'Songs of freedom': Former guerillas keeping memories of resistance alive through music

Maubere Timor, a band of veterans of the East Timorese resistance, formed in 2014 to revive the music from the country's freedom movement, is performing in Australia for the first time.

Members of Maubere Timor in Melbourne Source: SBS Portuguese/ Aaron Wan

Domingos 'Berliku' Gabriel was a guerilla fighter and fought for East Timor's freedom. When he was not fighting,  he wrote songs.

"As I was always singing, our commander Xanana Gusmão called me 'Berliku Lian Timur'. In Tetum, Berliku means bird and Lian voice. 'The voice of Timor Leste’," says Berliku, a vocalist and composer in the band Maubere Timor.

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Summary

• Vocalist and ex-guerrilla fighter Domingos Gabriel got the moniker 'Berliku Lian Timur' from his then commander, Xanana Gusmão who went on to become the first president of East Timor
• Berliku and Xanana Gusmão wrote the song 'Maubere Timor'. He says the music inspired and reflected the struggle for independence.
• Berliku spent 15 years in the jungle as part of the Freedom Fighters guerrilla movement of the Falintil

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The music gave us courage. We were determined to continue the fight for our beloved country and we never lost our fighting spirit.

Berliku Lian Timur, the voice of Timor Leste: “I sing in the hope that the new generations of Timorese-Australians ‘feel’ how was the fight, our fight for freedom” Source: Dariell Valentino

Berliku spent 15 years in the camps in the hills and rural areas around Dili fighting the Indonesian occupation (from late 70’s to October 1999, when a referendum was held, and the country voted for independence).

During his days in the bush, he not just composed many songs but also recorded them.

"We did the recording of the songs in caves and sent the cassette tapes to clandestine organisations and to other countries," he says.

First show in Dili for 40,000 people: Maubere Timor is an ensemble of old school Timor-Leste veterans who interpret through music their heroic history Source: Supplied

Today at 63, he feels it is important to honour his songs of freedom - the songs that, he says, kept him alive during the tough years in the hills.

“When we start singing these songs the memory of the fight returns to us,” he says.

Seated quietly next to Berliku, is one of the band’s acoustic guitarists. José Faria. He says his participation in the movement was mainly with the ‘’logistics” supplying cigarettes, food and medicine to the militia. 

Berliku says the guerrilla group was greatly inspired by other revolutionary leaders, such as Amílcar Cabral, from Guinea Bissau, Samora Machel, from Mozambique and Che Guevara, from South America.

The songs he composed reflect their experiences and adventures of war, preparation for guerrilla fighters and to instil hope in others to continue their battle for independence.

Although we were composing the songs to prepare for the fight, the songs motivated us to keep fighting.

Maubere Timor was formed in 2014 to revive the music of the freedom movement.  

"We used to get together and sing resistance songs. When Rui Maria Araujo (ex-president of Timor) heard us and said that we had to record them while we were alive so the future generations would know our history,” Berliku recalls.

In collaboration with the Prime Minister’s Office for Veterans Affairs and Wantok Musik, the album ‘Maubere Timor’ was born. This project recorded an album of 12 songs that contains an array of tracks reflecting on years of hope and isolation during the resistance, that the band performed at WOMADelaide, their first in the Australia.

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