The Firedons were a hot “teenage” band which was featured regularly on the first teenage music dance program in Philippine television. the Dance-O-Rama in the early 60’s. The band recorded some great instrumentals like El Tomado, Mi Corazon and Shell Beat. With Ronnie, they recorded songs like Teenage Mash, Serenade in the Night, On the Beach and Can’t buy me love.
Ronnie Villar & The Firedons: Ronnie Villar (vocals), Willy Villar (lead), David Llorente (rhythm), Cesar Llorente (bass), and Waldy Cruz (drums) with Manny “Boy” Tagalog (drums, 1964).
草原之夜 Night on the Prairies (“Caoyuanzhiye”) is a folk love song from the Mongolian grasslands. The original singer was 朱崇懋 Zhu Chongmao (1922 – 2000) who sang it in the 1959 documentary Greenfields 〈绿色的原野〉[although many think it was 孟贵彬 Meng Gui-Bin]. It is said that the producer/lyricist (Zhang Jiayi 张加毅) and composer (Tian Ge 田歌), while shooting a party propaganda film in Yili region of Xinjiang in Huocheng, were inspired to write the song together spontaneously after watching the simple happy lifestyle of the horse people of the grasslands. Zhu Chongmao, whose singing was described as “implicit inner, delicate affectionate, sweet tone, clear articulation,” gave an unforgettable rendition of Caoyuanzhiye. He was a soloist as well as choral conductor with the Shanghai People’s Broadcasting Station and China Broadcasting Art Troupe before he emigrated to the USA in 1969. He continued his work in choral arts until his passing in New York.
草原之夜 cǎo yuán zhī yè (NIGHT ON THE PRAIRIES)
美丽的夜色多沉静 měi lì de yè sè duō me chén jìng
(Beautiful is the evening scene in its quietness!)
草原上只留下我的琴声 cǎo yuán shàng zhī liú xià wǒ de qín shēng
(On this vast prairie land, there remains, only the sound of my music!)
想给远方的姑娘写封信 xiǎng gěi yuǎn fāng de gū niáng xiě fēng xìn
(I would write a letter to my lady far, far away)
可惜没有邮递员来传情 kě xī méi yǒu yóu dì yuán lái chuán qíng
(But, unfortunately, there is no postman, to convey my love!)
等到那千里冰雪消融 děng dào qiān lǐ bīng xuě xiāo róng
(I’ll wait for these miles of snow and ice to melt away)
等到草原上送来春风 děng dào cǎo yuán shàng sòng lái chūn fēng
(For the spring to bring a warm breeze to this land)
可可达拉改变了模样 kě kè dá lā gǎi biàn le mó yàng
(For this whole prairie land to put on a new landscape)
姑娘就会来伴我的琴声 gū niáng jiù huì lái bàn wǒ de qín shēng
(My fair lady would then be here to sing to my music!)
美丽的夜色多沉静 měi lì de yè sè duō me chén jìng
草原上只留下我的琴声 cǎo yuán shàng zhī liú xià wǒ de qín shēng
想给远方的姑娘写封信 xiǎng gěi yuǎn fāng de gū niáng xiě fēng xìn
可惜没有邮递员来传情 kě xī méi yǒu yóu dì yuán lái chuán qíng
来 来 来 来～～～ lái lái lái lái ～～～
(Come, come, come, come ～～～)
可惜没有邮递员来传情 kě xī méi yǒu yóu dì yuán lái chuán qíng
(But, unfortunately, there is no postman, to convey my love!)
姑娘就会来伴我的琴声 gū niáng jiù huì lái bàn wǒ de qín shēng
(My fair lady would come here to sing to my musical accompaniment!)
The Stylers’ presence and influence of Chinese beat music was of epic proportion. They started out as The Angels (later, as The Rhythm Strickers) and recorded a Mandarin EP “Maggie” under Miracle Records in 1962. In 1966, they teamed up with the popular vocalist Ronnie See and gigged regularly at the popular Celestial Room Tea Dance (Singapore). They recorded an EP cover of English songs with Squirrel Records with some success. By the time Ronnie left in 1969, they had landed a major contract with Polar Bear Records to back Chinese singers. They had inherited a “dynasty” from The Melodians after they disbanded due to the fatal electrocution accident of Maurice Patton. The number of record releases by The Stylers was staggering. Besides backing the ever expanding pool of multi-racial singers who eagerly sought after them, they also released a voluminous grab bag of “non-stop instrumental” (off-beat cha-cha, a-go-go, fox-trot, etc.) dancing music.
The Stylers: John Teo (lead), Rahn Lee (rhythm), Douglas Tan (bass) and Elying Wong (drums). Other members over the years included: Frankie (bass), Jeffrey Ong (keyboard), Idros (drums), Osman (drums), Ronnie See (vocal) and Robert Song (vocal, percussions).
(LET’S DANCE)
Hey baby, won’t you take a chance.
Say that you’ll let me have this dance.
Well let’s dance, let’s dance.
We’ll do the twist, the stomp, the mashed potatoes too,
Any old dance that you wanna do.
Well let’s dance, let’s dance.
Hey baby if you’re all alone.
Baby, you’ll let me walk you home
Let’s dance …
Hey baby yeah you thrill me so.
Hold me tight, don’t you let me go.
Let’s dance …
Hey baby yeah things are swing right
Yes I know that this is the night.
You are currently browsing the QUESTING bandstand blog archives for January, 2010.
Introduction
NOTE: We are online again. Enjoy!
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1) The Quests, Part 1
2) The Quests, Part 2
3) The Quests in Malay (with Malay artists)
4) The Surfers
5) The Thunderbirds
6) Susan Lim & The Crescendos
7) Naomi Suriya & The Boys
8) Heather & The Diamond Four, The Thunderbirds
9) Shirley Nair & The Silver Strings
10) Rose Iwanaga & The Avengers
11) Suyin (舒雲) & The Quests
12) The Fabulous Echoes
13) Off-beat Cha Cha with Kong Ling ( 江玲) & The Fabulous Echoes
14) The Early Years: Wong Ching Yian (黄清元) & The Melodians. The Stylers
15) Radio show – Retrospective Part 1 (The Decade)
16) Radio show – Retrospective Part 2 (Instrumentally Yours)
17) Radio show – Retrospective Part 3 (A Spiritual Sojourn)
18) Sakura Teng & The Quests.
19) Rita Chao & The Quests, The Surfers
20) Hot August Nights: Rockin’ with “RJ” in Manila
21) QBS Christmas Party (Keep Christ in CHRISTmas!)
22) Gong Xi Fa Cai! (Chinese Year 4714)
23) Happy Valentine’s Day
24) Happy Mother’s Day
25) Reg Guitar 乐雅吉打乐队 (Part 1)
26) Reg Guitar 乐雅吉打乐队 (Part 2)
27) Remembering Jap Chong (of The Quests)
28) The Inimitable Teresa Teng (鄧麗君)
29) The Tielman Brothers (Andy Tielman)
30) Remembering Reggie Verghese (of The Quests)
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