From recording star to revered vocal sifu

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Yii Bing and his electronic organ transposing music to suit the voices of choir members.

Yii Bing today.

YII BING was only 11 years old when he stowed away on a fishing boat.

He missed his mother so much that he went against his father, who had taken Yii Bing to live with him in Mukah while his mother and sister lived in Sibu. Wanting desperately to be near his mother, he secretly hitched a ride in an old kotak bound for Sibu.

Yii Bing was born in a rubber growing area in Sibu in 1940 just before the Second World War. Today, the place is known as Aw Yong, a well-developed residential area.

In those days, there were only miles and miles of rubber trees and huge rubber roots which “attacked the bare feet” of the tappers.

“We were so poor we walked barefoot everywhere,” he recalled.

During the war, his father traded with the Melanaus along Sungai Kut — and that was how Yii Bing got to attend St Patrick’s School in Mukah before he was 11.

However, had he not hidden in a boat to get out of Mukah, he probably would not have been what he is today – a reputable vocal teacher with a huge student base.

His father was a small-time Chinese coastal trader. This had allowed young Yii Bing to mix with and get to know the coastal people of Mukah, Dalat, Balingian and Sungai Kut. Unknown to his father, Yii Bing — at such a tender age — was already thinking seriously for himself.

The kotak boatmen, of course, knew him, and even though he was a stowaway, they were very compassionate towards him. They gave him food and he, in return, washed the dishes and helped out around the boat before they arrived in Sibu. The boatmen also made sure his mother was at the Sibu wharf to pick him up.

Interest in singing

At Tung Hua Secondary School, Sibu, he was well grounded in Chinese Ethics, Morals and the Classics. There he also developed an interest in singing.

Back then, none of the teachers knew about his passion for singing — or thought about making him a singer. But Yii Bing knew he loved singing and would sing every chance he got.

It was a friend no older than he who gave him a book on vocal training. The gift inspired him even more. He started practising on his own and his diligence and dedication soon led to the emergence — and later recognition — of his real singing talent.

After winning several competitions in Sibu, he decided to work even harder to improve his singing. It took a few years of vocal refinement before he went to Singapore to cut a record — since he had no local backers.

Meanwhile, his singing career, including making the rounds on the booming nightclub scene, started to blossom. He would sing at any night club willing to pay him. He was also an entertainment consultant for many businesses such as the Grandeur or Kuo Du and The Ambassador or Kuo Bing, the sophisticated night clubs of Sibu in those days.

One of Yii Bing’s long-time friends said businessmen were willing to spend and there were many Taiwanese female singers too. Money was flowing as the timber trade was at its height.

When Yii Bing’s first record, a 45 rpm black vinyl, came out, his fame spread even further. He thrilled audiences in Sibu and also had many fans in Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei and Singapore.

Although surrounded by fame and fortune, Yii Bing never forgot his roots and always had a soft spot for the poor and downtrodden.

“The young people were held back by the lack of opportunities, especially education. Caught in a rut, many Sibu Chinese youths joined the left wing and went underground.

“Many of my friends lost their lives this way,” he said of his earlier days in Sibu and why he stopped schooling at a young age.

Perhaps, it was from a heavy heart that music flowed through to his soul and blood. He composed some great songs which he sang himself.

Many people in Sibu, however, wished he could have written more school songs to “encourage the students to work harder to overcome the problems of poverty”.

One teacher said: “In those days, there was also a great fear among the students because of the curfew. Our children only stuck to their books and did not have time for extra curricular activities. Some people were even worried when they heard songs sung in Chinese. Could these songs be Chinese communist songs?”

One of Yii Bing’s records.

Gritting their teeth

Yii Bing said poverty was so prevalent that many students had to grit their teeth to stay in school. And yes, there was a great deal of fear of going to jail.

A Sibu Foochow teacher, who only wished to be known as Wong, commented: “In those days, we probably had no choice. If we wanted to get a college education, we had to look to China. And that would mean escaping from our own family and making our own way to China where promises of a university degree supposedly awaited.

“None of us were good in English because we could afford only village Chinese schools — so we could not go to England or New Zealand. Only those who attended mission schools had English as their medium of instruction. Yii Bing was a singer who was making some money and we admired him. He wrote good songs which encouraged us.”

She continued: “So many of my peers left school to work as dressmakers, coffee shop helpers and timber yard workers. Those who married English-educated men or the sons of towkays had a better life.

“I was able to get some training and became a mainstream teacher in the 1960’s. Some migrated during the first decade of Malaysia because again with the change of the medium of instruction and a new national language, they could not cope with Bahasa Malaysia. But then, in the 1970s, the timber trade was booming and nightclubs were everywhere in Sibu. Yii Bing came at the right time and he was a star.”

Yii Bing himself mused: “To earn more money I was jumping the harbour – a Chinese saying which means I was going from town to town singing in nightclubs. So I really had quite a good time and  earning as I travelled.”

He bought a small foot-pedal organ and wrote or rearranged songs. Until today, he still writes in do re me fa so la ti do, re-arranging many songs for his choir in Miri — the Fei Yien Choir Group — and for his students.

He lamented that he did not really have the opportunity to become a good musician.

Following a very decisive move to Miri, he became one of the shareholders of Amigo Nightclub, Miri, the most popular nightspot in Northern Sarawak in the 1970s.

Timber merchants and senior government officers, especially police chiefs, were frequent patrons and he made friends with all of them.

“The best years of my life were spent entertaining big shots and beautiful women. Money changed hands very easily in those days. It seemed so easy to earn money in that particular decade (1970’s),” he recalled.

Yii Bing continues to help organise musical dialogues, gatherings, concerts and opportunities for singers to perform throughout Malaysia and Singapore, especially in Miri.

Most cherished reward

However, his most cherished reward — despite his success as an entertainer — was coaching hundreds of students for singing competitions and having some of them as his “greatest friends and supporters”.

The music and songs he helped to promote and, finally, the Fei Yien Musical Society he started in 1997 in Miri were perhaps his fondest gifts to the Foochows in particular, and Malaysians in general.

The Fei Yien Musical Society was inaugurated because several groups of women from different Chinese associations in Miri wanted to come under one umbrella to sing during International Women’s Day on March 8, 1997.

Yii Bing was asked to organise the combined choir with 144 singers  under his baton. The rest is history.

Today, the Fei Yien Musical Society has roughly 70 members. Many senior members have passed on and few younger women have the time to join.

Yii Bing and the Fei Yien Musical Society have fulfilled many objectives and a memorable one was bringing good vocal concerts to Miri, Sibu, Kuching, Kota Kinabalu, Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore.

Both have been to musical dialogues (combined choir presentations) to improve their own repertoires and singing skills. Charity concerts have been organised and the members have developed musically over the past 17 years.

Today, Yii Bing can say he enjoyed giving special vocal tuition to pupils who competed in various singing competitions. He continues to be a singing judge.

He said his most original musical score is the Fei Yien Theme Song. And one of his dreams came true when he went to China for a month-long refresher course at the Beijing Academy of Music.

Chien Kai Ming from Sarikei and a classmate of Yii Bing’s son Yii Chen Tze, started following Yii Bing’s musical career from the time he was only 10.

The first song which attracted Chien was ‘Jin Tien Bu Hui Jia’ — 10 years later. He was surprised that a college mate of his was actually the son of his idol. It took Chien another 20 years to finally meet up with his idol when Yii Bing visited Kuching.

Chien, who was in the state capital at that time, was so honoured to be made Yii Bing’s driver for a day. During a dinner together, he found Yii Bing “very humble and courteous”.

“He’s not only friendly but affectionate and warm as well. Indeed, being a fan of his for over 30 years is something to cherish. And to meet him finally — it was really a great honour.

“I’m so glad his son and I organised a good evening for teacher Yii Bing,” Chien said.

Down memory lane

Another of Yii Bing’s friends, Frankie Lea (originally from Kapit but now living in Texas, USA) recalled their days in Sibu.

“He was popular among the public for what he was. He was not an extrovert and more often than not, kept to himself. Being a man of few words, he was courageous and independent. He always aimed high and ready to learn new things, knowing he did not have a good education due to poverty.

“In hindsight, I think he could have been very successful if he were living in another country like Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong or even Singapore. Sadly, there were many people in Sibu and other places in Sarawak who did not make space for others.”

When Lea himself found he could not further his music career locally, he left Sibu in 1975.

“I learned recently most of my old musician colleagues in Sibu could hardly make ends meet and were struggling for their livelihood. Some were living like nomads.

“Being popular on the short-term would not put food on the table after a while. One has to move on or seek a different place to develop. I did just that — leaving music and finding a career in finance by studying hard for several years when I had the opportunity.”

In Sibu, Lea was attached to two night clubs — Merrido Night Club and Paris Room — which had live bands but no singers.

Both he and Yii Bing said they have seen it all — how the musicians played and the hostesses struggled for survival.

The lives of artistes were more or less similar worldwide. To them both, nothing came easy – and life, for the most part, was difficult.

Besides, they had seen many bands facing problems playing in night clubs where “life is really in the fast lane”.

Some hostesses were already mothers who had to feed a growing family. Others who made it could tell their rags to riches stories while some older women who had worked as hostesses would sadly recount “life is like whiskey in a glass”.

In his sunset years, Yii Bing lives quietly in Miri and has time to play with his grandchildren and meet friends from Sibu for a cuppa.

Wherever he goes, people still ask him about his days on the nightclub circuit.

His songs are now available on YouTube while some people still keep a good collection of his old records.

His voice has been etched in the memories of at least two generations of Sibu folk. His students will continue to regard him most highly for years to come. It is his voice that mesmerises people.

As one life-long fan said: “One can fall in love with his voice and remember that special voice for life. The power of his voice resonates in my mind each time I remember his songs.”

In a way, Yii Bing has held the record as the real recording star of Sibu.

After 50 years, the people are still waiting for another rising star to appear.

The Fei Yien Musical Society is seen during a joint Christmas Concert Performance with the KL Visually Disabled Choir in Miri last December.