Malaysia’s Jazz Father Left, Thailand Gave Him A Royal Honour, And His Grandchildren Will Finally Perform His Music At The MPO
Alfonso Soliano built Malaysia’s first radio orchestra, may have scored the national anthem, and was driven out by criticism — thirty-six years after his death, the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO) will perform his works on 2 September, with his grandchildren on stage.
- Alfonso Soliano, Malaysia's jazz pioneer, built the country's first radio orchestra and trained musicians who defined a generation.
- Criticised for his Western influences, Alfonso resigned and moved to Bangkok, where the Thai royal family honoured him with a royal decoration.
- On 2 September, the MPO will perform a tribute to Alfonso, with his grandchildren performing his music at Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS.
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The story begins not with Alfonso Soliano, but with his father.
In 1894, the British colonial government brought 64 Filipino musicians to Malaya to form the Selangor State Band.
One of them was Rufiano Soliano; when the engagement ended, Rufiano did not leave.
That decision planted a musical dynasty that would, over the next 130 years, produce the man who built Malaysia’s first radio orchestra, trained the musicians who defined a generation, and — according to family accounts — wrote the first orchestral score for Negaraku at the request of Tunku Abdul Rahman.
It also produced a man the newspapers once called too Western; Alfonso was born in Singapore on 25 February 1925.
By age seven, he was performing professionally with the Grand Jubilee Bangsawan troupe.
By his early twenties, he was playing jazz at the Selangor Club and introducing bebop-style jazz to Malayan audiences — a style, by most accounts, that arrived here before its time.
In 1951, he joined Radio Malaya as a full-time musician and was tasked with building the country’s first orchestra from the ground up.
Among the musicians he trained were saxophonist Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Ahmad Nawab, trumpeter Dato’ Johari Salleh, saxophonist Taib Osman, and violinist Hamid Kassim.
In 1961, Alfonso was appointed music director of Orkes Radio Malaya, the institution now known as Orkestra RTM and recognised as the oldest orchestra in Malaysia, at a time when radio was the sole mass medium through which a newly independent nation heard itself.
The Music He Left Behind
Alfonso composed and recorded hundreds of songs for radio and television, fusing traditional Malay melodies with swing, cha-cha, rumba and bossa nova.
He arranged the symphonic form of traditional asli music, heard in that form for the first time at Malam Irama Melayu in 1959.
He shaped the careers of Tan Sri SM Salim and Zain Azman, the latter of whom called him the Father of Modern Malay Music.
In 1979, he produced Datuk Sharifah Aini‘s album Lela Manja under EMI, a recording of traditional Malay songs that earned him the Best Song Arranger award from Persatuan Seniman Malaysia.
Family accounts also credit him with arranging the musical score for Tan Sri P. Ramlee‘s first film, Chinta (1948), and with writing the first orchestral score for Negaraku at Tunku Abdul Rahman’s request.
The RTM Years: Resignation and Return
The newspapers did not approve.
By the mid-1960s, criticism of Alfonso’s Western-influenced arrangements had grown loud enough that he resigned from RTM and relocated to Bangkok, a city that received him rather differently.
In Thailand, he performed and recorded extensively.
The Thai royal family took notice.
Alfonso was awarded the Ahna Mala Naga decoration by the King of Thailand, a royal honour from a country that was not his own, for music that his own country had questioned.
He returned to Malaysia in the early 1970s at the invitation of the then Minister of Information.
In 1966, the year after his departure, Malaysia awarded him the Ahli Mangku Negara (AMN).
Ten Children, Ten Musicians
Alfonso ran a disciplined musical household.
He held band practices at home.
He brought his children to jazz clubs from the age of nine or ten. He had 10 children — five sons and five daughters — and all ten became professional musicians.
In the 1980s, as his children completed their schooling, Alfonso encouraged them to formalise what had always been happening around the dining table.
The result was The Solianos — a family ensemble that would go on to become, by the Malaysian Book of Records’ own designation in 2014, the country’s longest-performing family group.
Alfonso died on 16 June 1990.
The Family Carries On
The Solianos did not stop.
The current core lineup features Tristano Soliano (piano and vocals), Isabella Soliano (vocals), Condrado “Coni” Soliano (trumpet and flugelhorn), and Don Alfonso Soliano (bass).
The family’s musical roots stretch back further still.
Rachel Guerzo, Alfonso’s granddaughter and a jazz pianist and singer in her own right, was personally trained by Alfonso during her formative years.
She performs under the Guerzo surname, consistent with the family’s Filipino heritage.
Their 2011 album Pusaka, the Malay word for heritage, was a deliberate act of documentation: traditional Malay songs, jazz arrangements, the Soliano sound on record.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, when live venues shut, three of the Soliano brothers — Daniel, Dado, and Don — briefly pivoted to their second love.
They opened a charcoal hawker stall in Bangsar called Don Char.
It was, by multiple accounts, very good.
The Grandchildren Will Be on Stage
On 2 September, the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO) will perform a dedicated tribute to Alfonso at Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS (DFP) in Kuala Lumpur.
The arrangements will be handled in part by Dato’ Johari Salleh — the trumpeter Alfonso trained at Orkes Radio Malaya six decades ago, now returning to arrange his mentor’s works for a full symphony orchestra.
The Solianos will perform alongside the MPO.
Rufiano arrived in Malaya in 1894 and decided to stay.
His son spent a lifetime building the sound of a nation, was criticised for it, left, was honoured abroad, came home, and died.
His grandchildren will be on stage at DFP on 2 September.
The family never stopped playing.
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