DJ Carlito Meets Swallows' Vocalist Kassim Selamat And Pop Yeh2 Author Yusnor Ef

IMAGE: DJ CARLITO WITH KASSIM SELAMAT (SWALLOWS VOCALIST) ON THE LEFT AND YUSNOR EF (AUTHOR OF P. RAMLEE BOOKS AND COMPOSER OF 60s POP YEH, YEH MUSIC).

(1) DJ Carlito wrote to me on Tuesday, December 8, 2009, 2:47pm:
"Hello Andy, I hope you are doing well... You may recall I emailed you a while back regarding my search for licensing of old Malaysian Pop Yeh Yeh music for a small CD release here in the USA (1000 copies). Thanks to you, Mr Yusnor Ef replied to me once, but said he was busy on a TV show and never responded after that. I know he is a very busy, and well respected man, so I don't want to be a nuisance."

(2) Another note came from Carlito on Wednesday, April 7, 2010, 10:47am:
"Hi Andy, Ive set the date for my trip to Singapore and KL... I'll be there hopefully in the second week of July, 2010... I hope to meet up with several people... Mr Yusnor Ef would be on the top of my list. I would also love to meet you and hear about your music research."

(3) After much hard work and his research trip to Singapore and Malaysia DJ Carlito has this to say on his blog:

"Thanks again to Cikgu Yusnor Ef and Encik Zam Zam for helping arrange this meeting with the legendary Kassim Selamat. It was great to see Encik Yusnor Ef and Zam Zam again, and really inspiring to meet yet another one of my all time favorite Pop Yeh Yeh artists - Kassim Selamat.

Actually, my friend Yuana drove Encik Yusnor Ef and Encik Kassim Selamat back home that evening, and we listened to the Swallows greatest hits CD the whole way back. I sat in the back seat next to him and he sang every song; he even elbowed me a few times in the ribs during the freak out guitar solos. This is where I got a little teary eyed, a memory that I will never forget...

I hope to go back again to spend more time with Encik Kassim Selamat (Rahmat is his real last name - Selamat is his stage name - taken from a P Ramlee film character) and with Cikgu Yusnor Ef."

(4) Andy writes:

Well DJ, although we never met during your trip to Singapore, I am glad you contacted Kassim Selamat and Yusnor Ef. I didn't help much but managed to connect you to Yusnor via e-mail. Because of your passion and interest in the subject you have achieved your goal. Congratulations!

Exploitation:

As an aside, I hope these 60s pop artistes will not be exploited for their music. According to a friend, they are our national treasure! I am also wondering why some of our Singapore music research students have never thought of writing about them? Strange indeed. Perhaps some readers out there may have an answer.

Article: Andy Lim.

Carl Hamm: "Please do not download the image from this posting."
Image/article based on: http://menarigogo.blogspot.com/

Carlito's Blog: http://turquoisekid.blogspot.com/

DJ Carlito: Location: Richmond, Virginia, United States of America.