Malaysia’s rich music culture part 2: Lagenda P. Ramlee

Music as identity

Teuku Zakaria bin Teuku Nyak Puteh, who used P. Ramlee as his stage name, travelled across from Sumatra with a group of musicians to Malaya, shortly after the completion of World War II.

P. Ramlee started a travelling fun fair with stalls, rides, and a show all around Malaya and Singapore right up to the 1970s. This travelling show was one of the only forms of outside house entertainment, before the years of television. Many of his fellow actors and musicians P. Ramlee was to perform with were parts of these early shows.

P. Ramlee’s first film was a supporting role in Chinta, where he was the villain. He also performed five songs. P. Ramlee went on to make a number of films and developed a close relationship with Shaw Brothers. He later started directing films, producing Penarek Becha in 1955, winning best Malay film of the year. His film, Bujang Lapok won the best comedy award at the Asia-Pacific Film Festival. He also won the best actor award at the same festival for Anak-Ku Sazali.

Malayan cinema had a golden age with cinemas located within most towns, where P. Ramlee starred in 62 films, directing 33 of them.

P. Ramlee was a prolific songwriter, recording almost 500 songs. Many of his songs were rearranged to suit the storylines of his films, which P. Ramlee sort to insert Malayan introspectives of various aspects of society into the stories. This created a frame of meaning that many Malaysians, particularly the early Baby-Boomers appreciate and reminisce.

P. Ramlee won the best musical score at the Asia-Pacific Music Awards.

P Ramlee’s music reflected the unique local flavour of Malayan society at the time. His music was constructed with Western harmonies, but displayed the rhythmic of Malay, Chinese, Indian, and Arabic cultures of Malaya. His music was construed for live performance, reflecting post-colonial urban life, multi-cultural society and social issues of the time.

P. Ramlee and his co-artists of his era have been honoured for decades by the television re-runs, and revival of some of his songs by artists like Sheila Majid in the 1980s. After his death, P. Ramlee was posthumously awarded the title of Tan Sri, and his house in Setapak converted into a museum in honour of his contribution to the music and film industries. A number of roads, buildings, and even a monorail stop named after him.

 However, part of the “Lagenda” image was attacked by some contemporary filmmakers who portrayed one of P. Ramlee’s partners, Aman Ramlie Jaafar, A. R. Tompel, in the feature film Saloma in a negative manner.

The P. Ramlee era tradition was carried on by artists like A. R. Badul who was a successful actor filmmaker in the same style.

If P. Ramlee was still working today, much of his work would have been censored by the authorities. Many Malay artists, producers, and film directors today complain that strict censorship has hampered creativity, innovation, satire, and even how language can be used.

The P. Ramlee era was a good reflection of what Malaysia once was culturally. His sense of multiculturalism is reflected in the way he structured his name, flowing Tamil Patronymic naming conventions, where Puteh, became the initial “P” for his father’s name.

As a postscript, was P. Ramlee the sole creative engine of group? No, most of P. Ramlee’s work was co-written. Some of his songs were written by others, such as A. R. Tompel. I found that out when we found A. R. Tompel’s briefcase when moving from his house in Setapak Garden. Many of P. Ramlee’s songs and scripts were written by A. R. Tompel. Creativity and showmanship was very much a group effort, for any one who has spent time at the Ulu Klang studio would know.

As a tribute to his group: Do Re Mi (1966)

P. Ramlee is an icon of Malaysia that once was a true multicultural society.

Probably the best contemporary honour for P. Ramlee is Sheila Majid’s Lagenda.

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