one of the best in the Fiji Music Industry. He first came out as the lead singer for the Caucau ni delai na kulakula group. He then formed his own group called the Savu ni delai lomai.
This is one of his song from his fijian gospel group called ‘Temprance’.

This from the Fiji Times

Sitting across from me inside the Procera Music studio Semi Kaitani is more relaxed now and more comfortable with himself. Something that he explained was missing from his life as the lead singer for iTaukei boy band Savu ni Delai Lomai.

After two years of soul searching, he has finally returned to the group with a more relaxed outlook rather than the yearning for maturity and satisfaction he was looking for, prior to leaving the band in 2010.

“I am just going through the motion of things, tying down an album and reuniting with the band and we will see where it goes to from here,” Semi says.

His return to Savu ni Delai Lomai will be marked with the release of the band’s sixth album which will be released next month at the Procera Music Festival to be held in Nausori.

Titled Diva, Savu ni Delai Lomai’s to-be-released album as Semi says, will be different from the five albums they had previously released.

“Our new album will contain all new songs and would have a bit of reggae. There will be fast songs and slow songs too. It’s something that we try to match to the music taste nowadays, especially the younger generation, and a bit different from our previous albums,” Semi says.

“On the same note, we might say that nothing is new under the sun – it’s just like packaging it differently, and of course, we know what music is like nowadays and what people enjoy the most,” Semi says.

As a band Savu ni Delai Lomai carved a name for themselves from a market saturated with many boy bands, beginning with their hit song Lini from their debut album of the same title in 2007.

That began a very successful career for Semi and his two cousins, Mijieli Naivalu and Lote Cokanasiga, especially for Lote and Semi, who had first tasted success with Voqa kei Delai Nakulakula with a string of hits despite releasing their albums alongside the more recognised Dokidoki brothers.

“We had a very humble beginning where we, after leaving Delai Nakulakula decided to form our own band. I guess at the time, we had moved on from being boys to men as all of us had wanted to settle down and start their own family,” Semi says.

“And it was through the help of Procera and the Dokidoki brothers that we managed to record our very first albums which propelled us to our success.”

The first two Savu ni Delai Lomai albums, Lini and Luvequ were both recorded at the Dokidoki studio outside Suva.

The Luvequ album produced a hit called Loma Bibi Ni Yalo and with this success, they signed with Procera Music. They have become household names ever since.

Albums three and four spawned memorable hits like Vakasuva and Sera uni Matamu but by then, Semi was dissolutioned with where the band was heading asking some deep questions within himself.

“This kind of job has its disadvantages and attractions which sometimes makes us miss out on the more important things. I thought about this and decided that I would rather sacrifice this career than lose my family,” Semi says.

His leaving Savu ni Delai Lomai was for his wife and child and he turned to Christianity in 2010.

In the interim, he became a family man and sired two more children

But he never left the music behind, he continued making music and writing songs.

He ended up releasing a gospel album with the Temperance Singers while Savu ni Delai Lomai continued without him and released their fifth album in the same year.

Last year he attempted another foray into the secular music circle and released a single called Au Rui Mosita which became an instant hit and started what has turned out to be a full album for Savu ni Delai Lomai.

“Many were enquiring about the new Savu ni Delai Lomai album and to me, this proves that interest for our music is still alive and well. But we also have to fulfill our contractual obligation and other obligations for other people who have their songs already written down for us to sing,” Semi says.

From the starry-eyed teenager who was following his uncles and cousins around the sigi drigi circuit in the early 2000s to a family man, Semi thinks he has come full circle