Damba di Dada

This song reminds me of Dungeon, the coastal town of  the state of Terengganu. A town with no shopping mall.

But with a beautiful beach. Perhaps the most beautiful beach in Malaysia.

I had been working for sometime by then, but may be only a year in Terengganu, when I decided to move from Kerteh. I had to commute daily as it was 30 km from office, but luckily I have friends to pool car with.

She was a not the most glamorest of singers in the late 80s. May be because she was not a looker, but I was caught by her voice and the Malay melodies of most of her songs. Her album has no killer song, but I must say most of her songs are candies to my ears.

A time when when rock music was the music of the time, so her keroncong and Malay melody laden songs were a breath of fresh air to me.

Then I was living in a kampung house - on stilt. 

Simple music for simple time.

Syed Haron - Songwriter/Composer Extraordinaire

"Tuan Syed Haron!" I called him,

He turned around, and I grabbed his hand and shook it. Not knowing me obviously, he was puzzled by the attention this stranger is giving him.

"Thank you for Hujan, thank you for Warisan and thank you for Hanya Lagu. I think Hanya Lagu is yours, right? " I said, while still holding his hand. (Hanya Lagu was his first composition for Sudirman that caught my attention in his first LP in 1978.)

"You remember alll his songs?" his wife exclaimed, listening intently to my monologue with her husband. "I was brought up with Sudir's songs, dan tentunya mesti ada lagu-lagu tuan Syed. Masa itu saya sekolah menengah." I replied.

He squealed in delight, obviously embarrassed by the attention, and clearly overwhelmed by the occasion. Being a humble man, suddenly he was surrounded by more and more people wanting to take pictures with him.

Hujan and Kepulanganku are probably his two best songs; they are a delight to my ears. Kau Akan Kembali, Tak Perlu Diucapkan and Hari Itu Dalam Kenangan were amongst the other many hits he had with his best buddy Sudirman. Untukmu is another pleasant song to me. Beautiful. Back then I would only know him by name, and had never seen his picture. They were all beautiful songs and I can only then admire this gifted songwriter.

Warisan has been used many times over, over many events and occasions, especially Merdeka day celebrations. Yes, I don't understand why he is not being recognized and rewarded by the government. He deserved better for sure. Lesser mortal had been rewarded much more.

Thank you again, tuan Syed Haron. Your songs live on in my mind, and I am sure I not exaggerating if I say in thousands others. Make that in million others!

The boys also memorializing the occasion with this picture

EPILOGUE

You can read my take on Kepulanganku here. Otherwise here is the song.




 Hari Itu Dalam Kenangan

I uploaded this song. Now with over 24,000 views and 77 likes.

This is the first song he penned. I like this song. It is close to my heart.

Kesempatan yang datang

They say one is given one chance in life. If you didn't take it, you'd lose it forever.

I am not sure to be honest. But I know if opportunity comes a-knocking, I wouldt complain of the noise. That's just me. [sigh].

But this song from Pelangi is a beautiful song about just that. I love the lyric and the melody. I love the piano arrangement. It touches my heart in 1987, and even today. When this song was popular, I had just gotten a job with the black gold company. While it has nothing to do with the lyric per se, but I remember spending 2 weeks for orientation at Bangi training centre - can't recall whether it was Maybank or another bank's training centre as Petronas in 1987 had not completed building its own.

Of course it was a testing time with Ops Lalang then, but we were too far from KL to see the impact. But I remember many of us at that orientation.

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