THE violin is the world’s most sophisticated, high-pitched string instrument. The narrow-waist and voluptuous instrument — yes, it is often compared with the female silhouette — requires precision to produce the proper tune. And with all of its different parts and its beautiful, delicate-looking body, the violin can feel a bit intimidating.
But the Prime Minister’s wife, Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali, doesn’t find playing the violin at all nerve-wracking, even now that she is prohibited by low vision.
She started playing the violin when she was 16 and stopped playing the instrument a few years later, only to pick it up again after 70 years.
She is back to playing the violin and also the piano by listening to the music. She said anyone can do it if they are determined to play.
THE CHALLENGE
It was the Japanese Occupation and school was out. Dr Siti Hasmah recalls how happy her mother was during that time.
“She said now that I wasn’t going to school, I can learn to cook and clean the house. So, my sisters and I would take turns to do the housework.”
But her father had other ideas to keep his three daughters occupied. While her two sisters played the piano, he gave Siti Hasmah a violin.
“I was the youngest of three daughters and I was given the violin. I was surprised that Ayah wanted me to play the violin. But I said ok. It’s a challenge for me,” she reminisces.
For three years, her father arranged for her to learn to play the violin with a tutor, a Mr Gomez.
She said they even broadcast on Radio Malaya as “the three Ali sisters, with Jameah on the piano, me on the violin while kakak (Tan Sri Dr Saleha Ali), who also plays the piano, sang.”
Growing up, she recalls that there was a piano in the house, an old antique piano with the candelabra on it. “Ayah was the one who was very musical. He probably would have been playing the gambus. He made sure we were musically-minded too.”
After the war ended, Dr Siti Hasmah returned to school and she had to give up the violin. “I went back to school because I wanted to. I was getting better grades than before. Then I went to Singapore (to study), returned home (to Selangor), then got married and went to Kedah. For 18 years we were in Kedah and came back here (to Kuala Lumpur) and (all the while) I didn’t touch the violin. In fact, I lost the violin. It was stolen during the time I was in Singapore.”
It was when Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad became the fourth Prime Minister that she was re-acquainted with the violin. But she didn’t play it yet. She recalls that a violin was gifted to Dr Mahathir when they visited Melaka. “He looked at it and had it sent to the office for safe keeping.”
In 2012, Dr Siti Hasmah was appointed the patron of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. “We decided to hold a family and friends’ charity concert. We were all supposed to perform, from the clerks right up to me and the advisor of Petronas, which happened to be my husband.
“At first, I was not very keen on playing anything except to sing with the choir. For two years, 2012-2013, we just sang with the choir. Then we decided to do something different.
“Someone suggested tap dancing and I said, ‘At our age?’ Or ballet dancing. Again, I said, ‘at our age?’
“But we wanted to do something that can attract people to come to the charity. My daughter, Marina, said: ‘Mummy, you have to be very professional because people pay to come and they expect professional performance.’ I said no, I'm going to tell them from the very beginning in my speech that we are amateurs; they would have to accept it. So that's the time I decided to play the violin.”
Furthermore, Dr Siti Hasmah shares she took up the challenge after listening to a 10-year-old Permata Seni student at a Bakti event playing the same tune she had played when she was 16.
“So I called the (Prime Minister’s) office and asked if I can have the violin (which was given to Dr Mahathir in Melaka). It was still in good condition so I took it. I had to also find a tutor. Fortunately, one of my granddaughters, Yasmin, played the violin before she left for England (to further her studies) and I contacted her tutor, Winnie.
“I asked Winnie if she could take in another student. She said yes. I told her the student is old and she’s shaky. There was a slight pause. Then she asked for the student’s age. I told her 86. There was a long pause. Then, she asked who the student was. I told her it was me. There was a longer pause,” says Dr Siti Hasmah, laughing heartily.
But Winnie took up the challenge. “Don’t worry, Tun. I will teach you, she said. So, she has been with me every Tuesday from 10am to noon.”
Dr Siti Hasmah jokes that she is in a bit of a danger now that people know that she plays the violin. “People now invite me as guest of honour and ask me to perform for charity. I would be okay with it, provided they meet one condition. Before, I didn’t know that I could impose conditions but I am brave enough to do it now,” she says, cheekily.
It is a simple enough condition to meet. “If they want me to play, they will have to play with me. So, if they can play the guitar, they have to play along with me. They give part of the proceeds to my own charity organisation. So I don’t have to busk under the tunnel,” she says, jokingly.
HER PRIZED POSSESSION
Dr Siti Hasmah now plays another violin that was also gifted to Dr Mahathir. The violin was originally on display at Galeri Perdana in Langkawi, where all the gifts, souvenirs and awards received by Dr Mahathir are kept.
“It was a violin made in Western Germany. I said, ‘Why the heck is the violin here?’ Why didn’t I use it? So I asked the curator if I could have it. He took it out and gave it to me.
“I sent it to Yamaha in Alor Setar to clean it but the bridge broke. It is an antique and very fragile. I sent it to Yamaha here (in Kuala Lumpur) but they refused to touch it. It is an old violin and anything we do to it will spoil it.”
When Dr Siti Hasmah showed the violin to her tutor’s friend, Malaysia’s first lady conductor, they found out that the instrument was not made in Western Germany but by a factory in Italy.
Most historians agree that today’s violins emerged in the early 16th century in northern Italy, an area which would maintain the violin-making tradition over the coming centuries. Maple and spruce, the two types of wood most favoured by violin makers then and since, were readily available in the Lombardy region.
According to National Geographic, the city of Brescia, located at the foot of the Alps, was the earliest to excel in the crafting of violins but Cremona, home to the world’s most famous luthiers, Giuseppe Guarneri, Antonio Stradivari, and the Amati family, became synonymous with the art of violin making.
“It just so happened that Winnie has this friend, a Mr Ong, who knows how to service a violin. In fact, he takes care of all of MPO’s string instruments. He came to the house and told me that he had worked at the Italian factory. Just my luck! He goes there every year to refresh his knowledge and he can make a violin and he can service the violin. So I gave him the violin and it cost me RM800 to rehabilitate it. He did it very well. I am now playing it.”
When she visited Ong’s shop at Jalan Imbi, she also found out that he had an apprentice who was handcrafting the violins locally using wood from Italy, Brazil, South Africa and Mongolia. “I asked him how much and he said RM10,000. I am aiming for that.”
PLAY BY EAR
Dr Siti Hasmah also plays the piano but just for fun. When she accompanies the Prime Minister on his overseas trips, the Perwakilan (Persatuan Wanita Kementerian Luar Negeri/Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ladies’ Association) in the countries that she visits will host an event for her.
“If there is a piano or organ, they will ask me to play and accompany them while they sing.”
Since low vision has prohibited her from reading notes, Dr Siti Hasmah now plays the violin and piano by listening to and memorising the music.
“I studied play by ear piano. Just play by ear without the notes. I have the preliminary and intermediate certificates for that,” she shares, clearly proud of her achievements.
She related a very funny incident that happened when she first went to the studio that taught the technique.
“Alex (the studio owner) didn’t believe that I would go to his studio. When I went there the first time, I saw the apartment block circled by policemen. I asked Zakaria, my bodyguard then, what was happening. He didn’t know. He said Alex could have alerted the police that the Prime Minister’s wife was coming.”
Alex then introduced Dr Siti Hasmah to her tutor, Vincent. “Now, Vincent has long hair and one earring dangling down his right ear. I was alone in the room with him. I was thinking then, “My goodness, what would people think if they know that the Prime Minister’s wife was alone with someone like this.
“I think he could sense my anxiety and he asked if I wanted my bodyguard in the room with me. Zakaria then joined us in the room.”
Dr Siti Hasmah recalls she was first tested on her musical aptitude; first using numbers, on which she flopped miserably as she couldn’t remember the sequence, and then via listening to the tune.
“Vincent played a tune and asked if it sounded nice. I said yes. And then he deliberately played the wrong chord for the same melody. I told him it didn’t sound right. Then he knew I was musically minded. I passed the test to be a student.”
She first did the preliminary course and was presented a certificate at a ceremony where graduating students had to perform. “This was in Subang Jaya where there is an open-air courtyard in the compound of the condominium. The graduating students invite their parents to the ceremony. My parents are no longer alive, so I brought my husband to the ceremony. And Alex was so delighted that the Prime Minister was there. And I was the oldest student.
“You have to play a piece before you get the certificate. So my husband sat there and I played Getaran Jiwa.”
She shares that mind-mapping expert Lim Teck Hoe also taught her a technique on how to remember the tunes.
“He said when you have a new tune, listen to it and pretend that you’re playing the instrument. Even if you don't know the tune, just pretend that you're playing it.
You’re telling your brain that this is the song that you’re going to play and that you’re going to play it well. Do it a few times and then the brain will then eventually absorb what you want to play and will send out the messages to the nerve and then the nerve to the muscles and then only you get to play it well.
“I followed it and it works. It was so difficult to memorise a new song before but (mind-mapping) helps me a lot.”
THE MUSIC
Dr Siti Hasmah and Dr Mahathir share the same playlist. “We love the same music. We used to sing together when we were studying in Singapore. Oh, he is a good singer,” she enthuses.
They would do a duet, singing, among others, old Malay oldies like Gelora, Burung Kenari and Dari Hati ke Hati.
If Dr Mahathir does a solo, he would sing Come Back to Sorrento. “That’s his favourite song,” she says.
When Dr Mahathir is asked to sing at events, she confides that they would practise at home. She would play the piano while he sang. “I want to know the key so that I can tell the event manager or the pianist that would accompany him.”
And she will be on the stage with him, not to show the audience that they are a loving couple, but to assist Dr Mahathir in keeping with the music tempo. She would put her hand on his lower back to give him the timing and tempo. “Most often than not, he will be out of tempo. They have to follow him. Sometimes, they will slow down the tempo. I will have to give him the tempo.”
Dr Siti Hasmah laments about the music the younger generation is listening to today.
“We no longer have composers and singers like Tan Sri P. Ramlee and Tan Sri S. M. Salim and the kind of songs they sang before,” she says, describing these songs as lagu-lagu bangsawan and lagu-lagu asli.
“All those beautiful songs have to be revived. (And I believe) Datuk Siti Nurhaliza is the one who can do it. We don’t have to go abroad to learn their jazzy or pop songs.
“If my husband and I attend events where there are performances, we listen to the songs. If one singer comes up on stage and starts singing, “oh, baby, baby”, our whole evening would be destroyed.
“We are conservatives. You are the new generation. But surely there are Malay, English and Chinese songs that have messages. Don’t spoil the original songs. Don’t change the melody of the song. Don’t turn Getaran Jiwa into a pop song,” she concludes.