Hameed Restaurant, Central Market: The Epicenter of the Kuala Lumpur Underground Scene is Dead
seen on MySpace bulletin, written by Exit13, edited by Joe for clarity:
Subject: The Epicenter of the Kuala Lumpur underground scene is dead.
As all of you who live in Kuala Lumpur have known for ages, Central Market (or CM for short), has always been unofficially the epicenter of the local underground scene, the main meeting place since the early days, so there’s tonnes of great memories. The place to hang out was at the Indian Muslim restaurant namely Hameed, and lots of local scenesters meet up / hang out / do business etc..
In late 2005, the CM management decided to renovate the area where the restaurant was situated and so Hameed shifted to a neighbouring lot, until last Sunday the 9th of April, when the management of CM decided to end Hameed’s contract, and so and officially, Hameed, the once thriving local scenester meeting place, is no more. It’s all history now.
To all the friends that I met there since my early days of involvement in the local underground scene, from way back in 1988… until now, the memories are etched eternally in my head. It was a great time to hang out, meet new friends, to hear new demos, discover new bands, read new zines or just basically just lounging and drink some coffee etc..
I guess the times is changing. We need to find new place to call home again. If you know what i mean… Any ideas?
more pictures below
We did everything there. It was home away from home. We fell in love there. Fall out of love too. Made tonnes of lifelong friends and also fought, slapped, kicked and spat. We also met our own selves there. And lost our innocence. Restoran Yussoof AKA Restoran Hameed, that where we would go, day in, day out, for years and years; just because we can be 100% sure that our friends will be there.
Indeed I stopped going there regularly for years. Maybe from 1997/98, but everytime I meet friends who hang there my question would be, “How’s Central Market?”. And I would always stop over if I found myself in the area. Recently I’d go there often to pick up Maximum Rock’n’Roll from Rudy at his stall, and buy tobacco at that small shop under the stairs.
My band wrote a tribute to the place way back in 1995. Here it is:
PAYDAY (ode to CM ’88-’95)
end of month has come
scratched my sign on the line
get in queue and cashed my money
bought a pack and two buns
wonder where my friends are right now
much too early for them
number 33’s on the run
blowing smoke all around
took a ride to chow kit road
browsed for hours at the bundle stalls
while the indons they looked so bored
on the lookout for the plainclothed cops
payday now
it’s getting late
pregnant skies on the way
rode a 12, went straight to CM
gotta see all my friends
gonna pay the ones that i owed
share a smoke and a joke
buy a round of hot teh tarik
just lepak there till late
central market, hey! here i come
no better place to hang around
the only scene where i belong
nothing beats the underground
=====================
cheers to each and everyone who were there.
mana tak nya…bila masuk hamid (dan lain2 tempat juga!) tu je, dah kena jeling2..kena usha2..atas bawah..mana ada budak nak port kat situ! cuba buat style org kampung skit…pergi ler tegur2, tanya2, sembang2…tak kira ler budak kecik ke bapak budak…nampak ler mesra…baru ada budak nak lepak sana balik…aku rasa joe, apa kata korang ramai2 ni, tong2 duit…jadikan dana untuk arrange satu show kat CM tu…show amal pun boleh apa!? mula2 buat ler style buskin, unplugged pun orait! tak payah entrance fee…free aje! cari alah band light2 sikit…nampak sikit ada program…kalau lu org buat, gua mesti turun punya lah….
sheesh.I really gonna miss the place.
It’s the ONLY place to be.serious shit.
i’m gonna miss the place tooo!!
aku masih ingat lagi pertama kali aku jumpa Rashidin Kontrabral Distro. dia bawak aku lepak kat Hameed ah. jumpa kawan2 se-scene yang lain kat Hameed. oh, aku akan merinduimu Hameed!
masih ingat earth mankind? masih ingat dulu bebudak cm lepak bincang ‘nak boikot saper hari ini’?
bebudak cm lepak2 mengumpat org.
tapi cm masih lagik tempat yang sesuai nak berjumpa. sekitar awal tahun 2005, aku masih jumpa Amat kat situ 🙂 Thank Amat.
ekspres rakyat – “mana tak nya…bila masuk hamid (dan lain2 tempat juga!) tu je, dah kena jeling2..kena usha2..atas bawah..mana ada budak nak port kat situ! cuba buat style org kampung skit…pergi ler tegur2, tanya2, sembang2…tak kira ler budak kecik ke bapak budak…nampak ler mesra…baru ada budak nak lepak sana balik”
oi! bas ekspress! lari tajuk la bro! ni bukan pasal bebudak tak nak lepak. tempat tu tutup! aiyo! satu lagi pasal jeling, tengok atas bawah tu, kalau hang nak jadi halimunan, invisible man, XXXray, apa ka, tak yah la pi jalan-jalan. Duk rumah. awak ingat everyone of us tak pernah kena jeling, kena tengok atas-bawah? Everybody has to start somewhere la. Everyone kena “checked-out”, itu lumrah berkenalan. You were also checking them out! Yang menghalang hang to know these people better is your pride. Tak pun “low-self esteem”. kalau tak you would be saying hello to everybody, opened yorself up so people can open themselves up in return and get to know you. That’s how you make friends. aiyo!
syukree – “masih ingat earth mankind? masih ingat dulu bebudak cm lepak bincang ‘nak boikot saper hari ini’? bebudak cm lepak2 mengumpat org”
and then mung pulok Syukree, nok ngu’pat mana-mana pun buleh. Duk depan komputer sorang-sorang pun buleh. kat masjid pun people duduk ngu’pat jugok! so mung ingat budok-budok CM suma malaikat? Pasal boikot-memboikot itu sudah jadi lumrah perangai budok-budok yang tak apathetic. Mung jugok duduk bercerita pasal “direct action”. Boikot memboikot tu direct action la! aiyo!
sheesh, i’m feeling like a CM apologist pulak! no. the truth is bukan semua kat CM tu indah. Ada yang hodoh yang amat. Tapi itu memang lumrah. kalau ada tempat yang everything indah, aku dah lama pindah kesana. Yang penting, semua yang baik, semua yang buruk dan semua yang diantara keduannya adalah “package” yang ada, dan package tu aku terima dan aku rai kan, dan akan rai kan sampai bila-bila. So there.
you took the words right off my mouth (or rather, mind) Joe 🙂
i think if we have good personalities, humble to others, etc, there shouldn’t be any problems making friends at CM. ye, bukan semua org di hameed tu malaikat, but i think all the musicians, fanboys and girls, poets, junkies, revolutionaries, leftists, radicals, commies, maniacs, writers or whoever the hell they think they may be are all friendly, lovely people. sure, it takes some effort to get to know people. i myself took more than 10 years to actually know everybody by heart, and it was this process that made the whole thing memorable.
damn i’m gonna miss that place. i skipped too many classes during my student days just to take the bas mini to go to cm just to have a teh tarik, some smokes and some good conversation. then right after work, the meeting place to bitch just about anything.
i’m not from the city, but i can safely say that all of my city friends now are the friendships that have been spawned throughout the years of just sitting there having a sip of teh tarik and a few smokes.
hey, didn’t we have our first teh tarik & smokes & conversations at hameed, Joe?
cheers. 🙂
..and yeah.
where the hell was i when fahmi took all these lovely pics?
hehe.
There are a few more pixs which is a bit blurry so I tak letak. Anyway, I hope those guys tak marah I put on their mugs here. tell ’em I love ’em all, warts and all! Wish I have time to put up more, all the way from 1988. That’s another website I think.
thanks joe.
I remember once I’ve been there with Aidil from Couple. Dia nak jumpa kawan dia katanya. Kawan2 dia semuanya ramah dengan aku walaupun tak kenal aku. Kesian mereka yg selalu lepak situ.
miss the old day
Dulu kalau aku nak kena pow… aku cakap kat mat pow tu, “jap… aku nak kluarkan duit. Meh aaa, ikut aku”. Lastly, aku bawak mat pow tu kat Hameed… tunjuk kat bebudak/kekawan lepak situ, “mamat ni nak pow aku”. Mencicit mamat pow tu blah. Wahaha! First met Fahmi FSF pun kat situ circa 1997/98. First met Mat Nor Welfare pun kat situ. First Syukree pun kat situ, time ‘hangat’ Chaos PS dulu. First person approach aku kat situ ialah Zam Thrash! Haha! Kalau nak tengok bebudak politikal tepu a.k.a rabak melawak cam haram lepak la kat blakang Hameed tu. Wahaha! Those days…
tajuk tak lari banyak kot!? yelah…tak kena, tak rasa…haha..apa2 pun, harapan selepas ni, CM tu tak sekadar jadi sejarah atau nostalgia, boleh apa kalau nak dihidupkan semula. dulu, kalau band oversea dtg KL, mesti bawa ke HQ/CM dulu…skang ni kan dah ramai kawan2 ada studio, rumah, port kedai makan, etcetcetc, jadi, CM tu nampak macam jauh lah…apa kata buat semula..kita buat betul2..kalau ada kawan2 yg nak buat gig atau organize satu2 utk tour satu band, esp. kat area masing2, cthnya di Klang, shah alam, gombak, ampang, cheras, bangi, serdang etcetc…pakat2 ler meeting, contact organizer tu semua, pastu kita boleh setkan macam2 benda… alah…idea lama..cuma baiki semula…OK ke?
huargh…tempat mase aku kecik¬? slalu minum ngan mak aku lepas penat membisulkan bontot naik bas dari banting….huarg…dan juga tempat aku lepak nak tgk “artis”,dulu¬? mase aku kurang jelas (kurang terang@paham) pasal HC Punk…ni lah tempatnye aku duduk mengecilkan diri dgn erti kate lain lari dari kene pow….huargh…sedih