Honour Trez Amigos

TREZ Amigos was a household name in the fifties when their hit songs were broadcast on radio stations. But now not a single song is available to be aired.
I discovered this when I called a radio station and requested them to play a song. I was told that the song was unavailable, as were 50 of the group's songs recorded over 22 years from 1950.
This shocked me as the Trez Amigos, formed in 1949, contributed greatly to the music scene in the country and they were the first group to sing in Bahasa Malaysia, English and Portuguese.
The BBC found the songs to be very popular and it broadcast them to the Commonwealth countries during the 1952 Christmas season and also during Queen Elizabeth II's coronation in 1953.
Radio Portugal followed in 1954 while local stations played the songs for years on popular demand from the public.
The Trez Amigos leader, Horace Sta Maria, 91, also composed and sang a song in tribute to the leadership of our first prime minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, at a grand Merdeka celebration in Kuala Lumpur.
Through their songs, the Trez Amigos introduced the Portuguese-Eurasian community and Malaya to the Commonwealth and other countries, a great feat for a musical group.
With all these outstanding contributions, it is not only surprising that our radio stations don't have the songs in their collections, but the government too has not accorded them due recognition.
Members of the Trez Amigos should be conferred datukships as has been done for other singers.
Leaders of the Portuguese-Eurasian community should look into this matter, talk to the government, and request radio stations to air songs by the Trez Amigos.
S.T. Rajagopal
Kuala Lumpur