Timor Leste’s President Dr Jose Ramos Horta has presented Melbourne band ska, soul, reggae band The Dili Allstars with a prestigious Order of Timor Leste medal.
The Order of Timor-Leste (Portuguese: Ordem de Timor-Leste) is the highest honour currently awarded by Timor-Leste. Established in 2009, the order was created after the original honours granted by Timor-Leste. It is of a more general and broader nature than the original orders related to Timor-Leste’s independence. The order recognises the contributions of East Timorese and foreign nationals who have made a significant contribution to Timor-Leste, the Timorese or Mankind in general.
The Dili Allstars were formed in 1993 when Paulie Stewart (of the band Painters and Dockers) met East Timorese musician Gil Santos (of reggae band The Natural Mystics) and the two decided to record a song to protest the capture of East Timorese resistance leader Xanana Gusmão by Indonesian armed forces.
This song was a version of Rose Tattoo‘s ‘We Can’t Be Beaten’, sung in both Tetum and English. Both Santos and Stewart had had a long involvement with the East Timor struggle as they had lost a father and a brother, respectively, in the Indonesian invasion of 1975.
Before the 1999 Independence referendum, the band recorded the original track ‘Liberdade’ and six other songs in response to hearing that the Governor of East Timor was playing pro-Indonesian songs at Dili airport. With the help of Melbourne University students, 500 tapes were smuggled into East Timor. The songs had wide exposure during the lead up to the election, and remain strong in the Timorese memory today.
After the referendum, Xanana Gusmão visited Melbourne and joined the Allstars on stage to sing `Liberdade’ at the National Tennis Centre. At this stage the band included Stewart, Santos and East Timorese members Paulo Almeida and Nelito Ribero. Australian trombonist/vocalist Sonja Parkinson and saxophone player Jenny Pineapple were also in the line up amongst others.
‘Liberdade’ was later included, also in 1999, on a Mushroom Records compilation (also titled ‘Liberdade’) which Santos and Stewart helped to compile. This compilation also featured Midnight Oil, Crowded House, and Yothu Yindi, and went on to raise $100,000 for East Timor.
Three other compilation albums were produced made by the pair – ‘Love From a Short Distance’ (1996), ‘All in the Family’ (1993) and “Hau Abut: I Am Woman’’ (2008), which raised funds for poor farmers, war widows, educational scholarships and medical expenses for thousands of East Timorese.
Because of the band’s long term involvement with East Timor, the Dili Allstars were invited to appear with popular Australian performers John Farnham, Doc Neeson, The Living End and Kylie Minogue at the Tour of Duty concert, which was attended by thousands of peace keeping troops and viewed by many more on Australian television in 1999.
Shortly after the concert, the Dili Allstars released their first major album, Hanoin, which included ‘Liberdade’, ‘Freedom’ and The Living End song ‘Revolution Regained’, which The Living End had requested the Allstars record a version of. This later in ended up on The Living End’s single Dirty Man.
In 2002 The Dili Allstars were special guests and Australia’s official representatives at Timor Leste’s major independence concert with bands from Portugal and all over Timor Leste.
The band later toured Portugal in 2003 as guests of the Portuguese Communist Party appearing at the prestigious AVANTE Festival and at club shows in Lisbon and Sintra.
The band consolidated their position with the 2004 album release, “Viva La Musica’’ and by this stage had been joined by new drummer Mark Grunden. The album remained true to the band’s protest roots (‘Rise Up’, ‘Peace & Unity’ and ‘Advance Australia Where?’), their East Timorese heritage (with traditional Timorese song ‘O Hele Le’ included as the first track and as a reprise) and their growing reputation as a party band (‘That Girl’, ‘Thank You Mama’).
The Dili Allstars’ profile was raised further when band members acted in, and provided music for the two-part, 2006 Australian/Canadian mini-television series Answered by Fire. The series dramatised the conflicts surrounding the 1999 East Timor referendum and the struggle for independence.
Driven by the civil crisis in both East Timor and the Northern Territory Aboriginal communities, the Dili Allstars released the “Increase the Peace’’ album in 2006.
Stewart and Gil Santos were later employed as musical consultants on the 2009 major film, Balibo. The Dili Allstars then performed at East Timor’s first ever media awards, along with Osme Gonsalves and Mali from The Galaxy Band
A new line-up of the Dili Allstars, including ex-Daddy Cool guitarist Ross Hannaford, original members Nelito Riberio (bass), and Mark Grunden (drums), Painters and Dockers‘ trumpet player Dave Pace, and sax player Clare Murrell, Balibo movie actor and rapper Osme Gonsalves, percussionist Zeca Mesquita, Gil Santos and Paulie Stewart went into the ABC studios at Southbank in Melbourne to record a new version of the Graham Parker punk classic “Hey Lord Don’t Ask Me Questions”.
In their roles as musical consultants, Santos and Stewart later accepted the 2009 ARIA award for “Best Soundtrack” album. While working on the Balibo movie soundtrack the two met members of the Alma Nuns and have gone onto become major fundraisers for the Sisters who tend to hundreds of disabled and abandoned children for the past 12 years.
On four seperate occasions the Sisters have visited Australia on fundraising tours enabling them to improve their facilities and spread the range of their work with over $250,000 raised. On each of these visits the Sisters have been accompanied at their school presentations by Dili Allstar members.
In 2010, members of The Dili Allstars visited Papua New Guinea and USA to talk about the band’s work. Band members Stewart and Santos also attended and performed at the São Paulo Film Festival in Brazil to support the screening of Balibo. It was later voted by the public as “most popular” film at the film festival.
Later that year, ABC Music approached the band to release a career retrospective, The Best of the Dili Allstars.
2020 Members of Dili Allstars met up with Governor General Sir Peter Cosgrove former head of Australian Army to celebrate 20th anniversary of the TOUR OF DUTY concert held for Australian and New Zealand troops.
In 2021 Dili Allstars members took part in a new exhibition for Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance, “Changed Forever: Legacies of Conflict,’’ that interweaved stories of migrants from war-torn countries and recent veterans of overseas service, reflecting the range and depth of experiences of conflict.
The exhibition was based on a collection of oral histories undertaken by the Shrine with Australian Defence Force veterans of recent conflicts and peacekeeping operations, and migrants to Australia who have come here because of conflict.
It explored the impacts of global and civil conflict in changing lives and shaping contemporary Australia. The stories were enhanced with art, objects, photographs, audio-visuals and interactives and one of these stories features the experiences of Dili Allstars members Zeca (Jose) Mesquita and Paulie Stewart OAM who, together with the band launched this important exhibition.
At Memo Music Hall St Kilda on May 2022 The Dili Allstars performed at a huge concert to mark the 20 year Anniversary of Timor Leste’s Independence from Indonesian occupation. Also on the bill the Timor Leste Students Choir, and Cisco & Son.
In early 2023 members of the Dili Allstars teamed up with traditional cultural group “Timor Oan Australia’’ to perform at the Womadelaide Festival. Band member Paulo Almeida has also represented the band and Timor Leste at several international World Music Conventions.
Late 2023 Gil Santos and Paulie Stewart from Dili Allstars accompanied members of the Australian art collective KISS MY ART to Timor Leste and performed as a duo at a large mural unveiling completed with the help of local artists.
In September 2024 The Dili Allstars were flown to Timorese Leste by the Government there to perform for hundreds of peace keeping veterans at the Presidential Palace.
2025 The Dili Allstars played the headline spot on the main stage at Melbourne’s Moomba Festival in front of a crowd of thousands.