“From The Surf To Manly” - a journey of over the times

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The Journey of a local musicians Peter and Marie Rappolt with Viva the band commenced in the 1963 when Peter Rappolt formed a band called The Echomen which was one of pioneers of instrumental "surf" music in Australia with a composition by Peter and Charles Rappolt called "Ski Run" recorded on the HMV label. Ski Run emerged on Australia's hit parade at the same time as Bombora by The Atlantics, Wipeout by The Surfaris and the Lonely Surfer by Jack Nitzsche.

The Echomen performed on local television and radio shows in Sydney, regularly appearing on Johnny O'Keefe's TV show, 6 O'clock Rock. They often performed at Surf City at Kings Cross and local surf clubs on the North Shore of Sydney including the Collaroy surf club. They performed at Lane Cove National park in 1963 where over 70, 000 people attended their performances

The Echomen disbanded in 1969 and Peter and Marie formed a rock/cabaret styled band with. Peter on guitar, saxaphone and flute and Marie on Hammond organ with keyboard bass. They journeyed to Asia and performed over 400 concerts for American and Australian forces in the war zones of Sth. Vietnam .Their performances were usually conducted on the back of trucks or make shift stages. Audiences varied from thousands of service personnel at major bases to small groups of servicemen at small out posts in Sth. Vietnam located at the Cambodian and Laotian borders.

After completing their tour of St Vietnam in 1970, Peter and Marie purchased a nightclub in Bangkok called the Pub and used that venue as a base to conduct a local entertainment agency and to provide their entertainment throughout the Philippines, Guam and Japan.

Peter and Marie returned to Australia in late 1972, formed a new band and travelled throughout the country from Cairns to Perth for 6 years. In 1980 Peter and Marie had a break from the music scene to raise a family at their home at Elanora Heights.

In 1996 Peter and Marie embarked upon reforming a band and began developing a repertoire of World music including French, Spanish, Gypsy Jazz, Russian, Hungarian and Cuban along with a standard fare of jazz, swing and Latin music. Marie dispensed with the Hammond organ and took up a delightful musette accordion with electronic bass. They called themselves Viva the duo and, in collaboration with two vocalists and percussion players Gerri and Jose Santos, they formed a band called band Viva the band.

In 2000 the band recommenced their International work with a tour of France and Television and live performances at the Tainan International Chihsi Arts Festival in 2004 and The Kenting International Song Festival in Taiwan in 2005. The duo and band has been regular performers over the last 6 years at most Jazz festivals and community events in NSW, including The Manly Jazz festivals and Manly's Food and wine festivals.

It is widely acknowledged that the greatest consumers of live entertainment in Australia are an increasing populace of persons over 50 years of age and Peter and Marie have noticed an increasing patronage of World music in Australia by these audiences. They now have access to an abundance of DVD's portraying world music and a hugely popular performer from Austria, Andre Rieu has also helped increase the awareness of world music in Australia.

This increasing patronage of world music has been reflected by the fact that 2007 has been the most productive year since 1970 for Peter and Marie with over 200 performances of Viva the duo and Viva the band.

Viva the duo with vocalist Gerri Santos will conclude this year with performances at the Manly Wharf forecourt, Sydney, Australia on New Years Eve from 5.30pm until 8.30pm.

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