Paolo Taliana, a passionate musician, has toured with the likes of The Supremes. He speaks with Goya Dmytryshchak.
Tell me about how you became interested in music?
I was a little kid growing up in Tripoli (Libya) and my father was employed as a petrol delivery supervisor at the American air base located three kilometres from our house, so I had the opportunity to visit the base quite often, watching and listening to American bands playing R&B, blues and jazz. I focused on the guitar players and I decided that I wanted a guitar and that I was going to be a guitar player.
You’ve toured with some of the biggest names in music such as The Supremes and John Farnham. Tell me an interesting story from those times?
In the early ’80s, my band Koco got booked to support and back Helen Shapiro (a very famous English vocalist). She is best known for her 1960s UK chart toppers
You Don’t Know and Walking Back to Happiness. This was the first encounter with an international star and in order to impress Helen and the Australian agency that booked the show, the band stayed up all night to rehearse and memorise the whole show. It was a good start and the band ended up getting lots of other gigs supporting and backing Australian and international artists.
What are you doing nowadays musically?
I’m employed by the Department of Education as a specialist guitar teacher and currently I’m working at Sunshine college senior campus teaching VCE year 12 group performance. I also perform with various line-ups at venues around Melbourne. My aim is to promote the guitar as a valid comping instrument and further exploring its possibilities as a soulful and melodic instrument.
What do you like about Altona?
I discovered Altona when I met Grace (my wife) in 1999. At the time, I was living in Werribee … when she took me to Altona, I fell in love with the place after the first visit. I love the Esplanade, the horizon and the ever-changing colour of the sea, the smell of the seaweed and the abundance of open spaces.
What would you change?
Absolutely nothing – it’s perfect the way it is.
What’s your favourite local cafe or eatery and why?
I love Mosaic and the amazing ambience and the fact that the management promotes live music three nights a week. I also hang around Pier 71 to catch up with friends and to have a taste of Italy.
Paolo Taliana performs every Wednesday at Mosaic restaurant in Pier Street, Altona, from 6.30-9.30pm.
