Malaysia's Music Scene: Then and Now

As a Malaysian, I see that the scene of music in my country are influenced by other country’s music and mostly are western music. Even P. Ramlee recorded a song; Bunyi Gitar which has The Beatles influence in it. In the 1960s, western culture starts to dominate the world with their films and music. This has influenced the youths to follow the style of the westerns. During this era, there are many bands are influenced with The Beatles music such as A. Romzi and The Hooks with their hit song at that time; Dendang Remaja which has a strong The Beatles’ influence in their guitar beat.

SINGAPORE'S DEEP PURPLE...Fans labelled Sweet Charity as Singapore's Deep Purple. This photo is taken from http://ourstory.asia1.com.sg/days/images/date2.jpg

In the end of 1970s and early 1980s, Singaporean bands start to tackle Malaysian with their rock and disco music. Ramli Sarip and his band, Sweet Charity created a phenomenon in Malaysia with their hit songs; Kamelia, Musibah, Teratai and Dunia Perlumbaan. Sweet Charity’s music is influenced from the Europe band, Deep Purple which plays rock music. They once being banned in Johor due to the fans’ riot. Rosli Mohalim, Sweet Charity’s guitarist once being listed among the best guitarist in the world and his band once being labelled as Singapore’s Deep Purple.

During the middle 1980s to the early 1990s, we can the rises of Malaysia rock bands and this can be seen with the presence of Battle of the Bands competition in every state. Johor and Perak are the region that has the most influence in rock music. This is because there are many Malaysia legendary bands came from both of the region. During this era, we can see the rise of the legendary rock bands in Malaysia such as Search, Wings, M.A.Y and Ella and the Boys.

However, 1990s has become the downhill of rock band in Malaysia due to the long hair issue and causing them to be banned in the national television. After the incident, many bands broke up and stay low profile. Starting from the middle of 1990s, Malaysia scene of music is influenced with the pop genre until presence. The rise of solo artist such as Hafiz and Hazama shows that pop genre are dominating the country’s music.