I was dicking around YouTube the other day, listening to Wanda Jackson’s version of “Jealous Heart” when I noticed in the “Related Videos” sidebar a 1961 version of the song by someone named Lydia. I’ve discovered a lot of cool shit on YouTube, but this is the first time I would say – as cliche as it may sound – a whole new world has been opened for me.
I’m not saying that Lydia Tuinenburg is some phenomenal artist – you can judge that for yourself – but clicking that link turned me on to the wonderful world of Indo-Rock. But first, here’s Lydia:
Lydia & The Melody Strings - Jealous Heart
From the opening bars, I was expecting a by-the-numbers generic rendition of the song, but I was taken aback by the power of her voice; it’s like a feral Connie Francis. It’s obvious from her repertoire (Stupid Cupid, Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool) that Lydia was strongly influenced by Ms. Francis, but her band sounded more like American country music. Check out her version of a Hank Williams standard:
Lydia & The Melody Strings - Take These Chains From My Heart
At 13 seconds in, you can hear the guitar player use harmonics to emulate a steel guitar; something most rock (or rockabilly bands, even) don’t do. In spite of the somewhat pedestrian instrumentation, there was something about it that made me want to hear more.
Of course, you’re probably wanting me to acknowledge the elephant in the room: Lydia’s curious accent. As it turns out, Lydia was born in Java.
As former Dutch colonies gained their independence, many native musicians who played Western-style music opted to immigrate to The Netherlands, figuring there would be better financial opportunities. Word has it that the Dutch music scene of the late 50s sucked, but they made a killing in Germany, Belgium and France. They also introduced the youth of these countries to Rock & Roll. This, my friends, is Indo-Rock.
The undisputed Kings of Indo-Rock were the Tielman Brothers. As this video clip demonstrates, they were incredible showmen.
For more info about the Tielman Brothers, go here (thanks for the link, Dave!).
Indo-Rockers gave instrumental bands such as The Shadows a run for their money. Here’s the Tielman Brothers reworking of a Mozart sonata, released in 1960 under the title, “18th Century Rock”
The Tielman Brothers - 18th Century Rock
Being at the top of the heap on the Indo-Rock scene, the Tielman Brothers were not only trendsetters, they were innovators. They were the first non-English European band to start using Fender Jazzmaster guitars, and lead guitarist Andy Tielman customized his Jazzmaster to a 10-string model using banjo strings. Supposedly, engineers from the Fender company came to look at the guitar with marketing a 10-string Jazzmaster in mind, but it never came to fruition. Most Indo-Rock bands used cheaper European electric guitars, but once the Tielman Brothers started using Jazzmasters, it became a trademark of Indo-Rock.
The ascendancy of The Beatles and other British bands was the death knell for the Indo-Rock scene. A few bands soldiered on, but they were soon forgotten and replaced by native-born rock bands. It’s a shame, though, because as this 1964 composition indicates, the Tielman Brothers could have held their own with the British Invasion. “Hello Caterina” reminds me of The Dave Clark Five at their best:
The Tielman Brothers - Hello Caterina
It’s worth noting that for a time, The Tielman Brothers were the highest-paid rock act in Europe.
There were dozens of Indo-Rock bands; some good, some great, some mediocre. The Jakarta-born de Wolff brothers, recording under the name The Blue Diamonds managed to make a brief appearance on the US Top 100 charts in 1960 with their version of an old song from the 1920s, “Ramona”:
The Blue Diamonds were known as “The Dutch Everly Brothers”, and they recorded several Everly Brothers songs, here’s their version of “‘Til I Kissed You”
The Blue Diamonds - 'Til I Kissed You
The Blue Diamonds lack the raw energy of most their Indo-Rock counterparts. They’re a little too polished for my tastes, but I admire their harmonies.
For my money, the only Indo-Rock band I’ve heard that comes close to the Tielman Brothers are The Crazy Rockers. Led by drummer Henry Aschman, The Crazy Rockers featured Sidney Rampersad on guitar and vocals, which set them apart from other Indo-Rock bands in that Rampersad was from Suriname (formerly Dutch Guyana). Since I’m concurrently on a Sister Rosetta Tharpe kick these days, I’ll offer up The Crazy Rockers’ cartoonish version of “Down By The Riverside”:
The Crazy Rockers - Down By The Riverside
I realize a lot of people wouldn’t be too impressed with that, but I dig the singer’s over-the-top Elvis impersonation and the fact that even the background singers have thick accents (Down By De Ribberside!). If guitar instrumentals are more your taste, then savor the flavor of The Crazy Rockers’ sweet rendition of The Third Man Theme:
The Crazy Rockers - The Third Man Theme
I’m not a drummer, so I’m usually don’t take much notice to percussion – especially when it’s behind good guitar playing, but their drummer really stands out. Nothing jazzy or flashy – it’s more like I want to pay attention to what he’s doing to hear whay he’ll do next; the fills are pretty creative.
The Crazy Rockers are consistently good enough that they warrant the posting of three songs. I’m tempted to post their version of Louis Prima’s “Buona Sera”, but since one of the few people who regularly read this blog is a fan of Mack “They Call Me The Meat Man” Vickery, I’ll post their cover of Vickery’s shameless rip-off of Eddie Cochran’s “Summertime Blues”, “High School Blues”:
The Crazy Rockers - High School Blues
I’m going to go off on a tangent for a moment… several years ago, I used to be pretty active in the binary groups on Usenet, but then the Dutch fuckheads basically took over the mp3 newsgroups, incessantly posting their personal top 100 songs of 1974 to the 1950s and country music groups and posting vinyl rips of stuff that is easily available on CD (hint: posting mp3s of vinyl rips defeats your purpose of claiming that vinyl sounds better… dickholes). For the first time ever, I’m grateful for the Dutch presence in Usenet, because it made it incredibly simple to find a shitload of Indo-Rock. A lot of what I got was re-recordings (probably from the 80s), but what I’ve posted thus far are the original recordings, most of which were recorded between 1958 and 1965.
This leads me to another tangent: Fuck the recording industry. I don’t subscribe to an anti-copyright or anti-intellectual property stance, but this is fucking ridiculous. We live in an age where if I want to purchase an album by a particular artist, I don’t even have to get out of my seat. This has been the case for nearly a decade, but the recording industry is still locked in archaic licensing practices which make it next to impossible for people to obtain music not marketed to Americans. I can legally download an album at lala.com for less than 8 bucks as long as it’s licensed, but if I want to listen to, say, Ayano Tsuji on my mp3 player, I’d have to shell out about 30 bucks for a physical CD with liner notes I can’t read.
I’d like to purchase a decent anthology of Indo-Rock, but since the American music industry assumes that I want to listen to Taylor fucking Swift, I’m stuck out. And since rock & roll played by Indonesian immigrants will never fall into the nebulous category of “World Music”, I’ll probably be forever stuck out, unless I fly to Holland and browse the record stores.
It’s a shame, because there are enough Indo-Rock artists and apparently enough footage of Indo-Rock bands that a documentary would be very welcome resource. Until that day comes, I can only give you a couple of pertinent details about Indo-Rock:
- The guitar is a popular instrument in Indonesia, so Indonesian immigrants had the drop on Dutch youth when rock & roll arrived
- Many Indonesians were initially exposed to American music via the Armed Forces Network radio station; hence the jukebox-ready sound of a lot of Indo-Rock bands (AFN paid a lot less attention to the hit parade than European stations that broadcast American music). So, the rise of American Imperialism and the fall of Dutch Imperialism both played roles in Indo-Rock. Neat, huh?
- Since almost nothing attracts pussy like playing in a band, early European rock shows tended to break out in violence due to Indo-Rock bands stealing the blonde, blue-eyed girlfriends of Dutch youth.
- Supposedly, native Dutch males who started rock bands in the late 50s/early 60s would darken their skin and dye their hair black in order to be more credible rockers.
I’ll leave you with some Indo-Rock obscurities (I think these bands recorded out of Indonesia, not The Netherlands). First, the White Waves, with a phonetically rendered version of Hank Williams’ “You Win Again”:
The White Waves - You Win Again
… and finally, here’s Susan Lim & The Crescendos with a kickass version of the old swing tune, “Ma, He’s Making Eyes On Me!”:
Susan Lim & The Crescendos - Ma, He's Making Eyes On Me
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