Love of music drives Linda on

By ROSELYN ELLISON
FAMOUS British playwright William Shakespeare in Twelfth Night aptly puts it thus: “If music be the food of love, play on.”
Mother-of-three Linda Konabe believes in the power of music to relay important messages of love, peaceful co-existence, and national issues such as the campaign against gender-based violence and crime.
She believes that music is the universal language that can be relayed in thousand languages but still understood by most people. It is a powerful communication tool that has the potential to motivate, encourage and inspire people
Linda, 43, is from Loniu village in Manus. She quit her job with Air Niugini last year to form her company called PacifiKanaka Music and Event Limited to organise events and find sponsors for them.
“I started this as a hobby. In my free time off from work at Air Niugini, I would organise gigs for artists and source sponsorships on their behalf from big companies to support artists during their tours.”
Her love of music, travelling and interacting with people from different backgrounds made her quit her job. She had worked for the Department of Foreign Affairs for nine years, and Air Niugini for 12 years.

“ I started this as a hobby. In my free time, I would organise gigs for artists and source sponsorships on their behalf from big companies to support them during tours.”

At Air Niugini, Linda was responsible for marketing, aviation management and managing ports.
Linda believes music can be used to address problems facing the people and country.
Her company supports community awareness campaigns and is willing to work with businesses and musicians to relay important messages such as gender-based violence and how to live peacefully and lovingly together as PNG people.
She deals with corporate clients by organising events mainly gigs, private and corporate events and community awareness programmes.
In 2017, she organised a tour for Tarvin Toune and six of his band members sponsored by the Kavieng Beach Resort.
In 2018, she did the same for Sai-Kay and Uralom Kania for a tour of Manus.
After registering her company in 2019, East New Britain eight-member band Junky was the first she worked with. The band travelled from Kokopo to Kimbe to perform.
The Covid-19 restrictions are currently hindering efforts to organise more events.
“I have been working on completing the Avorong tour with Junky to travel to other provinces to perform.”
She also hopes to own an entertainment studio with her brand merchandising products.
Linda also plans to form a music industry body to build a strong network and help honest, hardworking and striving musicians to excel in their careers professionally here and overseas. Linda is energetic and is always looking for innovative ideas on marketing concepts, and have strategies to benefit those involved at an event especially for advertising and promotion purposes.
She has worked hard to become what she is today. Her advice to young people is that no dream is too hard to conquer though there will be challenges to overcome.
“The best part of my job is seeing people happy and satisfied after attending an event and leaving with smiles on their faces.”