While scenes today try to recreate the kampung atmosphere, theirs was a literal kampung, with a sense of unity that you just can’t find in modern times. They were essentially the prototype Pinholes. These four-piece groups were loud, played immensely catchy up-tempo tunes, inspired their crowds to dance wildly and copied contemporary Carnbary Street fashion (ie, coats and ties for the guys, bright blouses and miniskirts for the girls). But while the sound was unique, their style, attitude and fashion kept the West’s brashness. Crammed to the rafters with boisterous fans, the legendary British rock ‘n’ roll band clearly left a sizeable cultural impact on the Singapore music scene.Įvery kampung kid wanted to be in a band after that show.Īlthough inspired by Western pop songs, these Malay bands instinctively began incorporating Malay melodies and a traditional asli singing style to the bilingual Malay-English lyrics they wrote, making Pop Yeh Yeh a truly distinctive subgenre. The music of Elvis Presley and The Everly Brothers had already gripped the consciousness of local Malay youths by the late '50s but many point to the raucous Cliff Richard and The Shadows gig at the Happy World Stadium on 14 October 1961, as the real catalyst for Pop Yeh Yeh. In fact, this phenomenon later came to be known as Pop Yeh Yeh because of The Beatles hit 'She Loves You (Yeah Yeah)'. During the bulk of the 1960s, the Malay community in Singapore was utterly swept up in the rebellious world of rock ‘n’ roll.ĭozens of bands sprung up seemingly overnight, live gigs with loud amplification (unusual in Singapore at the time) were regularly held and regularly packed, local EPs were flying off the shelves, and prominent band members were mobbed in public by frenzied fans as if they were The Beatles themselves.
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March 2023
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