Still crooning, dazzling at 80

As I write, I am thinking of my eldest brother Edward Jelani, who turns 80 on July 1. Edward, who recorded two Iban songs (our lingo’s versions of the Elvis Presley’s), with RTM in 1963, is a retired SESCO engineering assistant, thanks to credentials obtained from Seria Trade School, Seria in Brunei (1959) and he was also one of Kuching Trade School pioneers.

In fact in 1964/65 he went for marine police training in Tampoi, Johor and enjoyed trips to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Port Dickson. It was during those days that he polished his skills in billiards, especially in KL, including playing against some highly-ranked Malaysian billiards maestros.

Back to his crooning zeal, his most popular number is Anang Ninggalka Aku (an Iban version of Elvis’ Don’t Leave Me Now, one of his hits from the movie Jailhouse Rock). Now that karaoke offers lots of EP numbers including Don’t Leave Me Now, Edward is spoilt for choice but nevertheless enjoys home entertainment with his many grandkids, especially during semester breaks from local universities and festive celebrations.

In town, either Sibu, Saratok and elsewhere his repertoires include numbers by Elvis, Tom Jones and Cliff Richard. Apart from the aforesaid, his usual favourites are Green Green Grass at Home, I Can’t Stop Loving You, Always in My Mind, The Young Ones, Your Cheating Heart and a few others which are mostly three-keyed, simple yet evergreen hits for the young and old.

When it comes to going out and having fun at night, I once gave him an ultimatum – get some else to drive or pick him up. This is for his own safety as there were a few times in the past that his children – all gainfully employed – needed to pay for damages due to incidents involving their father’s misdemeanour. He takes my advice well and keeps his cool as well as safety.

My eldest brother, whose wife died in 2006, is fun to be with due to his humility, good sense of humour and amiable character. Born 12 years apart, we are very close due to a huge number of common interests, especially music, love for Iban literature, social events plus many more including passion for card games and billiards. In the early 80s we used to enjoy night life in Sibu where his cha-cha dancing skill was on show at some popular night spots there.

Blessed with two sons who are both TESL (teaching of English as second language) graduates and a daughter, Edward has grandkids who are university graduates (Information Technology and one in Living Skills) and undergraduates (two of whom are doing engineering and one doing medical studies).  His two sons are good guitarists but are pale in comparison to their 80-year-old dad’s guitar skill. In his younger days, Edward played bass guitar for his band D’ Atlantics in Sibu. He was their vocalist too. I managed to meet two of his band members in 1981 but sadly they are gone now.

During his active singing days, he was always in contact with Elvis Tribute Artistes such as Albert Blassan (now deceased) – his close friend from early schooldays and Albert’s younger brother Wilfred Vincent Ragam (twice Elvis of Sarawak titleholder), now aged 73, who was his Kuching counterpart in SESCO.  In the years between 2002 and 2016 he was finally reunited with both brothers here in Kuching and we had some enjoyable moments at some of the city’s music joints.

I also introduced him to Elvis of Kuching titleholder Ges Barundang (now deceased) who was better known as Elges, a native of Lempaung, Betong but had settled down in Kuching. We had enthralling moments trying a wide repertoire of the King of Rock n Roll’s  hits at The Sapphire Executive Lounge and Pub, popularly known as ‘the Elvis place’ along Ban Hock Road, here in Kuching (now closed down). He and Ges also exchanged respective exploits pertaining to cockfighting, their common passion.

After he retired in 1997 at the age of 55, Edward has been active in community activities in Saratok and Sibu. He served with SESCO from 1966 till his retirement, thereby serving lengthily for 31 years and received a long service medal. He was also awarded the Bentara Bintang Sarawak (BBS) medal for his community services.

Now he still enjoys crooning in the evening. He enjoys breakfasts and other meals with his family and friends and usually looks forward to a trip to Kuching to meet me and two granddaughters who are now studying in Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) doing the aforesaid courses.

We have two other brothers, namely James Buang (adopted), 75, and Jon, 74. Both are pensioners. Our only sister and eldest sibling, Dinggu, succumbed to an illness at 46 in 1982. God bless.