THE TIELMAN BROTHERS 2

THE TIELMAN BROTHERS (1960-1963) Imperial recordings + Ariola (3 singles + 1 EP)

Andy Tielman( lead guitar,vocals)
Reggy Tielman( 2nd lead guitar, vocals)
Franky Luyten( rhythm guitar, vocals)
Ponthon Tielman † ( bass guitar, 6 string bass, vocals)
Loulou Tielman † ( drums vocals)

In January 1960 the Netherlands and especially The Hague made their first aquaintance with THE TIELMAN BROTHERS. On the 3rd January 1960 they played in the Koepelzaal of the Haagse Dierentuin(The Hague Zoo). A show of which the happy few who attended it still talk about it with enormous respect. On the 23rd January 1960 they appeared on television. A typical Dutch winter evening to gather around he the stove and on the only TV channel available there was a broadcast of the AVRO (a Dutch Broadcasting Company). In the Weekendshow (broadcoasted from 't Spant in Bussum) four slim brothers appeared, who called themselves The Tielman Brothers. They started their spectacular performance with Black Eyes and continued their appearance with Rollin’Rock and every possible show element was brought into the floodlight. For instance a log drum solo from Loulou in which he took a drumming stroll around his drum kit, Ponthon crawling on the floor but still playing his white double bass, Andy playing guitar with his teeth and foot and reverse in his neck standing on the double bass and Loulou pounding musically on the strings of Andy’s guitar. Of course some elements were copied from Spike Jones and Bill Haley.

Such a sensational and wild rock ‘n roll show never ever occurred on Dutch television and in my personal opinion it was in no way surpassed any more. The rock ‘n roll of the Indonesian guys was so heart-warming in our cold and orthodox country, but the TV reviewers and music experts thought differently. A load of negative critics was printed in the news papers. These historic moments are luckily preserved and 45 seconds of it were used by Hans Heynen in his film documentary Rockin’Ramona. We see in this movie how the long and slender fingers of Andy run along his Gibson Les Paul guitar in Black Eyes. Rarity Records released later in 1991 this TV show in cooperation with Tojo even integrally and the sound track on CD. Also in January 1960 they recorded 4 songs in the Bovema Studio Heemstede. My Maria( through the years the most requested number), You’re Still The One( re-release of their first recording in 1958 sounded perfectly now), Black Eyes( their first instrumental which would become one of the highlights in the history of so called Indo Rock) and Rock Little Baby (also a re-release of their first record from 1958, but it sounded much better now).

After that they left for Germany. They started their well paid month contracts in the Ringstube in Mannheim. The family Fluhrman owned this dancing and the Ringstube was always called the Spudnik by the bands and visitors because of its decoration with rockets and futuristic space ships. The TIELMAN BROTHERS would return there often. Then they went to Studio 15 in Dusseldorf and the nice dancing Westhof in Heidelberg (also a legendary location because of the American GI’s who stayed there). Another famous dancing was the Jolly Bar in Hanau (this was also an American army camp). The returned once again to the Bovema to do some recordings for their first 10 inch LP and they asked for assistance of guitarist/singer Franky Luyten (no family despite the fact some people say that he was cousin or a married in family member). It concerned the following songs: O Sole Mio (a beautiful cover of the Elvis Presley hit- It’s Now Or Never), 18th Century Rock (the first Dutch rock band, who rearranged a classical music piece featuring twin lead guitars- their version of W.A. Mozart's Piano Sonata in C Major, K.545, main theme, got a load of negative criticisms. However the main theme was already addapted in 1939 by Raymond Scott and released as In An 18th Century Drawing Room and f.e. also covered by Guy Lombardo (1939), Glenn Miller (1944) and Hank Snow (1955), A.A.A. (an interesting instrumental based on Big Guitar by Owen Bradley), Pretend (perfect cover of the Carl Mann hit), April in Paris (a beautiful instrumental, but the actle title was I love Paris), Oh Rosalie (a hit for Conway Twitty), I Can’t Forget You (another typical and sensible vocal song by Andy Tielman in an unique way that only he could do) and Night Train (a sublime interpretation of this jazz standard written by Jimmy Forrest). 6 of these 8 recordings appeared earlier as singles. 18th Century Rock/Pretend even in the U.S.A. on Capital Records.O Sole Mio came in 1964 also on their 12 inch LP with on the sleeve the clear statement: We don’t have Indonesia anymore ………….. but we still have The Tielman Brothers. The instrumental Night Train remained very rare because this number only figured on their 10 inch LP ‘Tielman On Stage’ released in 1961.

Franky Luyten went along to Germany and he would be part of THE TIELMAN BROTHERS until the middle of 1964. In the spring of 1961 Andy Tielman bought his first (white) Fender Jazzmaster. Andy knew this guitar from the LP sleeves of The Ventures. This guitar appeared to be quite suitable for stage bouncing (much lighter then Gibson Les Pauls) and other guitar acrobatics and stage acts. This was quite important and in the end they band bought a complete Fender equipment outfit at Radio Barth in Stuttgart. During that period THE TIELMAN BROTHERS had their own mansion in Heidelberg.

In 1963 Jane Tielman went more and more on tour with the band. The same year that obtained also a recording contract in Germany for the Ariola label On the A side of their 1st single came Tahiti Jungle (an arrangement of Hawaiian War Chant of The Ventures) and on the B side the German song Fern Am Amazonas (Ariola had herewith the success of The Blue Diamonds in mind). The same recipe was followed for their 2nd German single: Java Guitars ( Andy's own interpretation Guitar Boogie, enormously popular and still copied today) with Weine Nicht Kleine Tamara (cover of the German singer Rudi Schurike from 1951) - in 1964 covered instrumentally in a very nice way by Jan de Hont and his ‘Maskers’ (a famous Dutch guitar group). Their 3rd single in 1962 was completely instrumental with an arrangement of a German folksong: Little Hänschen Twist and a magisterial treatment of Twistin’The Carioca (Les Paul instrumental originating from the film musical ‘Flying Down To Rio’ with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers from 1933).