Kelabits and guitar music in 1962

By 1962 I was already quite good at handling the guitar. We had several groups who plucked and strummed their guitars to while our leisure time away. I was then in Form Two.

One guy who came to school in 1962 was Jeffery Pasang Saging. We formed a neat group of band boys and sang all the popular songs of the day. JPS continued to be friends with me until today.

Being musically inclined, JPS was always around whenever a concert needed to be put up, or whenever we had time to singalong. JPS and so many of us had a lot of fun singing our hearts out and making music. If we had today's financial support, if we had a government that encouraged musical talents to be developed, we could have all made some records on a commercial scale.


JPS and Roland Dom Mattu, and several other Kelabits formed the famous Country Road Band and the Classics Band to play for many important functions in Miri by the end of the 20th century.

Their bands play on....

It was a pity at that time in the 1960's and 1970's that many people did not realise that music was a talent that needed to be developed. Some even considered guitar playing a waste of time!

Creative arts would be a premium...but unfortunately those of us who carried a radio or a guitar was not viewed too positively....why should entertainers be viewed as second class only?

And at a later date, the so called wild Beatles were invited to play their number for the Queen of England. In comparison, we native boys crooned our hearts out at the back of the wooden hostel in Tanjong Lobang school not knowing any better. The guitar is not a decadent musical instrument by all means.

I held on to my guitar....

And finally this year I was able to play my best at the Celebration of Brunei Legal Year in front of all the learned judges and the legal members of the Brunei Bar. What a unique moment it was for me to have come this far....in 1959 I was just a young 12 year old ulu boy who carried his torn mat, black rice pot and wearing something which was not even considered a shirt to start a new chapter of my life in TLS.