Gucake Gilman Lasaisuva

Iconic Fijian musician. Gucake Lasaisuva got his name Gilman during the 1960s due to his love of FBI movies which were very popular at the time. The nickname for agents in those days was G-man and his friends started calling him that. At some stage the name evolved into Gilman. With the live music scene during the 1960s and 1970s, Lasaisuva was at the forefront. During the time he was enrolled at Derrick Technical Institute (now called Fiji National University), he formed his first group Sombrero. He was the drummer, Wise Vatuwaqa was on rhythm and Jai Prakash was the guitarist. He later played alongside Tom Mawi and Samisoni Koroi in the Dragon Swingers. Lasaisuva was the bass player and for the group and later switched to drums. In 1966 when Lasaisuva was aged 21, Tom Mawi asked him to come to Tahiti. At some stage he became the bass player of the group Savates Jaunes. By August 1969, the group was playing six nights a week at the Hotel Taaone in Papeete. They recorded an album 6718692 for the Manuiti label. In addition to Tahitian songs, some r&b, pop and rock songs were included on the album. In later years he was the president of West Musicians and Entertainers Association in Fiji. William ‘Bigwilz’ Waqanibaravi performed a song Lasaisuva had composed during the 1970s. The song "Lakeba" was performed at the Tribute to the Classics show at the Grand Pacific Hotel in 2017 which was organized by Talei Draunibaka and Nemani Vanua.