Forgive me for repeating myself but I need to say this. Nothing brings back memories better than music especially when the music was made by people whom you had associated closely with. Recently Erwin Wright wrote an excellent article on the music scene in Kuching when most of us were amazed by Rock and Roll, Elvis, Cliff Richard, Ricky Nelson, Bill Haley.....! These were the days of Drainpipe Pants for the boys and Can Can Skirts and Pony Tails for the Girls. Hula Hoop was a craze and Yardley Hair Pomade greased our hair in place. I could go on and on. Let's just see what Ewin had to say :-
Hey All ,
When a member of our alumni widely regarded as the egghead during our school days posts to-die-for musical stuff across cyberspace - and not by any coincidence mind you - two things come to light . Firstly , it rubbishes the generally held notion of what makes up the persona of an 'egghead' ...viz. academically high-achieving but musically disinclined , uncool .
Secondly , one gets the proof and a sense that music actually touches each and everyone of us .
Some of yous have diligently sought and sent out video clips of music and songs of yesteryears , asking where we were , who we were with and what we were doing when a particular song was popular . What's never asked , though , is the question of why were we listening to these songs , songs that have withstood the passage of time .
Whatever the reason , be it a break from the humdrum of academia ,
articulating feelings we couldn't , relief from general ennui , antidote for sundry depressions or simply because of that feel-good factor , they have undoubtedly left a lasting impression on us .
How can we forget Neil Sedaka's Oh Carol , Elvis Presley's Are You Lonesome Tonight , Cliff Richard's The Young Ones , Bill Haley's Rock Around The Clock , Pat Boone's Love Letters In The Sand , Ricky Nelson's Lonesome Town or even Helen Shapiro's Walking Back to Happiness . ( She had a line in another song declaring "The best years of our lives I know are those when we are young " to which I think we can all nod to in agreement ) . And how about Billy Vaughn and his orchestra , whose music I dare bet Amoi danced her first fox-trot to. These are only some of the musical manna we subsisted on in our teens some 50 years ago . 
Yes , we embraced the music of those times , some perhaps with more
ardour and enthusiasm than others , worshipping at the altar of those musical deities who created them. But whilst we all found pastime , entertainment and joy listening to the music placed before us , not all were satisfied with just being listening members of the world's musical club .
As we stroll ( limp in my case ! ) through our senior years , swimming once more in the ocean of musical memories , let's first give some attention to the music scene in Kuching during those long-gone halcion days of our youth .
Perhaps surprisingly , music-making in Kuching in the mid-to-late fifties was actually pretty much alive and well . Bandsters like Abang Haider , Frank Ong , Edmund Chan ( Noel's Uncle), Abang Ahmad Urai ( who was to later become Speaker of Council Negri) , William Lee And His Hawaiian Band held court and presided over the local music scene , playing what can be described as 'vintage' music . This was at a time when 'vintage' was meeting head-on with Rock & Roll , a time when a changing-of-the-guard over who held sway in music-making became imminent .
As mentioned earlier , not all of us were contented with merely basking in the glow and glory of our favourite music stars . A few of us aspired to be those stars and set out with guitars a-blazing to explore the extent of their musical presence and their rite-of-passage , as it were .
And so it came to pass .
Bursting into the local music scene in 1960 , were Ashari's short-lived Trios Teenagers which morphed into The Tornadoes with Jimmy Kueh as the frontman , and The Blue Rebels , the earliest young bands to appear outside the kampong environment . Soon after , groups such as The Avengers with Rose Iwanaga, The Beatniks , The Mascots with Janice Wee , Brothers Three , Linang Sisters , The Vagabonds with Adenan Satem (now YB) , Les Vandals , and a few more whose names I cannot recall also took their places on the scene .
It should be safe to say that The Tornadoes were purists , in that they - as far as I can remember - did nothing but Cliff Richard , down to even dressing up like The Shadows ...horn-rimmed glasses , drain-pipe pants and all ! Little wonder therefore that they won the Cliff Richard singing competition which was held in conjunction with the filming of The Young Ones at Rex Cinema .
The Blue Rebels , meanwhile , was made up of a rag-tag ( read rojak) combo of young men , the rag-tag tag easily discernable from their racial mix -Bidayuh , Chinese, Malay and Eurasian - and through the varied genre of songs they played ...from Passion Flower , Mack The Knife , to Cotton Fields and The Twist . How rojak is that ?!
I'm sure we had fans , young men and women who followed us when ever we did our gigs at fairs, home parties or over the radio . And no , there was never any frenzied or wanton display of adoration from these fans ....least of all nubile females throwing their bras at us. Not that it mattered much , as it was in keeping with the laid-back nature that was Kuching .
I heard that the two bands were perceived as rivals representing the
Elvis and Cliff camps , though I cannot see how that could have been, seeing as The Blue Rebels hardly sang any Elvis' songs.
The Tornadoes disbanded when Ashari went for some study course in England about 1964 ( I think ) and The Blue Rebels slowly melted down around the same time when members intensified their pursuit of careers .........and skirts .
Certain members from several bands , including myself , got together sometime in late 90s to subsequently perform over a span of about two years at several weddings , a post-convention dinner , and a couple of new year countdowns at Sarawak Club , when revellers really got their money's worth . ( It is expected that this same group will entertain yous come 11/11/11 . )
So there you are folks : Make no mistake that it's not just love that makes the world go round ........IT'S ALSO THE MUSIC ! .
The fella at the mic playing the guitar and singing is none other than the writer of this article..Mr. Erwin Wright.
Jimmy and The Tornadoes.
That's young Ashari on Lead Guitar.
Waaaaaaah ! Women Drivers !
