Legendary composers Alfonso Soliano (1925–1990) and Datuk Johari Salleh are the focus of two archival vinyl releases arriving this August.
Together, they survey the careers of two pioneering figures whose work was deeply intertwined with Radio Malaya and later RTM, highlighting their contributions to Malaysian music through public broadcasting, studio recordings and the development of a national musical identity.
Marking an expansion beyond its focus on music from the Arab world, Germany-based reissue label Habibi Funk's new Audible Beauty imprint will debut with these two releases drawn from the golden age of Malaysian music.
In recent years, during crate-digging travels and deejay excursions across South-East Asia, Habibi Funk founder Jannis Sturtz discovered the music of composers such as Soliano and Johari, now 86, a finding that ultimately led him to establish a new imprint focused on the region.
In Kuala Lumpur, a friendly working relationship also developed between Sputnik Rekordz founder Naza Mohamad and Sturtz, with Habibi Funk releases subsequently made available through the independent record store.
In a fitting turn typical of such vinyl-led exchanges, Naza also introduced him to a range of Radio Malaya-era jazz and orchestral recordings, a gesture that helped broaden its archival scope.
“Initially, we were curious to explore gambus, a local genre strongly shaped by Arabic musical traditions. What resonated most, however, was a stack of LPs in generic sleeves produced by Malaysian national radio and its early composers,” says Sturtz, who also acknowledges Sputnik Rekordz for directing Habibi Funk to the material.
In the coming weeks, Sturtz will elaborate on the stories behind the Audible Beauty releases, drawing on his meetings with Soliano’s family and Johari, both of whom have given their official approval for the project.
Unearthing the archive
Audible Beauty’s first release, Tiga Trombone, featuring 11 tracks, reveals the range of Soliano’s musical language across composition, arrangement and performance. Widely regarded as one of the architects of Malaysian music, he fused jazz, Latin influences and traditional Malay musical forms into a distinctly homegrown sound, with the compilation presenting a compact survey of his original compositions.
The vinyl release arrives amid renewed interest in Soliano's remarkable body of work, preserved in large part through the efforts of collectors and researchers who have tracked down lost Radio Malaya archives and elusive broadcast recordings, many of them long discarded.
Last year, the "Godfather of Malaysian Jazz" - with Filipino heritage - was honoured with a centenary celebration in Kuala Lumpur organised by his musical family. Best known as the founder and first conductor of the Orkes Radio Malaya, Soliano's influence will be revisited on Sept 2 when the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra presents a tribute concert at the Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS in KL.
The programme will also feature selections from the Tiga Trombone LP, including Surya Pagi, Kenangan Abadi and Ku Kan Kembali, creating an unexpected convergence between the archival reissue and the ongoing reappraisal of Soliano's legacy.
The second release on the imprint, Jazz Dari Angkasapuri, revisits an often overlooked chapter in the history of RTM-era jazz. The collection features nine tracks by the Singapore-born Johari, an iconic music director, composer, arranger and trumpeter, who moved to Malaysia in the 1960s.
During his tenure at RTM from 1961 to 1983, he played an influential role in shaping the sound of modern Malaysian music across radio, television, film and live performance, while also composing a wide body of popular works over a decades-long career.
Jazz, however, remained his enduring artistic focus, a preoccupation reflected in this selection of recordings, previously accessible only through a small number of locally pressed LPs issued in the 1970s.
The compilation, featuring Johana, Khayalan and Hitam Manis, not only affirms his stature as a composer, but also highlights his command as a trumpet soloist, weaving together jazz, spiritual inflections and Malaysian folkloric motifs. Moving between languid, modal passages and more propulsive jazz-funk textures, it offers a nuanced portrait of the breadth and depth of his musical imagination.
In a welcome effort to reintroduce Soliano and Johari to a new generation, both releases include extensive liner notes and previously unpublished archival photographs documenting their life and work. The vinyl releases are presented as gatefold LPs with an attached 12-page booklet, featuring in-depth essays, archival images and historical material.
In Malaysia, pre-orders for Soliano’s Tiga Trombone and Johari’s Jazz Dari Angkasapuri are available through Sputnik Rekordz, with a release date set for Aug 7.
