Guitarist Alphonse Jerome had an idea for a reggae pub, and the Rasta Pub in Damansara Utama, owned by David Kochummen, came into being in July 1994.
Jerome’s fiery La Viva band was born. The night scene in the Klang Valley sizzled.
La Viva is a Spanish word that translates into English as “long live”. The name, given by Jerome’s ex- wife Tanya, has carried the magic of the band through the years.
As La Viva celebrates 30 years of music greatness with a live showcase tomorrow at the Royal Selangor Club, Dataran Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur, its members look back on the joys and setbacks of those years, and forward to what comes next.
For Jerome, his band is many things: consummate musicians who have stayed unflappable and unchanging, a music group with a distinct identity, always ahead of the curve, and an example of how to connect with people.
La Viva continues to remain influential with its brand of reggae, Latin rock, soca music (an offshoot of Calypso), and everything in between.
The arrangements of their interpretations of tunes by Carlos Santana, Bob Marley and other artistes from the same genres, include congas, timbales and bells, percussion instruments widely associated with Latin and Caribbean music.
For La Viva, nothing is more sensuous than a guajira, an Afro-Cuban rhythm, which Santana once said, “drives women crazy”.
It is the spirit of creativity that makes the band break new boundaries.
The percussion-driven jams the band unleashes and Jerome’s Santana-inspired licks are a reflection of its trademark intensity.
The late journalist Errol De Cruz noted in a review that the odd faces Jerome made on stage was a result of the Santana cultman thinking the neck of the guitar was a snake that he had to wrestle into musical submission.
Those might be the days but La Viva is still doing La Viva things today.
La Viva beginnings
Jerome hit on the idea of the reggae club months after he had returned to the country from the Netherlands where he had performed with reggae bands.
He formed La Viva together with Steve Nathan (drums), Philip Robert (conga), Buddy (timbales), all three of whom are deceased, Clinton Fernandez (keyboard) and Matthew Charles (bass).
The current members along with Jerome, Fernandez and Charles are Henry Ambrose (conga timbales and bells) and Sivam Wasundakumaran who learned to play the drums from Nathan.
Jerome said they were first managed by showbiz promoter Stephen Joseph, who was killed in a moment of madness in a row over parking space in Petaling Jaya in 2015, and played at Rasta Pub for a year.
The career-making gig at the pub signalled the band’s breakthrough into the local psychedelic music scene, and they went on to pack in crowds at big venues such as El Nino and Uncle Chili’s in Hilton Petaling Jaya.
It was at Uncle Chili’s that Terry Thaddeus, the legendary guitarist’s guitarist, came out of retirement in the late 1990s to collaborate with La Viva in a concert that sparked wide interest among music lovers.
Jerome and Santana
In 1996, Jerome met Santana, who was in Kuala Lumpur as part of his “Dance of the Rainbow Serpent” Asian tour and presented him with a cloth poster of Bob Marley.
He also got Santana to autograph his Paul Reed Smith (PRS SE) guitar, another version of the same instrument used by the Mexico-born legend.
Jerome also took the opportunity to pass his hero a cassette of a song, “Lady Called Madonna”, that he had written and composed.
Two things happened a few years later that upset Jerome and brought a smile to his face.
In 2000, his PRS guitar and Charles’ bass guitar were stolen from the boot of his car at the parking lot outside Hilton Petaling Jaya. He was distraught.
He bought another PRS but that too got stolen in the same way at the same parking bay three years later. Jerome now hugs his third PRS like his baby.
The smile came when he noticed similarities to “Lady Called Madonna” when Santana’s Latin-pop hybrid, “Smooth” became a mega hit in 1999.
The track featuring Rob Thomas was a centrepiece of “Supernatural”, the comeback of Santana, and Billboard named it the third most popular song since 1958, as measured by weighted chart positions.
“I felt good that some of the ideas in the song was put to good use by my idol,” said Jerome, who now lives in Kota Kinabalu.
Showtime!
The concert tomorrow will also feature Cuban female singer and percussionist Meivys Sahily, local saxophonist Eddy and Jerome’s 75-year-old guitarist brother Christie.
They are all geared up for their self-funded event, which is on a smaller scale than their sponsored 25th anniversary celebration that involved shows, with the late percussionist Sa’at Kadir, in 18 clubs in the Klang Valley.
“We want to have fun, the La Viva way,” said Fernandez. “And we are looking forward to more such events in the years to come,” added Charles.
Ambrose and Sivam insisted that the media is not looking at the finished article by any stretch of the imagination.
We’ll let them write the rest of it, then.