A tribute night to the music legends with the golden oldies of the ’50s and ’60s playing on the big LED screen in full digital sound brought back memories for Ken Janson on Tuesday night.
Janson, who would’ve been a doctor had he finished studying medicine abroad, says he wouldn’t have had it any other way.
After attending Saint Columbus, then Marist Brothers High School at the age of 19, Janson was lucky to study medicine in Australia.
But at that same time, he also found his voice and his love for music.
One person he tried seeing eye to eye with was his father, the late Harry Janson Ho, the former owner of the Golden Dragon Nightclub in downtown Suva.
“My dad was not in favour of me taking up music while I put medicine on hold,” Janson says.
“He insisted and pushed me to finish my studies in medicine.”
After winning a few talent quests, Janson realised music was where his passion lay.
“Because I was just ostracised, as my father and I couldn’t see eye to eye, I went over to Hong Kong for a year or two. My dad then opened a café called Chungking Café, and there was talk of me coming back to Fiji to help him with it,” Janson recalls.
“When I returned to Fiji, I told my father that we should start with some ideas of having a live band play at the café. And that was sorted.”
Janson was part of many bands back in the day with the likes of Tom Mawi, Waisea Vatuwaqa, Marika Gata, Paul Stevens, Ray Forster, Joe Heritage and Melaia Dimuri.
Ken Janson and Lance Seeto at the Kanu Restaurant in Knollys St, Suva earlier this week. Picture: JONA KONATACI
In collaboration and partnership with Kanu Gastropub owner Lance Seeto, they organised and hosted the first sold out Twist and Shout dance and dinner earlier this week.
“We sort of came to realise after COVID-19 that Suva as a town needs more entertainment,” says Seeto.
“So, we’ve found that you can’t just be an eatery anymore, you can’t just be a bar anymore — you’ve got to be more than what we ever used to be before COVID-19, and live entertainment is part of that.
“We came out of COVID-19 and were looking for things to do, so I spoke to Ken Janson. We talked about what other format we could come up with that’s entertaining. So, it’s got to be visual as well as entertaining.”
Apart from the renowned Janson playing, old clips honed into the ’50s and ’60s were also displayed through visual aids.
“People are looking for more. I mean, have you seen the pubs overseas now? They’ve got giant screens and they play things, not just music but sports and movies to draw customers.
“That style of entertainment we haven’t seen here in Suva, so that’s what we’re doing, stepping stones to get to that place – live entertainment venue but in a different way.
“Even if you’ve seen Elvis or the Rolling Stones performing in the old days, to see old clips and have them played out on big screens and stereo sound now, it becomes like ‘oh yeah, I remember that time’.”
Tuesday night’s Twist and Shout dance and dinner made up for all the concerts many did not have the chance to see.
Apart from the twist and shout genre played, Janson balanced it with John Lennon, Queen, Rolling Stones, Beatles, Righteous Brothers and the Bee Gees, who were icons of a great generation of live music.
