The Malaysian Business Magazine - 16th May 1994

MALAYSIAN BUSINESS MAGAZINE
16TH MAY 1994

by ANGELINE LIM


THE MUSIC MAKER
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The singer, guitar in hand, cut a lonely figure on stage. Shoppers milled around, paying scant attention to the stage hands hurriedly putting the sound system together. This, after all, was no sheila majid event.

Then he started to sing and shoppers stopped to listen, the crowd gradually growing till the semi-circle around the stage was at least 10 persons thick. He kept his audience riveted for almost an hour, without back-up singers, props or costumes. Just that voice and a trusty guitar.

Meet elfin-faced Alfred Ho, who has been crooning evergreen favourites to malaysians for more than 2 decades. His mellow voice has brought him far since his brush with stardom as a semi-finalist in rtm's bakat tv of the 1970s but it seems , not far enough.

"There's nothing I haven't tried," he says later in his apartment in brickfields. Ho is no dare-devil; he is simply a blind singer bent on making it in the punishing entertainment world. Some of the things he has tried include writing to cliff richard and BBC outlook programme, looking for breaks. His wife Rufina, not to be outdone, wrote in to tv3's benson & hedges golden dreams without Ho's knowledge, telling the producers about his dream to perform in las vegas. There has been no news so far; TV3 is apparently in the process of negotiating with the programme sponsor for a second season.

Ho, 44, says he has come up against a fair amount of prejudice. "I'm not sure if it is because I'm blind or whether they think I am too old." All he knows is, it isn't for want of effort on his part that he is without a manager or a marketing agent for his recently released album, SPECIAL GEMS.

The production of special gems, a collection of 22 hits of yesteryear recorded on cassette and CD, is a story of sheer determination. Ho embarked on the project because he felt it was a good way to promote himself as an entertainer but it has been an uphill task all the way. First he had problems getting financing. "When I go to the banks, they say `Show us your market plan'. I'm a singer, not a businessman. I don't know how to draw a market plan up, " he sighs. So Ho dipped into his savings and with careful budgetting, managed to produce 500 CDs and 1000 Cassettes on just RM10,000. This meant though, that he had to spend long hours recording by himself, with a minimum of post - production work done in the studios.

After that, he ran into another obstacle. The music shops wouldn't market his album, perhaps because Ho had no budget for advertising and promotions. Most of them asked him to leave the cassettes and cds in the shop but gave no guarantees and wanted to return all unsold copies. Ho says, "Only Eastland Trading in Jalan Tun Razak bought 50 copies from me right off because the proprietor wanted to help promote local artistes."

Slow sales notwithstanding, Ho re-couped half his production costs since the album was released last august. Which says something for his popularity; it isn't every singer who can do that with practically no publicity, in the finicky malaysian music market. Despite this accomplishment, Ho feels that success has largely eluded him. Indeed, in his unpretentious apartment - rented; we can't afford to buy - there are no trappings of success save some photographs of Ho in performance. The sparse furniture includes one simple settee and a foldable formica-top dining table.

During the photography session for this article, Ho was eager to please. Strumming on his electric guitar as the photographer finished off a roll of film, he grinned, "This is my lucky day! I've never had this many photos taken of me at one go." Not where he has had to pose for them, anyway. But afterwards, Rufina proffered album after album of photos of Ho taken during his shows. He is hugely popular as an entertainer at private parties and functions and has played for the likes of Princes and Ambassadors.

Ho's love for music goes back to his days at St Nicholas School for the Blind in Penang where he taught himself to play the guitar. (He became blind after a bout of measles at the age of 3). In his schooldays, he formed a four-piece band called THE SHARKS. He later performed solo in pubs and from those early years developed his senses so well that he could read his audience with his ears, gauging their preferences by listening to their response to each song. Ho himself prefers country and western numbers but has an extensive repertoire ranging from spanish ballads to thai, vietnamese, cantonese, hokkien and malay songs.

Ho also did a few shows called TAKE FIVE with a commercial broadcasting station in the 1970s and cut 2 EP vinyl records his own composition. Two songs, TRAIN TO TENNESSEE and WENDY'S LOVE SONG, were particularly popular. He recorded several cassettes after that but none had the polish of his latest CD. In 1984, when he thought he had a strong enough following to go it full-time as an entertainer, he quit his job as a telephone operator. Now 10 years on, Ho has no regrets about taking the plunge. He says, "Entertainment, with all it's ups and downs, can be very fulfilling given the opportunities."

He finds great satisfaction in playing for appreciative fans, one of whom is Antah Holdings Tunku Imran Tuanku Jaafar. Says Imram, "Alfred is a most entertaining singer. He has a good repertoire of golden oldies which people know and can sing along with. What's most remarkable is the way he can sing for four hours at one go."

"They're usually up and dancing when Alfred plays," smiles Ho's wife, showing more photos of KL's high society swaying to his music.

Ironically, the reception Ho received from the music industry was far different. He sent samples of his songs to recording companies like EMI and WEA but was turned down, no reasons given. He has also tried unsuccessfully to break into the advertising jingles and voice-over market. Constantly receiving rejections would discourage the best of us but Ho keeps going, writing to this company or that society, testing every avenue he can think of.

Among those who feel Ho has yet to realise his potential is Patrick Teoh a.k.a "The Voice". Teoh, managing director of Music Machine Sdn Bhd, has known Ho for more than 20 years from his rediffusion days. Says Teoh, "Alfred has immense talent both as a singer and a composer. He's just not been given too many breaks. I feel he should concentrate on writing his own compositions. He hasn't done it for a long time. He wrote a couple fo songs a long time back which were very popular on reduffusion and radio."

Perhaps it is having to worry about mundane things, like paying the bills and the rent that has stifled Ho's creative expression. To be sure, jobs are not easy to come by. " I may get one stint a month, sometimes none," says Ho and daily expenses have eaten into his savings. Still he is not giving up without a fight and his knack for improvisation may give him an edge. For instance, faced with low sales of his new album, Ho approached gift shop, Crimson Rosella and struck up a deal where his CDs are being repackaged as Mother's Day gifts.

A friend asked, "Do you want to be marketed as a singer or a gift itme?" Ho's retort, "Of course I want to be promoted as a singer but if that is what sells, what choice do I have? I can see the light at the end of the tunnel though," Ho confides. He had written to the welfare ministry some months ago and its officials visited him recently to discuss ways in which they can help market his music. The meeting was promising; at least it was enough to keep Ho's spirits up.

While entertaining is in his blood, Ho knows he can't keep at it forever and hopes to be able to save enough to set up a recording studio and tape duplication outfit of his own one day. He is confident he can make a success of it but sorely needs 2 things - financing and professionals who can give him sound management advice.

Going into business won't exactly be a breeze but Ho is undeterred. "I won't give up for as long as I have breath left in my body," he says.

THE FIGHTER IN HIM SHOULD SEE HIM MAKE IT THERE.