What else but A Kadir’s 1975 classic Lontong?

In 2008 he rerecorded the song for karaoke:

In the peninsula, it’s a delicacy.

Usually it is “nasi himpit” (compressed rice cakes cut into cubes), then added with “sayur lodeh” (vegetable coconut curry). The vege can be cabbage, long beans, carrots and fried tempe (kind of beancurd). Tofu can also be added into the curry. Finally, peanut sauce is added on top. Some stalls add other things like slices of sotong (brown calamari), hard boiled eggs and/or grated coconut.

But over here in Sabah, it’s a kind of poison that’s sometimes used as a murder weapon. That’s why it sounds pretty funny: a song asking people to go eat poison!

Try playing this song loudly, or use it as a ringtone… I am not sure about the reaction in Sabah it initially got when it was first released.

Back to the vocalist. A Kadir, real name Kadir Abdul Rahman was born 1952 and apparently a Singaporean. Performing with group The Breakthru / The Breakthrough he released the song in 1975 via the Putera Kodok LP. He was 23 yrs old then. The LP also contained another classic cover “Papaya Ciku Ciku.”

The song was so popular that he was forever nicknamed “Kadir Lontong”.

He’s got one of the best tenor voices I’ve ever heard.

Popularity: 1% [?]

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