Friday, September 18, 2009

Tonic Chop Gajah Sangam Boys: Part 6 Advertisements.


The postings about Advertisements On Vinyl prompted a friend to send an article:

"Tonic Chop Gajah, which literally means Elephant Brand Tonic is an interesting vinyl and features a number of bands all singing about the virtues of the Tonic, which was very popular in Malaysia and Singapore in the 60s.

The performers are the Sangam Boys, Jabis 5, Vinnoli Music Party, and Kugiran 4 Sekawan. There are four tracks on the EP and all are sung in Malay, although the singers spell out the name of the Tonic in English.

                             Tonik Chop Gajah - Sangam Boys

The Sangam Boys are known to me mainly for backing other artists, such as S. Roha and Halim Yatim. A group called Vinnoli Music Party was still operating in Singapore in the early 2000s at Indian functions, and they might be the ones who do a more Indian sounding track.

There was an 4 Sekawan that backed some Malay singers in the 1960s. Jabis 5, of which I know nothing, could also be a band, or it might be the group of singers."

Could be the last posting in this series on advertisements. Thanks Steve!

(If I am not mistaken the Sangam Boys are also Tamil speakers. Please correct me if I am wrong because we have a large Tamil population in Singapore. I am not sure if they have produced records in Tamil.)
Image/Original article: Steve Farram Collection, Darwin, Australia; Eric Ching.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Andy, I grew up with this TONIC.
Brings tears of joy (and laughter) to my eyes.
Do you have a recording of the song??

ANDY: Pop Music Not Pills. © said...

I have been trying to get this record for the last two years but with no success.

I am still searching for it and know I will get one. If I do I shall certainly burn the songs on a CD for you.

Please leave me your e-mail address on the comment page and I shall erase it immediately after noting its content.

Thanks for visiting.

Anonymous said...

My father was one of the Sangam Boys.

ANDY: Pop Music Not Pills. © said...

Hi,
It's great to know.
Please feel free to write to me again providing your email address and phone number.
I shall not divulge your information on the blog but will return your message.
Would be nice if you can write an article about him?

Thank you.