The Malay Mail - 4th Nov 2004

Chow Ee-Tan

Alfred Ho took his mature audience on a pleasurable trip down memory lane. It was a rare sight to see the Actors Studio at the Bangsar Shopping Complex filled with an audience who were above retirement age.

They had come for the Down Memory Lane With Alfred Ho concert last week. And they had a good time, singing, clapping and tapping their feet, with a few brave ones even going on-stage to dance!

This audience came for an evening of evergreens and they found it in Ho, the talented blind singer and musician whose vigour and energy would put many younger people to shame. Indeed, he enjoyed entertaining the audience so much that he didn’t want to stop! The show lasted two hours and 40 minutes with an intermission.

From soothing ballads to fast rock numbers and evergreen country music, Ho – with the help of his rhythm machine – belted out one hit after another made popular by Elvis Presley, Cliff Richard, Pat Boone, Johnny Tillotson, Engelbert Humperdinck and the Platters. He even covered Cantonese, Japanese and Hokkien numbers. The crowd was charmed by his deep, resonant voice and his trusty guitar.

Although Ho could have easily carried the show himself, he roped in two musician friends to add variety. In what was what he called the ‘East meets West’ section of the show when he invited guzheng (Chinese harp) instructor Teresa Ng to duet with him on a Chinese number, with Ho playing the guitar. And Ng then proceeded to play a classical Chinese piece that showcased her dexterity and fluidity on the instrument. However, it was a little annoying that some in the audience seem more preoccupied with giving a running commentary on the proceedings.

The other guest artiste was 20-year-old Amin Shariff Abdullah, a student from Arden College in Manchester. The blind young man, a gifted keyboard player, appeared on stage with dark glasses, looking like a smaller version of Stevie Wonder. He played some jazz music including a piece which he composed himself to the audience’s appreciation. But of course, the loudest
applause and cheers were still reserved for Ho, who set the mood with the bright and sunny Sha-la-la as his opening number. Then, it was one memorable tune after another. When he came to songs like Oh! Carol and Save The Last Dance, Ho urged his friends among the audience to dance. He had purposely left a big space on stage to serve as the dance floor.

One couple in particular, whom Ho referred to as ‘The Yeohs’, always took the lead to the dance floor! Whether it was cha-cha, rock and roll, jive or rhythm (four-step), they did it with aplomb and won much applause!

Ho also did two medleys which chained together many lively evergreen hits like Beautiful Sunday, Stand by Me and Yellow Polka Dot Bikini. Indeed, there seemed to be no songs that Ho couldn’t sing. He crooned the sentimental Only You, Latin-style La Bamba and even attempted Chubby Checkers’ The Twist which attracted three couples to the dance floor. For his Chinese numbers, Ho showed his affinity for Sam Hui, singing a few of the veteran singer’s 1970s hits, and ending with Shanghai Beach.

Indeed, Ho has quite a fan base, with some coming from Penang and Muar, Johor, for the show. Many have probably attended his first show on Oct 17 as well. At the end of it, the happy and satisfied faces of the audience said it all.