My name is Bernhard Schlichting from Germany but I moved to Papua New Guinea in 1975 two weeks before PNG gained its independence.
I would have been 25 years old at the time.
In Bougainville, my brother Peter had a building company.
He brought me over to work and having met the people and travelled around this beautiful place, I fell in love with it all.
I asked my brother if I could stay and since then I never left.
After 6 months I managed to get my wife over and it’s been quite the journey for us both for the past 50 years.
Music for me started way back in Germany, so in Bougainville, it wasn’t long before I began the search for musicians two weeks after I had arrived there.
I love my music and playing live.
I had the privilege of meeting some amazing people along the way, and eventually I put together a band.
In no time at all we were playing at all sorts of events.
One of our first events was in Arawa, at the Bougainville Copper Limited single men quarters.
They had organized a medical fundraiser for Psoriasis patients.
This fundraiser was such a success that the audience dubbed us the Psoriasis Band.
We of course changed it to Sirosis Band for the sake of image.
Sirosis band performed from one end of Bougainville to the other.
Our biggest event was in Arawa, when I brought Sanguma over and a band called April Sun at the time.
Even the infamous local band Gwadus was there.
It was such a super show and the first of its kind there, with proper equipment and stage setting.
It was a full house.
Live music has always been an integral part of my life and I would not have it any other way.
In this new day and age, digitally produced music has surpassed live music leaving some or most artists reliant on this pattern and not the original way, THE LIVE MUSIC WAY.
Feeling actual instruments in your hand and listening to it up close and personal is a surreal moment.