First 1910 Pop Band In Singapore @ Raffles Hotel?

During a recent relaxing cruise around the region I stumbled upon another coffee-table book in the ship's library. It was a large collection of Singapore 500 Early Postcards. What attracted me to this book (Cover: image 1) were the never-before-seen pictures of very old Singapore.

I feasted my hungry eyes on scenes of opium smokers in the 1930s languishing in their own private lounges, rice-cake hawkers under shady trees selling their ware to labourers, rickshaws beside vintage cars on the streets of Orchard Road and the Victoria Memorial Hall in its orginal, colonial splendour. 500 of the best snaps!

*Private collector and author of the book, deltiologist Professor Cheah Jin Seng donated his local postcards to the Singapore Philatelic Museum in 2007. He estimated that between the late 1890 and 1940, two hundred thousand postcards were published. Another researcher Chris Mortimer estimated that half a million postcards were sent from the Straits Settlement during the postcard boom around the 1900.

Again, what has all this to do with music? As I flip through the pages of time, what interested me most was one picture, a photograph of 'the first ballroom in the East' at the Raffles Hotel (image 2) dated 1910. Imagine a big band playing in Singapore exactly 100 years ago? I have enlarged the image and highlighted the band (image 3) performing on the raised platform in front of the ballroom. The 10 musicians can be clearly seen with the grand piano, guitar, drumset , double bass and other instruments (?).

What music could the band have been playing then as the couples, possibly only caucasians, ballroomed their way across the polished wooden floor? What dance steps were popular so early in the 20th Century? Is the date correct? 1910?

Anyone familiar with this period of popular music, both Western and Eastern? A check with Wikipedia revealed songs that I have never heard of. They include, Ma Blushin' Rosie, Strike Up The Band, Tell Me Pretty Maiden, Violets and many more.

I am interested in this period of music in Singapore. If you can contribute some, please write in.
*http://www.imagesofasia.com/biography/html/singapore/Singapore_Postcards.php

Original article: Andy Lim.
Images 1,2: Singapore 500 Early Postcards: Cheah Jin Seng 296 pages. Published 2006. lst edition. ISBN: 9789814155984.

Image 3: for clarity, is my own enlargement of image 2.