P Ramlee: Malaysia's Music Icon

Different country has different music icon. Madonna, Lady Gaga and Michael Jackson, they are the symbol of U.S music icon. Malaysia has its own music icon too such as Sheila Majid and Genervie Kam. But for this entry I would like to talk about my selection; P Ramlee.

Perhaps people would ask, why P. Ramlee. Well, my answer would be why not? P Ramlee can be claimed as one of the legendary music icon in Malaysia. As a Malaysian, I grew up with P Ramlee song and I believe so do you. His creation is a masterpiece and listened by every race. He is not just a music icon but also an icon of unity.

LEGENDARY...He can be claimed as a successful man in music and film industry. Photo taken from http://www.p-ramlee.com/p-ramlee/images2/ramlee10.jpg 

Here is a little bit of details about P Ramlee. He was born on the 22nd March 1929; the first day of Syawal; a celebration month for Muslims after a month fasting. He was born in Penang. His father, Teuku Nyak Puteh was an Acheh Sailor and his mother; Che Mah Hussain is from Kedah. He received his primary education in Kampung Jawa Malay School. For his secondary education, he attended Penang Free School, which is located in Penang. Not long after that, World War 2 happened and Japanese army invaded Tanah Melayu. During Japanese invasion, he attended Japanese Navy School Kaigun Gakko. After the war ended, he continued his study at Penang Free School.

His involvement in music industry starts when he saw his friends playing musical instruments in his village. From there, he starts to collect money to buy a violin. During his days with the Japanese army, he used to perform in front of the Japanese army on some events. He also practiced playing musical instruments with Sinaran Bintang Sore brass band during nights after Isya prayer. He also was a member of Orkes Teruna Sekampung and he plays violin for that band. He also was a singer and a composer for the band. He also learned to play piano with Mr Kamaruddin. His band starts became famous after P Ramlee won the 1st place in a competition organized by Radio Malaya and they once performed on a same stage with Rayuan Asmara, another famous band in that time.

Based on these information, we can conclude that P Ramlee starts to sharp his talents in Penang. It is the place he started to received knowledge on music. From Penang, he moved to Singapore and begin his career as an actor, composer, singer and director. In the middle of 1960s, he moved to Kuala Lumpur and stayed there until the end of his life. Throughout his career, he produced 401 songs which is a great achievement for an icon. Based on my findings, it is proved that he is one of the best talents that Malaysia ever had.