Raikanlah kepulanganku

Entah mengapa tiba-tiba hati saya tiba-tiba berdetak, dan sedetik kemudian, mata saya berkaca. Suaranya terlalu sayu, seakan merayu. Lamenting on his fate.

I have not heard this song for a long time. Since the demise of vinyl in the early 80s, I have only bought cassette everytime he came up with a new album. But cassettes do not have a long life span and I have no no idea where the cassettes are - Orang Baru and Orang Kampung. When it comes to the cassettes, I did not treat them with the greatest of care, like I would with my vinyls.

Taken from Mesin Taip Buruk.

Orang Kampung was released in 1986, the year I came back from my studies in Melbourne, Australia. Orang Kampung was a gem of an album. Salam Terakhir, and Dimanakah Nilai Cintamu became a favourite of mine. I love this and I am still hoping that EMI would release it as a whole and not as compilation.

I have nearly forgotten this song until late last week. And now I am playing this song 10 times a day (in the last 3 days).

Aaah, the lyric. It was so apt then, and I can still feel the brunt of it. The lyric team of Syed Haron, Sudirman and Habsah Hassan did a wonderful job and coupled with the musical genius that was Syed Haron as the songwriter, I could not help but listened dengan mata berkaca.

Did I feel that way in 1986 when I was returning home? I have no idea now - most likely not since I would not have known this song by then, but in 2010, it is another story. The emotion that he evokes from this song is phenomenal. It is so sad, isn't it? Twenty five years on, I can still feel the sadness the song evokes.

Raikanlah kepulanganku
yang sentiasa mengharap cintamu

Begitulah harapan hati
kau menyambut kepulangan ku nanti
Tapi ku tahu itu hanya impianku
tak mungkin kau ada di situ

Selama aku dirantauan
tercabar kasih dan kesetiaan
kau bukan lagi kasih yang ku tinggal dulu
yang setia menungguku

kau titiskan airmata pilu
ku terharu merenung wajahmu
kiranya itu kali yang terakhir
aku menatap wajah seoprang kekasih

tiada air mata bahagia
tiada yang menyambut ku tiba
tapi mataku terus mencari-cari
dengan hati yang merintih

Raikanlah kepulanganku

yang sentiasa mengharap cintamu

(Syed Haron/Sudirman)
Orang Kampung, 1986
EMI

EPILOGUE

1986 was special. I had just completed my engineering degree (in late 1985), and after a couple of months working at a warehouse in Melbourne in Australia (and a restaurant in Sydney) -  in order  to save some money, I was ready to go home, and home I did  return to in April 1986. I still remember the journey home reasonably well. I am not sure if it was the modus operandi then, but MARA got me a business class ticket - something I had not expected that I had to call the travel agent to ensure they had given me the right ticket. Obviously for someone who had always sat at the back of the plane, and years of living on Mars Bar, it was an honour then.

But I did try to change it as I wouldn't be flying back home alone this time around, and I was feeling guilty to be at the front end of the plane while she was at the back. No lah, nothing like that as returning journey home with me, after 5 years in Australia, would be Mak and the youngest two of my sibling, who had arrived about two weeks earlier.

With Mak, and my two youngest sibling in tow at the back of the plane (after two week holidaying in Sydney and Melbourne, courtesy of months of toiling in the warehouse), we left Melbourne Airport for Subang with such high hopes. I don't remember at all who was the airport but I am sure many were waiting for our return, after all it was Mak first trip abroad, a mere two years after the demise of bapak.

And, now I can see the context of this song clearly in the album that was released in 1986. Obviously I only knew of this song after I had been back in Kuala Lumpur, so I could not be singing this songs in the business section's entertainment unit of MAS.