The Ventures Nokie Edwards: A Tribute By Henri Gann

Nokie Edwards from The Ventures. Another guitar hero is gone in 2018.

Another music maker bites the dust. 

Nokie Edwards from The Ventures, whose guitar instrumentals are played even today, died at 82 years on 12 March 2018. Walk Don't Run and Hawaii Five 0 with other Ventures great hits have always been performed by local Singapore bands since the 1960's. 

Two guitar bands emerged the leaders in the 60's, the Shadows and the Ventures. If the opening number on a local stage by a guitar group is not Apache (The Shadows) then it's either Walk Don't Run or Perfidia from Ventures. 

Nokie Edwards Custom Signature Model Telecaster designed for Fender.

Telecasters and Mosrite guitars were what Edwards used when he's playing. He even designed one called the Nokie Edwards Custom Signature Model Telecaster for Fender using gold and ebony for parts.  

Edwards played lead guitar and bass with the Ventures from 1960 to 1968, then from 1972 to 1985 and as a guest from 1999 to 2012 before he passed on in 2018.

The internet is filled with condolences and sad goodbyes for the famous guitarist who died in Alabama on Monday. Singapore guitar groups wish him a fond farewell too.  There's so much to read about him on Websites that we can only wish him to play more music in the Great Beyond. Twang the guit loud up there, Sir.

May you Rest In Peace, Mr Nokie Edwards. 

Nokie Edwards Lead guitar: Wipe Out, Bulldog, Sleep Walk. Video from: janelvis66


Images: Google.
Video: YouTube. Thanks to janelvis66.

Henri Gann's (Trekkers Singapore Guitar Group 60's) tribute to Nokie Edwards.

Tracking The Trekkers: 60's Music Trail: Part Two

Hey, it's a Leap Year 29th February today.

Continuing the Story of The Trekkers:

Performing

We played in many contests like the Great World Cabaret and charity shows at the YMCA and schools such as St Patrick's and the Presbyterian Schools. In the Town Convent Girls’ School and the University of Singapore. Charles's sisters were often there to watch us perform. They were our biggest fans.

Our first win in a talent show was actually at the Great World Cabaret in the Battle of the Combo Band. We won a prize even though we were competing against some very accomplished jazz musicians. We gave them the new Duane Eddy sound, and they liked it. Charles was also a favorite of the voting dance hostesses. We also played in Swee Leong friend's club, the Rosi D'or at the old Lido Theater a couple of times. Performing at the old Britannia Club on Beach Road was another favorite because they had a lively crowd of British service personnel.

We experimented with adding vocals to the group. The Jaywalkers, comprised of Charles, his sister Ng Pau Yin, and the late Susan Lim, joined one of our practice sessions. They won a trophy at Rediffusion and were only twelve and thirteen years old at that time. Another singer (Aniz ?) also sang in our group. He had a voice for Buddy Holly and Cliff Richard hits, and the Britannia Club crowd loved him.

In our last year together, we accomplished resident group status in the Rediffusion Discovery Series together with Cynthia Hay. She had a voice like Connie Francis'. The shows were hosted by Larry Lai and Joseph Goh and pre-recorded at the old Odeon Theatre. When the show ended we remained in contact with the late Tan Swee Leong and were guests in several of his Rediffusion shows.

Finally Tan Hock Lye had us play his Make Mine Music program on the radio, and Steven Lee invited us to play the opening and closing number for the first live broadcast on Singapore Television. That was our last performance.

Disbanding

Unlike many bands in Singapore The Trekkers never cut a record. It simply was not an option in the period pre-1963. We had an offer from the old Rank Organization in UK while playing at the Britannia Club, but we were disbanding. First George left to join his siblings in the UK, and I left Singapore next to go to college in the United States. Charles studied law at the local university. Only William continued his musical career, going on to play with the Stray Dogs. We accomplished plenty in the short time we were together and had fun doing it. 

The only recording that remains of that special time is a tape of our last jam session. William’s cousin Ah Siong recorded it with his new sound recorder, and my brother Johnny saved the tape for us all those years. The tape resurfaced in 1980, and we took it to Swee Leong for an interview on Rediffusion. Later, we submitted the tape together with The Trekkers old photographs to a contest by the Singapore National Archives. We won a consolation prize thus sealing our legacy as part of the Singapore pop scene of the 1960's.

In Perspective

When I arrived in Los Angeles, I was surprised to find that the 4-piece guitar band was an international phenomenon of that time and not just in Singapore. Playing Ventures and Shadows music was popular everywhere. The Ventures are still popular in Japan today among the Baby Boomers.

YouTube currently has a lot of guitarists playing Ventures and Shadows music using a Line 6 type device and Apple Garage band software. Ramon "RJ" Jacinto of the Philippines who started playing Ventures in the 60's is about the only one who is still playing in a band. 

The Memories

When George, Charles, William, my brother Johnny and I are together, we always talk about The Trekkers and the good times we had playing music. We talk about the music scene in Singapore and listen to our favorite tracks from those days. When we disbanded, we were at the crossroads of our lives. I'm happy with my decision to go to college in the US even though it meant never recording an album with my friends. We accomplished plenty in the relatively short times we were together.

Like many guitar groups, we had our own unique sound. For The Trekkers that sound was a presentation by four musicians who played to complement rather than compete with each other. In The Trekkers rendition of the old hits by Ramon "RJ" Jacinto, Mashi Mashi, you can clearly hear the distinctive rhythm of Charles, the bass of William and the drum beat of George; all synchronizing and complementing the lead guitar. Thus I believe we had fulfilled our aspiration (and my demands) to play the best music together. We now still talk excitingly of our music and share one of the most wonderful memories of our moments in The Trekkers.

With this I end my memories of being a Trekker with the first lines of Don McLean's American Pie:

A long, long time ago
I can still remember how that music used to make me smile
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people dance
And maybe they'd be happy for a while...

Thank you for reading.

A special thanks to my daughter Carolyn for editing this short history.

Article, Images, You Tube Videos: 
Copyrights Reserved by Henry Gan.

'HAWAII 5-0' The Theme Song Lives On...

SONGS I LOVE:

Yes, a re-make of Hawaii Five-0, the television series, is on our small screen now. But I remember the song better. The instrumental was an after dinner call for the family to gather in the living room.

The theme song was recorded by The Ventures in late 1968 and is popular with many of our local and SE Asian pop bands. There was always a guitar group performing the tune on stage then.

In fact, The Ventures were one of five musical acts that had been indicted into the Rock n Roll Hall Of Fame on March 10th, 2008.

The Quests from Singapore has a version of Hawaii 5-0 on its LP, The Sound Of The Quests (SREG: 9514) recorded on 9/11/1970.

With its upbeat sound and military like rhythmic precision, Hawaii 5-0 is still being played today and many brass bands include it in their repertoire.

Image: http://oldschoolmusiclover.com/

Original article: Andy Lim.

Bengawan Solo And Foreign Songs (Part III)

FOREIGN SONGS BECOME ENGLISH HITS (3):

ITALIAN: Nel blu dipinto di blu, known also as Volare is Domenico Modugno’s signature song. It is the only song ever by an Italian artist to reach number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 charts. His recording won the Grammy (1958) and is the only foreign-language recording sung entirely in Italian. Written by Modugno himself and Franco Migliacci, it came in third in the 1958 Eurovision Song Contest. But only Dean Martin's version (1958) made its way into the hearts of many Singaporeans. Beats even Bobby Rydell's more upbeat version!

PERUVIAN/ANDEAN: El Cóndor Pasa or Flight of the Condor (1913) is a song by Peruvian composer Daniel Alomía Robles based on traditional Andean folk tunes. It is popular worldwide because it is covered by Simon & Garfunkel in their Bridge Over Troubled Water album (1970). This cover version is called El Condor Pasa (If I Could).

When Simon heard a version called Paso Del Condor by Jorge Milchberg, he personalized it by adding his own English lyrics. They are all listed as songwriters in this version. Perry Como released a cover of Simon's English version on his album It's Impossible. Simon & Garfunkel did release their version as a single in the U.S. and it reached 18 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart.

SPANISH: Singapore guitar groups are familiar with Perfidia (1939), The Ventures classic. It means faithless, treacherous or false and was written by Alberto Domínguez in the 1900s. Aside from the original Spanish, other renditions exist, including an English version by Milton Leeds.

The song became a hit for Xavier Cugat in 1940 and used by Chinese director Wong Kar Wai in some of his movies. Perfidia has been recorded by many artistes as early as the 50s, including Gene Autry, Charlie Parker, Mel Torme, Glenn Miller, Nana Mouskouri, The Shadows, The Ventures, Linda Ronstadt, Nat King Cole, Lawrence Welk, The Four Aces and Perez Prado.

INDONESIAN: Bengawan Solo (1940) in Bahasa Indonesia is by Gesang Martohartono and sung in kroncong style, a popular folk music with influences from the Portuguese. The Japanese, who occupied the country during World War II, brought the song to Japan afterwards. It has become an international hit since.

The song became popular amongst the Chinese community in SE Asia after Malaysian singer Poon Sow Keng recorded it in Mandarin for Hong Kong Pathe (1957). It was further boosted by Ms Koo Mei, who sang her version for Philips Records. Many Chinese language singers have written their own lyrics for the tune, making it one of the greatest classics in S.E. Asia.

The English recording of Bengawan Solo is called, By the River of Love from an early 60s Hong Kong record sung by Rebecca Pan. Sakura Teng and Mona Fong (image) sing it both in Chinese and English. While Teng heats it up, Fong gives it a cha-cha-cha beat!

And so this short journey ends in Asia again. We have come one full circle. If you happen to know of pop songs that have been translated into English, please write in.

Image: You Tube

Information: Wikipedia Songs

Original article: Andy Lim

U.S. 60s Invasion - The VENTURES - "Perfidia"

The Ventures (U.S.), as popular as The Shadows (U.K.), had their melodies played by our own local bands. The more popular ones included, "Perfidia", "Hawaii Five-O" and "Telstar".

Image/Article: Wikipedia.

The Ventures - American Influence.

The Ventures - One of the greatest guitar groups in the 60s with their hits, 'Telstar', 'Wipe Out', 'Pipeline', 'Hawaii Five-O' and others.