Filed under: Malaysia
When I finally decided to start hunting down the vinyl that would eventually become this website, this record was in the first batch, along with a S. Hazarasingh record and a very odd album of Thai Modernized Music… Actually, that’s a lie. My first batch of records were three Chang Siao Ying albums. I don’t count them, because I no longer have those. But this was definitely the first seven inch single of non-Western pop music. And as you can tell, I bought it solely for the cover.
The seven inch single has to be the perfect format. It’s short and to the point. If you are musician and you are only going to be able to record two (maybe three or four) songs, you’re definitely going to pick you’re ‘A’ material. And the cover… I think some of the greatest artwork ever conceived has measured only seven by seven inches square.
In this day of mp3s and i-tunes, the long playing album seems to be losing the battle. There appears to be a shift back to the single, now that the record companies have figured out a way to sell you just one song (with no manufacturing expenses). To be honest, I have never really been a huge fan of the LP. On most albums, there is always some filler. Maybe it’s because I have such a short attention span, I don’t know. And the advent of the CD player only made skipping those songs that were only “so-so” into a nervous twitch. Next.
As for A. Romzi dan The Hooks, they were part of the “Pop Yeh-Yeh” movement of Malaysia and Singapore at the time. They recorded a handful of singles, this one being their first and most popular. A. Romzi later became a solo artist, and released records into the Seventies.
Catalog number EGEP. 626 on Parlophone / EMI of Singapore, released 1967.
Filed under: Malaysia
♬ Setia
♬ Teroda
The Barons were from Johor Baharu, Malaysia.
Johor Baharu, also spelled Johor Bahru, Johor Baru, or Johore Bahru and abbreviated as JB, is the capital city of Johor in southern Malaysia. It is within walking distance from Singapore, and is one of the largest cities in Malaysia.
I haven’t been able to find any information about the band. As far as I know, this is their only single. I do know that the band members were: Eluna Edrus on vocals, Azmi Mohamed Khir on lead guitar, Adnan Mohamed on rhythm guitar, Mohamed Matta Abdullah on bass and Aziz Mohamed Khir on drums.
If you have any information, please contact me.
Catalog number KSEP 5002 White Horse Record of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. No release date listed.
Filed under: Malaysia
The Planets were apparently from Malacca, which is southern region of the Malay Peninsula, on the Straits of Malacca, in Malaysia.
I have not been able to find any information about the band.
If you have any information, please contact me.
Catalog number TWEP – 201 on Tai Wah Record Co. No other information available.
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Since this posting, I have been contacted by Leo Playa. His uncle Anton Thomas, who most people called “Sonny”, was the lead guitarist of the band. Sonny passed away in July of 2009.
Filed under: Malaysia
Los Caballeros were from Malaysia.
Malaysia is a federation of 13 states in Southeast Asia. The name “Malaysia” was adopted in 1963 when the Federation of Malaya (Malay: Persekutuan Tanah Melayu) Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak formed a 14-state federation. Singapore withdrew from Malaysia in 1965 to become an independent country.
The country consists of two geographical regions divided by the South China Sea:
- Peninsular Malaysia (or West Malaysia) on the Malay Peninsula shares a land border on the north with Thailand and is connected by the Johor-Singapore Causeway and the Malaysia-Singapore Second Link to the south with Singapore. It consists of nine sultanates (Johor, Kedah, Kelantan, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Perak, Perlis, Selangor and Terengganu), two states headed by governors (Malacca and Penang), and two federal territories (Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur).
- Malaysian Borneo (or East Malaysia) occupies the northern part of the island of Borneo, bordering Indonesia and surrounding the Sultanate of Brunei. It consists of the states of Sabah and Sarawak and the federal territory of Labuan.
Although politically dominated by the Malays, modern Malaysian society is heterogeneous, with substantial Chinese and Indian minorities. Malaysian politics have been noted for their allegedly communal nature; the three major component parties of the Barisan Nasional each restrict membership to those of one ethnic group. The only major violence the country has seen since independence was the May 13 racial riots in the wake of an election campaign based on racial issues. Nonetheless, Malaysia is considered to be a model of racial harmony
A small number of Eurasians, of mixed Portuguese and Malay descent, speak a Portuguese-based creole, called Papiá Kristang. There are also Eurasians of mixed Malay and Spanish descent, mostly in Sabah. Descended from immigrants from the Philippines, some speak Chavacano, the only Spanish-based creole language in Asia. This may explain the name of the band, and the fact that they use the word “señor”.
As far as I know, Los Caballeros only released one other single. And with the esception of this song, all of the other songs on this record are covers of Western songs performed in English.
If you have any information, please contact me.
Catalog number FL 121 on Tung Po Records. No other information available.
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Since this posting, I have been contacted by Massimiliano Tittarelli. Here’s what he had to say:
Dracula It’s a cover in broken Italian of Renato Rascel – Dracula cha-cha. Closing theme of the movie Tempi Duri Per I Vampiri (aka Uncle was a Vampire, 1959) starring Christopher Lee in person. I’m just wondering how this song landed in Malaysia… here’s the movie dubbed in English https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RswjXaMMrNM or here the final in the original Italian version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8BWIPfNGhQ on youtube you can find also a version by the famous Italian crooner Bruno Martino.
Radiodiffusion Internasionaal Annexe 