Radiodiffusion Internasionaal Annexe

♬ Indah Permai

My knowledge of the music scene in Brunei has always been pretty limited. What little information I do know has been gleaned from the handful of records that I have – and the covers to those records tend to have more questions than answers. This one is a prime example: Was everybody from Brunei? Or just the band Brothers 5? Or Mariam Abdulla? Or was it just Muhammed-Hj. Yassin?

Well, as luck would have it, I have recently been in contact with Ross Laird. He is the author of the book From Keroncong to Xinyao: The Record industry in Singapore 1903-1985 – and is pretty much a walking encyclopedia of the music of Southeast Asia. Here’s what he had to say:

It was not uncommon for singers from Brunei recording in Singapore to be backed by local bands. I suppose it was expensive for artists from Brunei to travel to Singapore and they sometimes came on their own and made records backed by Singapore bands. There were no recording studios in Brunei at that time, so all artists from there had to come to Singapore. However, the records were definitely marketed in Brunei (as well as Singapore) and I think they mention Brunei for that reason.

As for this record, it was probably just Muhammed-Hj. Yassin who was from Brunei.

If you have any further information about these artists, anything else about this recording, or anything about the music scene in Brunei – please leave it in the comment section below.

Catalog number URE-504 on Union Record of Malaysia. Release 1970.