The song, Covid-19 Blues, was in fact born of the need to lighten the MCO blues, according to the writer and performer, Sheith Faikis Abubakar.
He did not expect it to go viral on Malaysian social media. To him it was just one more video he uploaded to entertain subscribers to the Gombak Hillbillies channel, which he and his younger brother started more than a decade ago.
The video has attracted more than 100,000 views on YouTube and hundreds of enthusiastic and complimentary comments.
“I’ve never had so many views before,” Faikis told FMT.
His next most popular video, uploaded 10 years ago, garnered about 83,000 views, mostly from overseas. In it, he and his brother cover Buck Owens’ 1972 hit, Made in Japan.
Faikis’ first instruments were the piano and the blues harmonica, but when he was 16, his father got him a cheap guitar and taught him three chords and the boom-chicka-boom rhythm. He moved on from there by listening to the likes of Maybelle Carter, Merle Travis and Chet Atkins and, of course, various blues artistes.
He says music is one of the ways his family bonds in both good and bad times.
“Sometimes, when I’m just noodling with the guitar, my wife and daughter would join me and we’d sing some songs together.”
It looks like his daughter may be following in his footsteps. She can already play a few tunes on the harmonica. “And she’s learning to yodel too,” said the proud father.
Faikis said he would sometimes miss making music with his siblings and parents, but physical distance and separate lives have made it much harder to do so.
He said he harboured no ambition to turn professional, but alluding to Willie Nelson’s penchant for collaborating with other artistes, he confessed: “I sometimes fantasise about doing a record with Willie.”
He was only half joking. When he was much younger, he did send an email to Willie’s management to ask if the man would consider recording with him. To his surprise, he received a reply. “They graciously declined, saying something along the lines of ‘Thank you for considering a recording with Willie, but we’re sorry to say that Willie’s schedule is full.’”
As one may infer from the videos he has uploaded, he has a fondness for country music. “Country songs, at least the great ones, such as those written by the late Hank Williams, speak directly to you,” he said. “They are about experiences and emotions that anyone in touch with his feelings can relate to. Listen, for example, to John Prine’s Hello in There and you’ll know what I mean.”
Many Malaysians can certainly relate to his Covid-19 Blues. Inspiration for the song came as he was telling his wife how much he was missing hanging out at a mamak restaurant with hot tea and thosai.
One thing led to another and, after coming up with humorous verses about life under lockdown into a 12-bar blues structure, he was ready to play.
“I realised I had something that maybe everybody could relate to,” he said. “I only wanted to cheer people up, to give them something to laugh about in this climate of gloom.”
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