Dr. Goh Keng Swee: 1918 - 2010. The Complete Man And His Love For Music - 91 Years Young

Dr. Goh Keng Swee passed away on Friday, 14th May, 2010:

"'With very innovative ideas. I mean, could you imagine a Scottish Bagpipe Band in Singapore - with all Singapore girls?' President SR Nathan (Chapter 9, page: 171)." When so much has been written about him, how does one pay tribute to one of the main pillars of modern Singapore? And how does one pay tribute to a great man on an insignificant Singapore 60s music blog? I shall try.

Dr. Goh Keng Swee has passed on at 91 years young. When I was reading the book about him (image) by daughter-in-law Tan Siok Sun, I found insights on his love for both popular and classical music. Chapters 2 and 9 are entitled: 'Love in a Time of War' (halcyon days) and 'The Complete Man' (let music be the food of love).

Ballroom Dancing.

"When he was not in school attending lectures and tutorials, or writing essays, he was out attending social functions or visiting the cinema with his male and female friends. He even took an interest in ballroom dancing, spending quite a bit of time patronising the dance halls at the New World and Great World cabarets with his favourite partners. Still GKS (Dr. Goh) was not as light of foot on the dance floor... (page: 35)." I am certain he enjoyed 40, 50s and 60s dance music and the big band sound because that's what they played at these cabarets.

Dr. Goh grew up in a musical environment and as his elder sister Ida Goh (my former school principal) played the piano, he had tried to play the accordion. "Though he enjoyed popular music of his time, his interest in classical music endured throughout his life... (page: 178)." And when he travelled on official business to cities renowned for their great orchestras, Dr. Goh would "invariably ask to attend a concert" as he, "enjoyed these diverting interludes very much. (page: 178)."

2. The Singapore Symphony Orchestra makes its debut performance in January 1979.

In fact, Dr. Goh encouraged the establishment of a small symphony orchestra, "not merely to entertain converted music lovers but to educate Singaporeans in good musical taste..." a special effort to be "directed towards more promising materials such as school children... ( page: 179)." And as Dr. Goh envisaged, The Singapore Symphonia Orchestra Company was formed in 1978 and its first concert was on January 24th, 1979 at the Singapore Conference Hall (image 2).

There was also the Music and Drama Company which he initiated at the Singapore Armed Forces and the setting up of a theatre for Cantonese Opera at his Kreta Ayer constituency in 1969 (page: 177). They were blueprints in his mind but he made them a reality. And, as he said himself, he wasn't a dreamer but a visionary.

Well, I stayed on the music theme and had quotes about a fabulous founding father. I try... Comments?

3. Dr. Goh with Singapore's first PM Lee Kuan Yew and Mrs. Lee.

 Images: 1. Book cover from amazon.com
             2. http://pianofortephilia.blogspot.sg
             3. kentridgecommon.com

Extracts from: "Goh Keng Swee - A Portrait" by Tan Siok Sun. Editions Didier Millet/SNP Security Printing Pte Ltd (2007). This quotations from this posting is only a fraction of the book about the brilliant architect of Singapore's economy. One truly honourable man.

Original article: Andy Lim.

Falcons: Road Shows And Recordings (Part VI)

Article is written in good faith and part of Joseph Chin's articles on The Fabulous Falcons:

"In 1965, we toured with Rocky Teoh, the Elvis Presley of Malaysia in our road shows within Malaysia and for one road show in Singapore. In this one show in Singapore we performed alongside some of the leading bands from Singapore like The Quests . It was during this show that an untoward incident happened and the Singapore audience, being territorial, booed us throughout our whole performance. This didn’t go down well with our own Malaysian fans. Later the action of the Singaporean audience will backfire.

Later, The Quests from Singapore had a show with some other Singaporean artistes in St John’s Hall in Ipoh. Of course the Malaysian fans had not forgotten the ugly incident when Rocky Teoh and The Fabulous Falcons performed in Singapore a few months back. Halfway through the performance of The Quests, the crowd got really rowdy and uncontrollable and starting booing and taunting the band.

As a consequence, the show had to be called off and they had to be escorted back to their hotels. This was an incident I would rather forget, but somehow the story of this one incident, will be the one thing everyone wants to hear when I mention about the band much later on in my life.

Somewhere in mid-1965, we did a recording in Kinetex Studio in Singapore. It was my first recording with the band although for the rest of them, it was their second recording (the first one being Midnight Express). We spent several days in Singapore where we befriended Vernon Cornelius of The Checkmates, a Singapore band. We recorded 4 songs on two singles. Mayflower and Hotspot on one record and Lonely Star and Misty Breeze (image) on the other.

We were disappointed that we were not allowed to use our own amplifiers as it was a requirement of the studio that we use theirs. As a result we actually didn’t get the sound we wanted. That was a big let down for us. This was something that we were sore about but had to contend with.

Though we were disappointed that offers from renowned recording labels never came our way, and record sales for our singles were not up to expectations, we were still proud of the fact that we were recording artistes, at a tender age of seventeen. On hindsight now, I guess it was down to poor or non-existent advertising on the part of our band as we were inexperienced and lacked managerial expertise. (Joseph Chin)"

Click: Fabulous Falcons to read the series on this blog. For his full memoirs read Joseph Chin's Travelling Foodie and The Falcons blog:

http://thefabulousfalcons.blogspot.com/

Lena Horne: Love Me Or Leave Me, Stormy Weather. The Lady Has Left...

Lena Horne (1917 - 2010). One of the musical greats from the 30s she was into broadway, traditional pop and jazz all the way. Performed in more than 20 movies like Stormy Weather (1943) and MGM musicals like Meet Me In Las Vegas (1956) with leggy Cyd Charrisse and top stars Sinatra, Davis Jr. Remembered this movie at the Cathay, Singapore.

Also known later for her guest appearances on television with *Dean Martin, Judy Garland, Andy Williams, Flip Wilson, the Muppet Show and Sesame Street. Except for the Judy Garland show, the rest have been screened on Singapore TV.

With about 30 albums to her name and more than 20 awards including a total of 8 Grammy nominees and wins, she is still the ultimate in popular music and ranks #62 on the Greatest 100 Women in Rock N Roll list. She was 92 years young.

"When you went away, the blues walked in and met me, If he stays away, ol' rockin' chair will get me, All I do is pray, the Lord above will let me walk in the sun once more..." (Stormy Weather/ 1933, Harold Arlen/Ted Koehler).

Thanks to: Larry Lai/Irene Hoe for warning bells.

Interested? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lena_Horne

Dean Martin: http://ilovedinomartin.blogspot.com/

*Lena Horne: Rememberin' Miss Lena Horne with our Dino