Dili Allstars
| The Dili Allstars | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Melbourne, Australia |
| Genres | Reggae, Glam, Rock,Soul, Ska |
| Years active | 1992 - present |
| Labels | Mushroom Records, Shock Records, ABC Music |
| Members | Paulie Stewart, Paulo Almeida, Colin Badger, Osme Gonsalves, Gil Santos, Nelito Riberio, Ross Hannaford, Zeca Mesquita, Mark Grunden, Dave Pace, Clare Murrell |
| Past members | Paul Calvert, Jenny Pineapple, Colin Buckler, Somya Parkinson, Tim Stewart, Daniel Golding |
The Dili Allstars are an Australian and East Timorese reggae/ska band based in Melbourne. They are one of the leading voices of support for the East Timorese people and a popular musical group. The band has released two albums, a special edition Portuguese tour CD, an EP, titled Increase the Peace and also tracks for the ARIA award winning Balibo soundtrack album and the Australian Canadian tele movie Answered By Fire.
The band has also contributed tracks to the Kids Under Cover, This Is The Place For A Song, Love From A Short A Distance, All In The Family and Liberdade benefit albums.
The Dili Allstars are:
The Dili Allstars were formed when Paul Stewart and Colin Buckler (of the band Painters and Dockers) contacted East Timorese musician Gil Santos to record a song to protest the capture of East Timorese resistance leader Xanana Gusmão by Indonesian armed forces in the early nineties. This song was a version of Rose Tattoo's 'We Can't Be Beaten', sung in both Tetum and English. Both Santos and Stewart had had a long involvement with the East Timor struggle as they had lost a father and a brother, respectively, in the Indonesian invasion of 1975.
Before the 1999 Independence referendum, the band recorded the original track 'Liberdade' and six other songs in response to hearing that the Governor of East Timor was playing pro-Indonesian songs at Dili airport. With the help of Melbourne University students, 500 tapes were smuggled into East Timor. The songs had a wide exposure during the lead up to the election, and remain strong in the Timorese memory today. After the referendum, Gusmão visited Melbourne and joined the Allstars on stage at the National Tennis Centre. At this stage, the band included current members Paul Stewart, Gil Santos and Paulo Almeida. However, it also included drummer Steve Morrison (who stood in for and recorded in place of Colin Buckler while he was overseas), trombonist/vocalist Sonja Parkinson, saxophonists Billy Abbott & Jenny Pineapple, keyboardist Cheryl, guitarist/backing vocalist Paul Calvert and bassist Nelito Ribero.
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