Aloha Merdeka Everybody!!

Setting: Dataran Merdeka, men and women in the rambu-ramba skirts, doing the hula dance and shouting "Merdeka, Merdeka, Merdeka".

Background music: Aloha `Ia Nö `O Maui

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This email was in my inbox this morning.

Something to be shared, if you know what I mean ;) .

Btw, did I manage to help you visualise the scene with the setting described up there and the background music that I chose from some Hawaiian Hula archive ;) hihihi. (ID - must help people to visualise her/his ideas and concepts hahahaha)

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Sender: Teoh PZ

Our flag was copied from America's, our currency was pegged to
America's, now we find our national song was also copied from an
American's.

Merdeka apa? We merely switched allegiance from England to USA. Can
we be their 53rd state now?

Listen to Mamula Moon (#14):

http://www.sternsmusic.com/disk_info/HQCD162


http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2005/8/30/nation/11901369&sec=nation

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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I think they should ask some help from the great local music sifu(s)including M.Nasir to writer a new Negaraku ^__^. I'm sure after he has proven his ability through his many, many songs - at least none of them sounded like 'aloha merdeka' - and he deserves to be given such honour to write a real Malaysian 'flavoured' national anthem. But, please, don't ask Mawi to sing it hehehehe.

Mentera semerah padi ain't bad to boost up some Merdeka spirit, no? But, wouldn't it be too long for a national anthem? Ngeh..ngeh...ngeh...keep on dreaming Alia!