Guest Blogger Ghaz shares "a fan's review of the 60an Pop Yeh Yeh Konsert at Istana Budaya"

"The recent Chinese New Year holiday was a quiet week for me and my wife. Most of our weekend was spent at our family's place. After a small family kendoori, somehow my wife reminded me about the Pop Yeh Yeh concert to be held at Istana Budaya, the national Palace of Culture which has become the pride of our country. She insisted that I try booking for tickets for both of us through the Internet, but after a few attempts, I failed.

Eventually, that Saturday night, we tried our luck by dropping by the Palace's booking counter, just to check if there were still some tickets available for sale. The staff told me that the RM 80 - tickets were sold out, but the rest above that price were still available. I managed to get two tickets worth RM 123 each (which were discounted from the actual RM 160) for the final Sunday show. Before I left, I grabbed a book called Sejarah Muzik Melayu Semenjak 1940an written by Yusnor Ef, the famous lyricist of Malay pop songs from Singapore, in which a CD of old Malay songs from the featured decade was included was included in a sleeve on the last page! I was hoping that Cikgu Yusnor would turn up to sign his autograph the following night.

The big day came when we returned to Istana Budaya, where we met lots of people. Unlike those who brought along their parents (or their grandparents), we were the only young couple in our 30s who came on our own to enjoy the best music of the past! I just hope that with a little bit of investment for our attire to meet the Palace's strict dress code, it would be the best show for us.

After a long wait, the comedian Abon as the host for the show announced, "Here they are - A. Halim and De Fictions!!!". The crowd started to roar with full excitement... then Halim began his renditions of Salam Mesra, followed by Doa Dan Harapan and Kisah Dan Tauladan. Based on his introduction of the members of the band, I learned that most of them were not the original line-up, as my indirect relative Abdul Wahid Haron, being the original drummer, did not turn up.

Next came The Strangers who began their performance by playing a tune of The Shadows, which is to me, very impressive. Their vocalist, A. Rahman Onn, sang Cincin Emas, Peracun Kalbu and Aku Nak Pulang.

Then, J. Sham and The Wanderers took the stage, where I could see both the singer and the band members were very energetic in their performance. The act by Wanderers' bassist Haji Latiff, with his "professor" grey-hair-long-beard look, excited me most with his showy guitar playing gimmics amazed the crowd. Sham made full use of his long breath and strong powerful voice to sing Ku Akan Pulang, Di Pinggir Kali and Suratku Untukmu.

As a first interval, the audience were entertained by dance performance by Istana Budaya's dancers, following the recorded version of the late M. Osman's Suzana.

The Rythmn 60s made their turn to accompany Roziah Latiff (for Aku Kecewa and Cinta Pertama), Fatimah M. Amin (Di Manakah Bahagia and Alam Seni) and A. Roszaini a.k.a. "A. Ramlie's Clone" (Kenangan Mengusik Jiwa, Oh Fatimah and Dendang Anak Tani). I was a little bit disappointed that Roziah forgot the first lines of Aku Kecewa, while Fatimah did not sing her own signature tune Oh Teruna. Nevertheless, the disappointment was relieved when Roszaini managed to get the crowd's attention for his exact resemblance to Ramlie, both in terms of appearance and the voice.

Another interval was held in replacement of Kassim Selamat who could not make it for the show due to poor health, where the Palace's dancers played their role once again to perform La-O-Be. Abon played his tricks again by requesting the audience to sing along this number, which they did willingly!

Before that, Zam Zam and his band The Twillites performed their best hit numbers Bibir Mesra Jiwa Parah, Setahun Tak Jumpa Sesaat Tak Lupa and Senandong Teruna Merantau. Clad in a uniquely-designed black-and-white striped outfit, Zam Zam brought to us his encounter with the famous lyricist (the late) Salamah Basiron, who wrote many Pop Yeh Yeh songs which hit the top charts then, including those assigned to him for recording.

Then came the three singers whose names are regarded as the pioneers of Pop Yeh Yeh. The tarbus-wearing Datuk L. Ramli and his accompanying band Orkes Teruna Ria entertained us with Ayahku Kahwin Lagi, Selengkar Melor, Siapa Bilang Aku Tak Sayang and Dara Pujaan. While performing his last song, a female in the audience (a Muslim-convert Filipino from Singapore) decorated Ramli with a garland. As Ramli was very touched by her high respect, he invited her to be with him till the end of the song. The lovely young girl was so touched by his gentlemanly gestures that she was seen brimming with tears.

After another comedy talk by Abon, then appeared Orkes Nirwana featuring Datuk A. Rahman Hassan, his wife Datin Azizah Muhammad and their son, Khairul Ilmi, the band's Mr. Tambourine Man. Azizah looked very ill till she had to be attended by Ilmi and Abon, but she still remained strong to sing Syurga Idaman and Bahagialah Hendaknya, though she had been advised to perform only one song by her husband before the show as she is in recuperating process. Upon the request by the audience, Rahman and his son Ilmi sang a medley of their hits - Perpaduan Hidup, Semoga Berjaya, Aku Kan Pergi, Harapanku, Bimbang, Hanya Untukmu and Hanya Laguku - before concluding with Tak Mengapa in full, with the audience themselves helping out in the chorus. Meanwhile, he announced a good news that the Johor State Government had agreed to include Pop Yeh Yeh as its musical heritage, from which a proper documentation of this genre will be seriously be carried out for such purpose.

Datuk Jeffridin was indeed the crowd-puller, who concluded the show with Termenung, Kenanganku and Siti Haida, backed by The Siglap Five. It was strategically arranged that he became the last performer so that the crowd remained in the hall till the end.

After a brief closing ceremony led by the Palace's Director-General and his wife, I joined the rest of the crowd to get the autographes from each singer. Except for Fatimah M. Amin and A. Halim, I managed to meet the singers personally to introduce myself and take their autographs.

L. Ramli's signature filled in the most of my book's inner cover. Jeffridin was so impressed knowing that I work at a place where he used to operate a canteen. A. Rahman Onn was happy to know that I used to live at a place very close to his restaurant. Besides being busy taking photographs with his fans, J. Sham was kind enough to give his autograph to me. A. Roszaini continued to impersonate his idol when I met him to get his autograph. Roziah Latiff was delighted to meet my wife, whom since our marriage, has learned to appreciate my favourite music.

"What? How could you trace me so far till my hometown just to hear my voice? Hehehehe!" That was Zam Zam's response when I told him that I used to bump into him in the bathroom of Joo Chiat Complex at Singapore's Geylang Serai.

The response by A. Rahman Hassan and his family touched me the most. As he and my dad used to be our mosque's muezzins, he told me to send his regards to my dad and the rest of my family. Although her health was not that good, Azizah still had her strength to see me, while their son Ilmi greeted me with a sincere smile, knowing that we used to live in the same neighbourhood and learned in the same religious class conducted by our mosque during our childhood days.

Indeed, this is the first time in my life attending a marvellous Pop Yeh Yeh show, after spending 27 years admiring the music and its most skillful, talented performers that the Malay entertainment circuit ever has."

Ghaz, KL - January 24, 2012


(A special thank you to Ghaz for sharing his memories of this wonderful night with us here.... )


>>>>>

And here's another account of the show published in the Straits Times.


Check out some really wonderful PHOTOS from meportal.net

two versions of Tan Sri P Ramlee's "twist" influenced "Bunyi Guitar"

Film version:


and a faster soundtrack version:


Thanks to Zainal for pointing out that there are indeed two versions of this song!

Cliff Richard and the Shadows

Cliff Richard and the Shadows probably had the all-time greatest western impact on Malay rock groups in the 60s.
Here's a scene from the 1961 romantic film he starred in called "The Young Ones" . Aside from their many hits led by singer Cliff Richard, The Shadows band also recorded many instrumental surf "a go go" style tunes (similar to The Ventures).

Les Fentones in the classic film "Play Boy" - 1967

** UPDATE **


 Guest Blogger Ghaz writes: 


"Dear Carl,

Your posting on Les Fentonnes on your blog is very interesting.

The lead vocalist appeared on the film Playboy (1967) is the late A. Karim Jais. Prior to their appearance on the film, Karim had also cut a few EPs with the said band in June 1966, and among the hits include Bahagia Menjelma , Julaida and Si-Dara Jelita. Karim did a remake of his songs in a compilation abum 30 years later, but this time it was done with ZZ'Exprezz, a Singaporean band who make its recordings using the original 60s equipment. Prior to his death, Karim used to work as a manager for the Singapore’s famous Satay House.

Besides Karim, the late M. Osman also used to record with Les Fentonnes for his songs Kaseh Berduka and Mawarku Pergi. The only female vocalist for Les Fentonnes was Fatimah H.S.

Les Fentonnes also recorded as themselves, where the lead guitarist Manaf Ahmad (a.k.a. A. Manaf) sang their famous number Di-Sa’at Bahagia.

You can check these songs on YouTube. Enjoy the music!

Warmest regards,

Ghaz, KL"

another great Saloma song -- with a Latin/South American influence

Just for fun, as a side note, since Ghaz's post has inspired me to start watching all the P Ramlee and Saloma videos I can find, I'm adding this video (which is not Twist related at all) showing the influence of Latin/South American dance music in Malaysia at the time....



Oh, check out the Western Electric/Altec 639A/B microphone in the shot there!!!! all time classic microphone!

TWIST-LAH LAGI! (LET'S TWIST AGAIN!)

Another great piece of excellent scholarly musical commentary from our groovy pal in Malaysia, Chubby Ghaz:

Ghaz writes:

The Twist has always been my favourite 60s rhtyhm since I was 9. In one of my mom's cassette collections, two of Chubby Checker's hits - Let's Twist Again and The Twist - were the ones that I loved most. Another Chubby's tune which has always been included in the oldies selection both in Malaysia and Singapore is Limbo Rock.



Quite a number of times, my younger sister and I would be asked to perform this dance for our occassional family gatherings. Eventually, one of my closest friends recommended a nickname for me - Chubby Ghaz - which I'm still using today in my cyber-communications!

Between 1962 and (at least) the early part of 1966, Twist music was incorporated into many Malay songs, after the leading composers learned about its popularity.

Here are some of them:

AZIZ JAAFAR & NORMADIAH - Jangan Menjeling (Don't Stare)
[from the film Jeritan Batinku (The Cry Of My Soul) -1962]



SALOMA - Selamat Pengantin Baru (Best Wishes For The Wedding Couple)
[from the film Madu Tiga (The Three Wives) - 1964]



P. RAMLEE - Bunyi Gitar (The Guitar Sound)
[from the film Tiga Abdul (The Three Abduls) -1964]



P. RAMLEE - Ai Ai Ai Twist
[from the film Masam Masam Manis (Sour But Sweet) -1965]



M. BAKRI & THE SWALLOWS' COMBO - Malaysia Baru (A New Malaysia) [1965]



M. BAKRI & THE ANTARTICS - Pelita Hati (A Light For My Heart) [1966]



Enjoy the music!

Chubby Ghaz
Kuala Lumpur


(THANKS AGAIN TO CHUBBY GHAZ for sharing his wonderful insights with us on this blog !!! -- Carl )

Doo Wop influence in Malaysia in the 1960s

In this post, KL based Pop Yeh Yeh/Malay music scholar, Ghaz, shares with us his analysis of the immense influence that Doo Wop had on early groups of the 1960s in Malaysia (before pop yeh yeh was born)

Ghaz writes:

"Lately, somehow, I have been yearning for a switch in my music listening back to the English 60s songs. Last year, I bought a 5-CD set containing altogether 100 songs of the decade, but it was left idle on my shelf for so long. So, I put a stop for a while my routine listening to Klasik Nasional FM and those Malay 60s songs CD in my car and instead, lent my ears to these ones while driving to work.

James' Brown's I Feel Good, Mamas' & Papas' California Dreaming, The Four Tops' Reach Out, I'll Be There, Spencer Davis' Group Keep On Running and The Supremes' Stop! In The Name of Love had in fact made me very energized. There are other hits of course, which I believe you have heard them back in your country. It's just regretted that The Platters were not included in this collection, which made a little bit frustrated ....

I was introduced to The Platters in 1983 (I was 9 then) by my aunt when she bought their cassette that year. The Canadian-based doo-wop group really amazed me, till I could listen to their numbers as a lullaby! You'll be surprised that theyq did influence the Malay pop arena in the early 1960s. This was how the story goes.

Sometimes in the mid-1950s, one of the Platters' members went to Singapore and paid a courtesy visit to the Shaw Brothers' Malay Film Production studio, where P. Ramlee acted, directed many of the films there and wrote the songs for the film soundtracks. They managed to meet each other and discussed a lot on each other's involvement in music. Ramlee had always wanted to inject some improvement to his compositions, and eventually he adopted the doo-wop tune to his next series of songs. How it was done?

With Ramlee himself as the group leader, he teamed up with his pupil Kassim Masdor plus their colleagues in the studio - Aziz Jaafar, Noormadiah, Ahmad Daud and Ahmad C. to set up a singing group similar to The Platters whom he named Pancha Si-Tara (The Five Stars in Sanskrit, an ancient Indian language). The group had its own radio programme of the same name in 1960, besides having their songs recorded between that year and 1962, and become the guest stars in the film Labu & Labi (1962).

To maintain professionalism, Ramlee made a rule that none of the guys in Pancha Si-Tara could be in love with the female singer. However, the rule was broken when Aziz Jaafar married Noormadiah in 1961, leading to their withdrawal from the group. At the same year, Ramlee wedded Saloma, whom he later brought in to replace Noormadiah, and Ramlee took over Aziz's role as the leading male vocalist!

Like The Platters, Pancha Si-Tara also changed their lines-up twice following the death of P. Ramlee and Saloma. The second line-up were completely new members and recorded their cover versions of the original songs, but the team did not last long. However, the third line-up maintained most of the original line-up, with Ramlee's son Nasir taking over his role; Noormadiah replacing Saloma, and comedian veteran actor Aziz Sattar replacing Ahmad C.

I enclose below some selected audio and videoclips of Pancha Si-Tara for your easy listening and viewing. The audios featured Aziz Jaafar as the leading vocalist, while the video was an excerpt from the film Labu & Labi featuring Saloma as the leading vocalist.

BILA LARUT MALAM - PANCHA SI-TARA featuring SALOMA (P. RAMLEE in WHITE SUIT) - from the film LABU & LABI (1962)



AKU MENANGIS - PANCHA SI-TARA featuring AZIZ JAAFAR (1960)



Meanwhile, the success of the ladies group in the US such as The Shirelles, The Ronnettes and The Supremes were also admired both in Malaysia and Singapore that time. A ladies' group called Tiga Bidara (Three Charmers) was set up, consisting of Alina Rahman, Fatimah Huri and Fazidah Joned and they made their debut LP in 1963. In this album, they performed as a group on one side of the record, while for the other side, each singer recorded two songs each. They also recorded their own individual EPs, too. Fatimah Huri and Fazidah Joned recorded their respective songs with John Lee Orchestra between 1963 and 1965, while Alina had a longer stint - with Johen Lee Orchestra (1963 - 1965), The Bateks (1966), The Rollies (1967) and Band Irmadu (early 1970s.)

Enclosed below Tiga Bidara's hit called I Love You, which is adapted from a traditional Thai music called ramvong .

I LOVE YOU - TIGA BIDARA (1963)



I hope that you'll enjoy them, and continue to learn how the Malay pop tunes emergered and transformed throughout the years. Cheerio!

Sincerely
Ghaz, KL "