JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - It took a half century and YouTube to
bring Indonesia's rock 'n roll legends back home.
Andy Tielman and his three brothers left for Europe in 1957,
where they packed clubs and stadiums with their high-energy shows,
tossing guitars across the stage, plucking strings with their teeth
and playing while perched on top of the standing bass.
But while some music critics say the Tielman Brothers'
rapid-fire Les Paul riffs and rough interpretations of
country-western helped shape the sound of a generation, most fans
in their native Indonesia only learned about them this year.
A story in the local version of Rolling Stone magazine sent
curious readers to YouTube, where they could hardly believe their
eyes: "Insane !!!!!" a new fan wrote on one site. And "why did I
never hear of these guys!?"
When Andy, now 72, returned to Indonesia for the first time to
perform this month, hundreds turned out to twist the night away,
calling out for old headliners written before most of them were
born and snapping pictures with their mobile phones.
"Magnificent! Fabulous! He TOTALLY rocks!" gushed Nada
Yangrifqi, a 22-year-old college student, after watching Tielman
play alongside a local band. "I'm so proud!"
Andy, Reggy, Ponthon and Loulou Tielman were born to a
Dutch-Indonesian father and German-Arab mother on the eastern
island of Sulawesi during the final years of Holland's
centuries-long colonial rule.
The boys, then 9 to 14, started out playing before family and
friends. Before long, they were going city-to-city with their
banjos, drums, guitars and bass, playing mostly folk songs. Often
their little sister, Jane, joined them on stage dancing.
"These were the happiest moments in my life," Andy, one of two
surviving brothers, said at an emotional post-gig press conference
in Jakarta, the Indonesian capital. "It was fun when we were
older, too, of course. But when I was a child, with my brothers,
that was really something."
Soon after Indonesia formally became independent in 1949, the
country's first president, the fiery Sukarno, condemned rock 'n
roll as a symptom of Western decadence. The Tielmans reluctantly
left for Holland, settling in the small, southern city of Breda.
Though already falling under the influence of Elvis Presley,
Chuck Berry, Bill Haley and others, Andy said he and his brothers
knew they had to be more than imitators and created a sound and
style that came to be known as Indo Rock by some - by others, pure
R&R.
"We started playing country-western but my brother Loulou, who
played the drums, complained because there nothing for him to do,"
he said, pounding the table as he belted out "Hey Good Lookin'."
"See? Load drums to that and you get rock and roll."
Andy, the band's lead guitarist and singer, introduced many
changes of his own.
He decided his Gibson was too heavy for stage throwing and
switched to a lighter Olympic White Jazzmaster, which he converted
from six to 10 strings, using a hot nail to drill extra holes into
the headstock. He added four much-thinner banjo strings, creating a
sought-after tighter, deeper sound that many others later mimicked.
The boys went to Brussels and soon after Germany, where they
became an overnight sensation, selling out concert halls and
appearing on live TV. Next came Israel, where they became among the
first musicians ever to perform in a football stadium, a
45,000-seater.
Asked if the Tielman Brothers left their mark on the Beatles and
the Rolling Stones, as his fans so often claim, Andy said: "I know
John Lennon, then playing backup for the Tony Sheridan band, saw us
perform, a lot of the British did. But I'd never dare say we
influenced them."
The rocker returned to Indonesia at the invitation of the
Jakarta Rock Parade organizers - a 100-band, three-day extravaganza
that wrapped up July 13.
Dressed in black with colored spotlights setting his long gray
hair ablaze, he played "Rock Little Baby of Mine," which in
January was officially recognized as Holland's first-ever rock 'n
roll song (1958). That accolade got the Tielman Brothers their
first press coverage in Indonesia - the article in Rolling Stone.
He went on to play "Little Bird," "Rollin' Rock" and
"Beethoven Rock," as well as the classics of others: "Blue Suede
Shoes," "One Night," and "Oh My Love, My Darling." But there
was no strumming the guitar over his head or with his toes - things
he said were better left to the young.
When Andy finally got around to his last song, a national
favorite, "Rajuan Pulau Kelapa" or "Coconut Tree Serenade," it
was well past 1 a.m. But neither he nor his audience wanted to see
the night end, swaying gently as they sang together, their hands
raised to the sky.
For Andy it was an emotional return. He said he felt honored to
be invited back for his music - something he never dreamed would
happen - and hoped to find a way to return soon.
"I feel I'm at home," he said, accompanied by his wife and
12-year-old daughter. His only remaining sibling, Reggy, is 75 and
no longer able to perform.
"My only regret," he said, "is that my brothers couldn't be
here with me."
On the Net:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iI9WjsmuXxk&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s95TYVsuwVs
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
