Is Negaraku from a Hawaiian melody?

Tuesday August 30, 2005

Is Negaraku from a Hawaiian melody?

BY TEH ENG HOCK

KLUANG: Is the Negaraku adapted from a Hawaiian melody?

This question stirred in his mind when Mohd Zain Sahadan, 49, heard his son playing a record from his antique collection.

The song, entitled Mamula Moon by Felix Mendelssohn and His Hawaiian Serenaders, carried the melody of the national anthem but had a slower and more romantic beat.

Zain, who works as a junior general administrator with the National Institute of Public Administration (Intan) here, said he felt excited when he heard the tune.

An avid antique collector, he said he had owned the record for more than 10 years without realising the significance of its content.

“I bought it together with 10 other records from an old man for RM500.

“Recently, my son rummaged through my antique collection and played the song on the gramophone.

“Only then did I notice the similarity,” he said, adding that he believed the record dated back to the 1940s.

The record showed the name of song, the artiste and also indicated that it was made in England, but there was no mention of the year it was released.

Checks on music websites showed that Felix Mendelssohn and His Hawaiian Serenaders were artistes in the 1940s.

According to www.cduniverse.com, they played Hawaiian-style music, while www. musicweb-international.com described the band’s music as “immediately recognisable by its swing, swooning, sensual ethnic style”.

This Mendelssohn should not be confused with the 19th century German composer and pianist Felix Mendelssohn.

History has it that the Negaraku was adapted from the state anthem of Perak, which had a similar melody to the keroncong-influenced Terang Bulan, a popular song in the 1930s in Indonesia and Malaya.

It was also a familiar tune in the island of Mahe in the Seychelles where a former Perak Sultan lived in exile. A French band used to play the tune when it performed on the island.

There is, however, no record of the exact origin of the melody.

Some historians believe that a well-known 19th century French poet and composer, Pierre Jean de Beranger, wrote the music.

But there is no reference on any link to the Hawaiian Mamula Moon.








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