Twenty thousand people crowded onto Kuendu Beach in Noumea over the last weekend of November 2008 for a concert to commemorate the life and death of Jacques 'Kiki' Kare.
Soaking rain in the days before the concert couldn't dampen the crowd's enthusiasm. They enjoyed a parade of local and overseas bands (Captain Mercier, Mister Gang, Soja, Ijhaman, and the Sunshiners from Vanuatu), lots of food and 36 hours of music to celebrate one of New Caledonia's leading cultural figures.
Kare was a character: a troubadour, a musician, a radio broadcaster, a trouble-maker, a champion of Kanak culture.
In Australia, he'd be called a ratbag-a person with little respect for authority, but full of charisma, roguish humour and the love of a good night out on the town.
Kare passed away on 30 November 2007 at the age of 54. To commemorate the first anniversary of his death and the joy of his life, there were concerts around New Caledonia in October and November 2008 featuring the music known as kaneka-the fusion of reggae, rock and traditional Kanak rhythms that is wildly popular with young people around the islands.
On 11 October, the anniversary of his birth, the Kanak tribe of Coula hosted a memorial concert. The village's bus stop was decorated with hand-made signs saying "Bon anniv, Papa Kiki", while the local sports ground was covered with stages, marquees, food stalls and all the paraphernalia of an open-air rock concert. The local hall featured an art exhibition by Kanak painters and sculptors like Paula Boi, Richard Digoue, Ito Waia, Dede Wema and Teddy Diaike.
The municipal council of Waa Wi Luu (Houailou) organised the concert as a tribute to their local hero-Kare grew up and lived much of his life in the tribes of Coula and Nessa Kouya in the Houailou district, on the east coast of New Caledonia's main island. Twenty hours of kaneka, over 450 musicians and for those who couldn't get to Coula, every moment broadcast live by Radio Djiido, the Kanak radio station founded in 1985 as a tribune for local culture.
Visionary: Waa Wi Luu Mayor Valentine Eurisouke explains: "This is our chance to thank this man-an avant-garde, visionary and intelligent character-who lived his life to the full. He was a free man. This concert is our way of acknowledging his work and all that he accomplished during his lifetime."
Vice-President Dewe Gorode, Minister for Culture in the Government of New Caledonia and a noted author and poet, also pays tribute to Kare as a leading cultural figure in New Caledonia.
"Kiki was a committed activist in the world of politics, culture, art and music," she says. "He was a champion of artists' rights and of kaneka music."
Political activist
Mayor Valentine Eurisouke declares: "Above all, Kiki was a political activist-a champion of the Kanak cause. Beyond the promotion and development of our culture, he was an actor on the political stage."
Kare was a long-serving member of the Party of Kanak Liberation (Palika)-one of the political parties which make up New Caledonia's independence movement, the Front de Libération Nationale Kanak et Socialiste (FLNKS).
The era between 1984 and 1988 known as les Evénements (the Troubles) was a time of conflict between supporters and opponents of independence. There were armed clashes between the French military and the FLNKS. Activists in largely Kanak rural areas fought with anti-independence militias.
Kare joined other Kanak activists in the valleys around Houailou to harass the French military and local settlers, cutting down trees to block the main east coast road.
Fluent in French and English as well as Kanak languages, the fast-talking activist worked with overseas journalists, organising for TV crews and journalists to visit the Kanak-controlled areas and report on the Kanak claim for self-determination.
Music and Kanak identity
Kaneka music has long been a weapon in the campaign for independence in New Caledonia, highlighting the importance of Kanak cultural identity. Pioneering bands like Bwanjep, Djemma, Vamaley, Mexem and Gurejele are joined today by hundreds of young musicians who sport T-shirts bearing the image of Bob Marley, Che Guevara or Eloi Machoro (the Kanak leader gunned down by French sharpshooters in 1985).
Kaneka flourished in the mid-1980s, as FLNKS leaders like Jean-Marie Tjibaou called for the reassertion of Kanak identity. The lyrics to Bwanjep's 1985 hit "Kanaky mon pays" (Kanaky my country) were penned by Tjibaou, who was tragically assassinated just four years later.
Dewe Gorode explains: "Kaneka is about our dignity, our roots, our culture, our heritage and values as Kanaks and Pacific Islanders."
She says that Kiki Kare was at the centre of the burgeoning cultural movement, working to popularise the musical style.
"Together with Kris Kona and Gilbert Tein (the founder of Bwanjep), Kiki organised a seminar at Canala in 1988 that developed the name kaneka to give impetus to this cultural form," Gorode recalls. "We must remember that this initiative had the support of Jean-Marie Tjibaou and other leaders of the independence movement, because our struggle for self-determination is at the same time a political, a cultural and an artistic struggle."
Jean-Yves Poindipenda, guitarist with the pioneering band Djemma, agrees Kike Kare was an inspiring figure: "He was our brother who fought for our culture. He was a man who always shared what he had with all comers. So we are happy to play at his concert, to say thank you for all the good times we shared."
Radio journalist
After working as a broadcaster with Radio RRB in Noumea, Kare travelled in France, Australia and beyond. He continued to work as a broadcaster, including a period with the French service of Radio Australia during the 1980s and with the Kanak community station Radio Djiido on his return to New Caledonia.
Djiido was founded in 1985, at a time when New Caledonia's independence movement needed outlets to carry its message to supporters in the indigenous Kanak population. Djiido challenged the dominance of conservative voices in the media, from the French government broadcaster RFO to the right-wing newspaper Les Nouvelles Calédoniennes. Twenty three years on, the station continues to broadcast around the clock, with news, talkback, feature interviews and music.
Speaking at the memorial concert at Coula, Djiido journalist Lucienne Moréo-See highlights Kare's importance as a mentor for young journalists and broadcasters at the station. "Kiki Kare and Radio Djiido is a story that's completely intertwined. Sure, he was just one of the many people who have passed through Radio Djiido over the years, but he was someone who stood out. The fact that today you can hear Djiido over the internet-that's thanks to Kiki."
She adds: "He was both a broadcaster and a teacher-he taught us a lot. He was comfortable in the radio studio but also up before a crowd, compeering a concert or just talking with people young and old. Sometimes he could give you the shits or drive you up the wall, but that was Kiki. He was a character. Now, he's a point of reference for all those who follow."
Intellectual property rights
Beginning in the 1980s with the cultural association Bwenando, Kare joined other artists and musicians to campaign for copyright and artists rights. When Gorode first took up her role as Minister for Culture in 1999, Kare worked briefly as her assistant.
She notes: "During this time, Kiki was responsible for the initial efforts to create institutions which would protect Kanak languages and the intellectual property of indigenous artists."
He helped establish the Société des Auteurs, Compositeurs, Editeurs de Nouvelle-Calédonie (SACENC), an association to protect artists' rights and collect royalties for musicians, writers and other creative workers in New Caledonia. This initiative provides crucial support to Kanak musicians-every three months, Radio Djiido pays 900,000 Pacific francs (US$10,000) in royalties to SACENC to support the work of local kaneka groups.
In spite of failing health, Kare lived to see the creation of the Academy of Kanak Languages in October 2007, which works to document and promote the 28 indigenous languages and 11 dialects in New Caledonia.
Gorode says this proud Kanak man was also a man of the world: "It was because Jacques was so firmly anchored in our culture that he was so open to the universal values of humanity."