Danny Koh: Fishermen, Candidates (Part III)

Friday, July 9, 2010

In my search for Singapore's 60s instrumental group members, I remember the Cathay restaurant where sea-food was as popular as the bands that performed there. Danny Koh provided the answer that I posted a year and a half ago on the blog when I asked him about this restaurant.*

Pianist, tutor and musical director Danny formed two very popular bands, The Fishermen and The Candidates that played to a packed restaurant called The Kelong in the 1970s. (Notes from a letter to Andy on Sunday, 6th June, 2010):

He was with The Trailers for 3 years. The band had a number of **pianists - or keyboardists - before he joined them. The first in the group was Michael, followed by Patrick Foo, then Danny himself and Benson Goh. There were others too but it had been many years since and there was difficulty remembering specific names.

When Danny left The Trailers, he formed The Fishermen and they performed regularly at the Kelong Niteclub which was the old Cathay Restaurant. The original musicians in the group included Benny Chan (guitar) and Amir Samsudin (drummer), both from the Checkmates and Robert Suriya (guitar), who is now residing in Guam. Robert, of course, was from Naomi and The Boys.

After the group disbanded, Danny formed another band called, The Candidates. The musicians were Ramon Rahmat from the BlackJacks, Sanip Ismail, who had since passed away, Leon Lim, who now resides in Vietnam and Leo Fernando, a saxaphonist of stature and renown. This professional band of men performed at the Kelong, Singapore and at the Fortuna Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for some time.

Danny added that when they were at the peak of their popularity, they signed under the RCA label and recorded some songs, but the record was never released for reasons known to the group themselves.

**Danny is a 'pianist' rather than a 'keyboardist', the distinction being clear that he has a Licentiate from the Royal School of Music (LRSM).

Image: http://web.singnet.com.sg/~ebony_ivory17/

*Thursday, January 08, 2009:
Cathay Building, The Kelong, The Flybaits, The Fishermen

Original article: Andy Lim.

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Have Piano Will Travel - Danny Koh - Part II

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Image: Danny Koh at the piano (2nd left) leading his 15 strong Key-Signatures Orchestra at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Singapore.

When I asked Danny about his recordings, he said he made six albums so far. In terms of television recordings and contributions to our local music scene, he has made numerous appearances and accompanied vocalists on our home screen. He represented Singapore in the first ASEAN Song Festival and won the award.

Always with a giving heart, Danny assisted the Singapore Tourist Promotion Board in Korea and Australia, appeared for charity in aid of Tsunami victims, The Red Cross and the Child Watch Phuket Orphans Society.

In his early years Danny worked as music director for Rediffusion Pte Ltd and was the chief judge for the talentime series on Television Singapore (presently Media Corp, Singapore). He has also worked for 5 cruise ships as Music Director and travelled extensively for 6 years on these ships.

He recollected that it was one of the best times of his life, seeing the world and simultaneously doing what he loved best. He has performed in Sweden, Norway, Holland, Italy, Greece, Malaysia, Thailand, Australia and the Philippines.

He has appeared and tinkled his way at the various hotels in Singapore, namely the Raffles, Hilton, Shangri-La, Ritz Carlton, Pan Pacific, Four Seasons, Grand Hyatt, St. Regis, Amara Sanctuary and the Carpella on Sentosa Island.

He is presently doing a CD comprising popular songs he has sung during his 35 years in show business. Danny, with a broad smile on his face, hopes to write a book on the Memoirs Of A Musician before he calls it a day.

Image: Arpeggio Productions Collection.
http://sg.88db.com/Music/Agent-Manager/ad-160799/

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Danny Koh Tinkling Through The Years (Part I)

Monday, March 22, 2010

Danny Koh (2nd left) with his group of professionals, provides live music at one of the grand hotels in Singapore.

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DANNY KOH - THEN AND NOW:

I met Danny Koh (image) at Plaza Singapura, amidst the drone and din of an air-conditioned food court, after he agreed to an interview. It was the school holiday and the shopping centre was a sea of teenagers.

Danny is a handsome, dashing gentleman who speaks with confidence and command. During the mid-60s, he made a name for himself as the keyboardist with *The Trailers, one of the top guitar instrumental groups in Singapore.

Daniel Koh, who takes his craft seriously, is now a much respected musician. He has been for the past 35 years, an accomplished pianist (LRSM, FLCM), music director, arranger, composer, singer and successful entrepreneur.

Active as ever, he is presently attached to an internationally well-known music school teaching pop and jazz piano for the ABRSM Jazz Courses. He is one of the official examiners in the popular music category in Singapore schools and assists MINDEF with its band in the Music and Drama section.

For 3 years Danny was the President of the Musicians’ Union of Singapore, music advisor for the Singapore Hilton Hotel and the American Club. Danny was attached to Television Singapore (presently Media Corp) as Music Director for the 28 series of Take Four, a popular entertainment programme.

Besides his busy schedule Danny still performs and has, upon request, played at the President’s Istana (palace) for the Prime Minister of Singapore, in honour of prime ministers from New Zealand, Japan, Malaysia, Australia and the Philippines.

There's also the personal side of Danny... More about him in future postings.

Image: Danny Koh Collection.

Original article: Andy Lim Collection.

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Cathay Building, The Kelong, The Flybaits, The Fishermen, ClaudeDoral, Kingsley Morando

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

When the Japanese invaded and contained Singapore, the fear was that the tallest building on the island then would be a prime target since it was the residence of a colonial society and the broadcasting studio of Radio Malaya.

But despite the setbacks, the station continued its activities on the air-waves and radio personalities like Claude Doral and Kingsley Morando imprinted their names and eloquence on Singapore listeners with their British accent and quality broadcast. Some years after the war, the station changed venue and was relocated to Caldecott Hill in 1954. The radio station still stands today on Caldecott Hill at Andrew Road.

The Cathay building had been taken down since and in its place a new Cathay emerged but different from the original one. But the too familiar facade still lived in the memory of many Singaporeans and even up till today those who had lived long enough in the country knew it was a unique landmark on a hill that stood near the junction of Orchard Road and Bras Basah Road.

There were restaurants and nightclub at the Cathay and The Kelong was one of them, with bands like The Flybaits and Fishermen, two of many bands that played from the late 60s. Apparently these local instrumental groups had names connected with themes of the sea but did the patrons fall for them hook, line and sinker?

Even Mr Larry Lai, Rediffusion personality and celebrity broadcaster, had a throbbing mobile machine called Moby Dick. Patrons came from all over the island to taste and feel John Travolta's thumping rhythm of the new sound coming from the light flickering discotheque.

Can you remember some of the band personalities that played at the Kelong ? Where are the members of Flybaits and Fishermen now? Are you familiar them? Please write to let us know.

Original article: Andy Lim

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