THE TIELMAN BROTHERS 1

Reggy - born the 20th May 1933 in Surabaya, Indonesia
Ponthon - born the 4th August 1934; deceased the 29th April 2000 in Jemper, Indonesia
Andy - born the 30th May 1936 in Makassar, Celebes, Indonesia
Loulou (Herman Lawrence) - born the 30th October 1938 in Surabaya, Indonesia, deceased the 4th August 1994 in Cairus, Australia
Jane (Janette Loraine )- born the 17th August 940; deceased the 25th June 1993

THE TIMOR RHYTM BROTHERS( Indonesia 1945-1957)

Andy Tielman (guitar, vocals)
Reggy Tielman (banjo,guitar,vocals)
Ponthon Tielman (double bass, guitar, vocals), left in 1956 for Bussum, the Netherlands
Loulou( Herman Lawrence) Tielman (drums, vocals)
Jane (Janette Loraine) Tielman (Vocals)
(Father) Herman Tielman (manager, guitar)
(Mother) Flora Lorine Hess (presentation)

The story of THE TIELMAN BROTHERS begin in Surabaya, where the 4 little brothers Tielman and little sister Jane started performing together in 1945 folk songs and traditional dances. Father Herman a captain and later quartermaster in the KNIL (Royal Dutch Indonesian Army) and he had stayed in a Japanese concentration camp. He owned a house in Surabaya and started to play music together with his friends. Herman Tielman was a gifted all round musician and he was the one that supplied Reggy, Ponthon, Andy, Loulou and Jane with their rich musical luggage. From the started Ponthon wanted to play the big double bass. Reggy wanted to play banjo and little Loulou was fond of the drums. Andy learned to play lead guitar. During their first performance during a house party they surprised their fathers friends with difficult numbers like Tiger Rag and 12th Street Rag.

Gigs followed at several private parties in Soerbaya. It went fast and within half a year they went on tour as THE TIMOR RHYTHN BROTHERS -Timor is the island, where the Tielman family inherited from - along the camps of the Dutch soldiers. There after they received offers from the NIWIM (National Effort Welfare Indonesia) and together with famous Dutch artists like De Wama’s, the Ramblers and the Skymasters they toured along the major cities of Indonesia. Their shows consisted of music and dances from all over the Indonesian islands including corresponding costumes and ritual attributes like war spears and swords. During these shows father Herman Tielman joined in on guitar mother Flora took care for the general presentation.

On the 29th December 1949 the official independence proclamation of Indonesia took place. The Tielman family now performed for the Indonesians. They even performed in the palace of president Soekarno in Djakarta. When they grew older they started to cover the top hits in perfect close harmony. In 1951 they were introduced to Guitar Boogie of Arthur Smith. Andy later told in an interview: ‘this was the first song which my brothers and I converted into rock ‘n roll by adding drums to it’. Later they started playing number of Les Paul, Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Bill Haley, Fats Domino, Chuck Berry and Gene Vincent. Andy also played together with Dolf de Vries in the band THE STARLIGHTS in Djakarta. Also on Sumatra he played without his brothers in the Hawaiian band of Freddy Wehner.

THE TIMOR RHYTHM BROTHERS –THE FOUR TIELMAN BROTHER-THE 4 T’s (Breda 1957-1959)

Andy Tielman (lead guitar, vocals)
Reggy Tielman (2nd lead guitar, vocals)
Ponthon Tielman (double bass, vocals)
Loulou Tielman (drums, vocals).

At a certain moment they were offered an extensive tour throughout Indonesia, but only on condition that they should change their Dutch nationality into Indonesian. In the opinion of Herman Tielman his children would have a better future in the Netherlands and in 1957 the family repatriated to Holland by boat. Ponthon was already repatriated one year earlier and lived with his wife in Bussum.

After arrival in Holland they were settled in Breda in boarding house Smulders at the Baronielaan. They possessed only of a small suitcase with thin tropical cloths and they were confrontated with the cold Dutch winter. Luckily the DMZ (Military Affairs Service) supplied them with warm clothings. Edu Schalk - later singer with the Poetiray Brothers from Oosterhout- was their first Indonesian friend in Breda. The brothers went to the music shop Spronk in Breda and after they had convinced the owner of their great talents with their version of Bye Bye Love by The Everly Brothers, they were allowed to buy the most expensive guitars from the shop at instalment purchase. That became the legendary big white Miller guitars and a sunburst Wilson guitar. These were products of the Egmond company from Eindhoven (type ES 57). Later they also bought Egmond combo amplifiers to replace the old radio’s they were using. Their first appearances took place in Hotel De Schuur at the Catharinalaan in Breda. In the beginning they performed as the TIMOR RHYTM BROTHERS but soon they called themselves THE FOUR TIELMAN BROTHERS or THE 4 T’s. They soon went famous in Breda and started gigging other places in the province Brabant like Kamp Lunetten in Vught and dancing De Cosmopoliet in ‘s Hertogenbosch.

The big aluminium balls of the Atomium in Brussels, Belgium still remember us of the world exebition Expo 58, which was held from the 17th April until the 19th October. At that time Hawaiian music was very popular in Europe and as a part of the Attraction Park a Hawaiian Village was created. With a decoration of palm trees, a blue sky and exotic plants and flowers Rudi Wairata (steel guitarist) and Mike Anoi (Guus 'broer' Arends) and their Hawaiian band played as main act. Several Dutch bands appeared and also THE FOUR TIELMAN BROTHERS were invited. They were allowed to fill a break of 20 minutes. They gave a spectacular rock ‘n roll show as never in Europe performed before. Andy played guitar with his foot, the guitars were played reverse in the neck, his guitar was played with the drumsticks of Loulou, the double bass was handled in a sheer acrobatic way and guitars were tossed between the brothers. The 20 minutes became almost 6 months.

The Belgian René ‘Nappie’ Vlasselaar became their manager and arranged a recording session for his label Fernap. Together with his brother Ferry he owned the jukebox company Fernap (Ferry and Nappy). Rock Little Baby Of Mine was an up tempo rock song written by Andy Tielman as well as the flip side the ballad You’re Still The One. The inspiration for both songs came from his idol Elvis Presley, but the specific Tielman style was already present despite the primitive recording techniques. During that period Andy got married in Brussels to Jeanine M. When after one night all their guitars and amplifiers were destroyed by a fire at the Expo his father in law Roger M. bought them enormously expensive Gibson guitars and amplifiers brought in straight away from the U.S.A. Hans Joachim Kulenkamp and Peter Frankenfeld, famous German TV showmasters, discovered the Tielman Brothers at the Expo and invited them at the end of 1958 to Germany for a guest appearance in their TV show and a musical show act in the movie Paprika

The very first performances of THE TIELMAN BROTHERS in Germany took place at at "Plankenkaffee Kosschenhaschen" in Mannheim from 3 up to 16 January 1959. One night their show was filmed by Hessischer Rundfunk (HR) and was live on German TV January 27, 1959. This footage was transmitted again in Germany in the SWF-Abendschau. The Tielman Brothers were also invited on the 29th January 1959 at Hotel Deutsches Theater in München during a movies ball at the occasion of the premiere of the movie Paprika. There they met actress Romy Schneider and were rewarded with movie medal. In 1959 the played mainly as an act in between in circuses and year fairs. Their Belgian manager had placed them that in that scene. With Circus ‘Fisher’ they travelled throughout Germany and they also did a guest appearance at the famous ‘Oktoberfest’ in München. Cor Aaftink at that time label manager (Imperial) of record company Bovema had the courage to offer the for Dutch standards very wild rock ‘n roll group a recording contract. Their debut single became one of the highlights in the Dutch pop history. The catchy rhythm in Record Hop and Swing It up, the unique vocal achievements of Andy and the instrumental backing with Ponthon still on double bass sounded very international.