Legends & Nostalgia

As mentioned in my previous post, last night was the Special Chief Minister’s Award event for the Veteran Singers and Musicians in Sabah, and Wan, (my grandma) received the ‘Anugerah Sri Kinabalu’ Yey~

Congrats Wan! *muahs*muahs*muahs*

I always thought that this state has forgotten about Wan’s contribution towards the music industry.

But I’m glad I was wrong

Wan receiving the award


Award announcement - *uh... stupid camera*

Wan's name is Rogayah Abdullah (Yang Chik originally).
Sukardi is my Tok Wan's (my grandpa) name.
I don't have aaaaaany idea how it ended up as above. But oh well ^^
The Award Announcement picture above is not clear.
But it's the same picture in the Sabah Museum (inside RTM section)


Although Wan is not originally from Sabah, she has contributed a lot, especially to the ‘Keroncong’ music. She has also represented Sabah in her years for acting in films and singing at the National level.

Wan had been along side Allayarham Tan Sri P.Ramlee & Allahyarhamah Saloma. She even acted with the Who Wants to be A Millionaire Dtk Jalaludin Hassan host, when he was much younger. Of course, those were just a few. Hihihihi....


Here are few pictures from the event:

Opening act by MC Laila Elok



Group performance by 10 Veterans

Cici was also one of the DBKK’s staff who acted and danced along during one of the performance. Cute

Performance by DBKK Staff (Organiser)


Sis Cici

Oh! Last night, both Julian and I were amazed when we witnessed one of the veteran musicians, Ismail Jejaka playing his music using a ‘Gergaji’… Gergaji as in … a Saw.

I kid you not

Ismail Jejaka with his 'Gergaji'

Anyhow, during the Mayor's speech, Julian and I were arguing about Mufasa, a character in the Disney's Lion King cartoon.

“B! Look at Mayor. He looks just like the A&W bear kan?”
“LOL! He does” - Julian
“Now look at CM (Chief Minister). Doesn’t he look like Mufasa?”
“Mufasa <_<”
“Yeah… Simba’s dad in Lion King”
“No! Mufasa is the evil Lion”
“NO!!!!! It’s the dad!”
“The uncle!”
“The Dad!!!”
“The Uncle!!!”
“Whaaaa???? If you’re wrong, I’m gonna twist your titties 3 times!!! X-( ”
“Go ahead… what if I’m right? *smirks* ”
“ *shit*.. errr…… YOU WAIT! ”

*sms-ing Marissa*

“Mars! What’s the name of Simba’s dad. Check!”

I was laughing my ass off when I received her reply - “err…. Muzafar?”

“LOL!!! You mean ‘Tun Muzaffar Shah’? LOL!! This will be in my blog XD”

But I received her correct answer right before I send my reply.

* X-) looked at Julian*

- Julian *sweat*sweat*sweat*

BUAHAHAHAHAHA.
Obviously from the start, you know he’s gonna get his punishment didn’t you?
MUAHAHAHAHAHAH~~~~

Ehem~ *kof *kof .... (gather self)
Of course, as usual at the end of the event, we took more and more pictures.

Group Photo with Mufasa CM



From Left: Me, Paksu (Uncle), Nadia, Mama, *Veteran someone*, Wan and err.. another Veteran Someone
*SORRRYYYYYYY*



*huggiiieeessss*



Nadia, Paksu & Cici



Me, Wan and Julian *kawaiiii XD*



BB & Me ^^



Wan & Me

Cici and her colleague
*notice the guy beside cici? He was one of the contestant from Mr. Hunk at Djunction. LOL!*



Wan and her former RTM colleague



Wan and Peter Dicky Lee



DBKK Staff


DBKK Staff and Mayor

Aside from Wan (my grandma), Tok Wan’s (my grandpa) name also appeared in the contribution multimedia slide when one of the veteran singers received recognition for her contribution during her singing years under Tok Wan’s musical band. Coool~

*Sigh*

But too bad -Tok Wan is unwell and couldn’t remember anything anymore.

Before I forget, maybe I should share with you guys a few things about Tok Wan.

PS: Wan / Tok Wan is referred to Grandma / Grandpa in West Malaysia



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Tok Wan’s name is Sukardi Suradi.

Last year… (or was it early this year), Rizz told me that Tok Wan’s name was mentioned during the P.Ramlee The Musical Theatre.

Why?

Look at what I stumbled upon in youtube :

*anyway, I was feeling a bit rajin, so I arrange the you tube frames at the end of this post. You can choose to view the video / frames*

Tok Wan was P.Ramlee’s best friend. They studied together in Penang Free School and had their own musical band.

One day, Tok Wan invited P.Ramlee to go to Singapore to establish their band and ‘cari makan’. If you view the video, at 0:22, you will see the text below:

“Ramlee! Ayuh kita ke Singa-pora” – Sukardi (Tokwan)
“Apa ko sudah dapat-kan teket nya Sukardi? – P. Ramlee
“Sudah dibeli, Ramlee!”
“Begitu chepat ko dapatkan teket-nya!”
“Apa da.. Ramlee, senang saja untok dibeli teket-nya!”
“Aku hanya Cuma panggil alian talipon siang malam.. 03 – 2091 1666 da…”

That was more or less what Tok Wan told me before. But of course... -_-” aside from, “Ramlee! Ayuh kita ke Singa-pora!”, the phone number and the rest was edited by Chedd Eddie Yussof (the guy who played Tok Wan’s character) as a teaser/promo to sell the musical tickets to the public.

LOL! Thanks Chedd Eddie Yussof :) *click his name to view his blog*

But before that, I do must say that Chedd Eddie does* look as good looking as Tok Wan when Tok Wan was younger.

In his blog, I found this at one of the reader’s comments he received:

“Among the supporting actors, I like Chedd’s character. He played P. Ramlee’s good hearted, stick-to-friend-no-matter-what-happens and happy-go-lucky good friend – Sukardi, who followed him from Penang to Singapore. But Sukardi returned to his hometown and his character ended there”

It’s correct... because unfortunately, Tok Wan’s mother was against this… She told Tok Wan that she was unwell (true or not I don’t dare to say – bless her).

Hence, Tok Wan backed out and returned to Penang.

He did keep in touch with P. Ramlee till the day P. Ramlee passed away.

Some more info from P.Ramlee The Musical:

In 1948, B.S. Rajhans, a Singaporean director scouting for talents, attended an agricultural show in which Ramlee's band just so happened to be invited to perform. Rajhans was instantly taken with the band and Ramlee's marvellous delivery of Azizah. He asked Ramlee and his friend Sukardi if they would be interested in a screen test for the Shaw Brothers' Malay Film Productions - *This is when Tok Wan encourage P.Ramlee to go to Singapore*

On the morning of August 8, Ramlee and Sukardi boarded a train at the Butterworth railway terminal, their excited minds set on the famed studio far south in Singapore.

Isn’t it amazing?



A best friend who played a small part contributed a very big difference to the life of our legendary singer.

Tok Wan had been interviewed many times by those who seek to create a life-documentary of P.Ramlee. Up until now, the finished documentary is always played again and again in the TV.

Tok Wan is no stranger to any of the legendary actors. Veteran & Legendary Malay actors such as A. R Tompel, Ibrahim Din (those who acted in Laksamana Do Re Mi) M. Zain, Aziz Sattar (Bujang Lapok), Sarimah (Ali Baba & Bujang Lapok), Zaitun (Ibu Mertuaku), Jin Syamsuddin and many-many more were all his close friends… and still are.


Aziz Satar came to look for Tok Wan to invite him to build a documentary for P. Ramlee. Even the Pontianak Harum Sundal Malam’s director - Shuhaimi Baba came but unfortunately, they arrived too late coz Tok Wan had caught amnesia during that time.


OH! Did I tell you that Tok Wan was the most handsome old man while he was in the hospital? Hohoho.

But yeah... that was it...


A little story to share while it's still fresh in my memory... ^^

Tokwan & Wan (2004)

Are you guys still reading?




Awww~~~ *huggieeessss*

Bapak Manis = Sugar Daddy

Was at SGCC (Sabah Golf & Country Club) for a small SPCA KK meeting.
Ms Faridah, one of the SPCA member (who is also a member of SGCC)
offered Julian and I a drink.
We ordered Teh Tarik.

“Yaaaaiiii!!! Bapak manissss!” – 0_<”
“Sugar daddy?” - Julian
“Wha’?”
“Bapak manis = Sugar Daddy”
“No it’s not!”
“Yes it is!”
“No it’s not! Bapak manis literally means too sweet!”
“Yeah! But the direct translation to it is Sugar Daddy”
“……… *remember… you’re dating a direct translating bf*……”
“Fine~”
“Yes!!!”

Am gonna get diabetes man =_="

Nothing much happened, really.
We were just asked to improve the SPCA slide presentation to make it more *ummph.
Whatever that means…

An orange cat passed by and she looked soooooo cute.
Very playful, but dang… a very ganas one too.
She played around & scratched everybody including me.
I’m immune with cat scratches.
But Julian doesn’t.
He was pissed with the cat
If it wasn’t for the SPCA member there, I figured he would’ve tortured the cat kao-kao. Haha.

SGCC brought back so many memories.
Especially when Tok Wan was in his perfect health.
He loves to play golf you see.
Back then, he even taught Papa how to play perfectly.
To this day, Papa always brought something home whenever he wins a golf match.

Wan (grandma) is receiving the special Chief Minister award for the Veteran Singers & Musicians in Sabah tomorrow night (Tuesday – 27^th/May/2008)
The event will be held in Yayasan Sabah and it is open to public.
Am gonna be there with Julian.
Congrats to Wan! Muahs!

Farmeliss & The Trio

See… I was a friendly + mischievous and ganas kid in primary school.
I befriended anyone I met and will do my own stuff after that.
I never really knew what having a best friend feels like.
You know during primary school people will study like crazy for their UPSR exam?
They were so skema carrying books everywhere…
and I just didn’t see any points in doing that
Oh! ^^ Did I mention I sucked back then? Hohoho!
But that’s not the point

My most cherished Friendship card

After every ‘kelas tambahan’, you’ll either see me playing in the field or wait by the stairs waiting for the afternoon session to end, which was when the bloody van driver will come and pick me and the rest back home.

Apparently on the 25.5.95, it was raining heavily.
My friends had gone home, and playing all by myself in the wet field wasn’t a really good idea was it?
So I sat by the stairs, picked up any leaves or flowers from the pot plant, and placed it in the drain and let it flow just like how u play with a paper boat.
I did this till I got bored.
Bongok… =_=
So I continued wondering around the school and I noticed Mel sitting… err.. somewhere.
I thought - *uh! It’s Melissa, Cikgu Florence’s daughter kan tu?… I’m bored.. why not approach her*
Then I ran to her and introduced myself
Mel was very shy back then. *Henna kodomo… lalala*


So I asked…

“mmmmm… Mau Ice cream?”
“Ice Cream?”
“Chocolate Ice Cream. 20 sen saja ^^ ”
“mmmm…. *checked her pocket* Boleh! ^^ ”

So we went lumba lari to the canteen and grabbed the Chocolate Ice Cream sticks.
We ate. We chat. We ate. Then we talk-talk again.

“Nak Ice Cream lagi? ^^ ”
“Nak!!! ^^ ”

Then we ran again to the canteen, sit together by the drain and play with our ‘leaf’ boat.

We did this for 5 rounds which if I’m not mistaken ended up with us eating 5 sticks of ice cream. Haha. So sweet

So Sweeeeeet

Day by day, we became closer and closer.
By the end of our primary school year, Mel wrote and drew in my autograph book our special hand shake sign as a special symbol of our friendship. *remember kids use to pass around diary/autograph book at the end of each school years? ^^* At the end of her note, she put ‘thank you for being my bestfriend’. The word strikes me in a good way. So we became best friend and I appreciate her ever since.

Mel & I during Form 2

Goshhhhh XD
We’ve gone through a lot kan Mel?
Even when we are blessed with a loving man in our lives, especially with Mel getting all married soon, we know that there are things that only both of us can share. Hohohoho.

Of course like any other friendship, there will always be the good and the bad times. The processes and phases which are vital for us to learn about each other, to appreciate one another and keeping each other safe at all times.

So Mel, I know I am no poetic hence I have never been good with describing word per word and make it sound beautiful like you do. But I do know that our friendship is like a beautiful flower that is not made of leaves and petals… but pieces of you.

Mel & I

Happy 13^th Friendship Anniversary Mel!!!!

Muahs!!!!!

Ps: While you’re toasting with a glass of milk and creating a milk moustache like you always do, I’ll be sipping my San Francisco Chocolate Frappuccino with hazelnut. Wheeeeee~

Yamseng!

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The Trio

Another friend of mine who both Mel and I grow up being close to is Leena.
Leena celebrated her 25^th birthday in Aussie last week, 20^th May.
Happy Birthday Girl!!!!

This is a photo of us during Leena’s bday 3 years ago.

Leena's Birthday at San Francisco Coffee

This is during the day after Mel’s engagement at Little Italy

A day after Mel's Engagement