History has a habit of remembering the person under the spotlight and losing the one who built the language. But separating Ramlee from Sudarmadji is like separating Ellington from Strayhorn. Whenever Ramlee picked out an opening melody on a guitar or at the piano in Studio B, Sudarmadji was almost certainly sitting across from him with a cigarette and a ruled notebook, hunting for the syllable that would turn a passing tune into something permanent.
Born Sudarmadji bin Haji Henry in Singapore in 1923, he did not arrive through a university or a literary salon. Like Ramlee, he came up from the studio floor — clapper boy, continuity clerk, set assistant — and that apprenticeship is exactly what made him the right writer.
He understood the physics of a lens: how many seconds an actor needs to cross a set, and how to shape a line to that. He understood phonetics well enough to place open vowels on the high notes so Ramlee's throat could open freely. And from years of listening to carpenters, lighting technicians and trishaw pullers, he knew precisely how ordinary people joke, court and grieve.
The working method is the best account of songwriting anywhere in this archive. They would lock themselves in Studio B or sit in the corner of the canteen until very late. Ramlee at the upright, humming fragments, describing the emotional temperature of a scene. Sudarmadji pacing, rolling a pencil, refusing to commit a full stanza to paper — testing each word against the live vocal, syllable by syllable. If a word felt heavy it went. If a vowel closed the throat it went. They argued, rebuilt, threw drafts away, and stopped only when the lyric felt as though it had always existed inside the melody.
Over a hundred Ramlee songs carry his words, and the range is the point: the raw existential howl of Jeritan Batinku and the syncopated farce of Madu Tiga came from the same pen two years apart. He was also assistant director and script contributor on most of the films, and later directed in his own right, including the cult horror Puaka (1974). When Ramlee died in 1973, he did not only lose a friend. He lost the instrument his words had been engineered for.
Sejarah mempunyai tabiat mengingati insan yang berdiri di bawah lampu sorot lalu kehilangan insan yang membina bahasanya. Namun memisahkan Ramlee daripada Sudarmadji ibarat memisahkan Ellington daripada Strayhorn. Setiap kali Ramlee memetik melodi awal pada gitar atau piano di Studio B, hampir pasti Sudarmadji duduk di hadapannya bertemankan sebatang rokok dan buku catatan bergaris, memburu suku kata yang mampu menukarkan alunan nada sementara menjadi sesuatu yang abadi.
Dilahirkan dengan nama Sudarmadji bin Haji Henry di Singapura pada 1923, beliau tidak tiba menerusi menara gading atau dewan sastera. Sama seperti Ramlee, beliau naik dari lantai studio — budak papan klap, pencatat kesinambungan, pembantu set — dan latihan itulah yang menjadikannya penulis yang paling tepat.
Beliau memahami fizik sesebuah kanta: berapa saat yang diperlukan pelakon untuk melintasi set, dan cara membentuk baris lirik mengikutnya. Beliau menguasai ilmu fonetik cukup baik untuk meletakkan huruf vokal terbuka pada nada tinggi agar rongga suara Ramlee dapat terbuka bebas. Dan hasil bertahun-tahun mendengar tukang kayu, juruteknik lampu dan penarik beca, beliau tahu dengan tepat cara rakyat biasa bergurau, memikat, dan meratap.
Kaedah kerja mereka ialah catatan terbaik tentang proses penulisan lagu dalam keseluruhan pustaka ini. Mereka akan mengurung diri di Studio B atau duduk di sudut kantin hingga larut malam. Ramlee di hadapan piano tegak, mengulang cebisan melodi, menjelaskan suasana emosi sesebuah babak. Sudarmadji mundar-mandir, memusing-musingkan pensel, enggan menurunkan serangkap penuh ke atas kertas — menguji setiap perkataan dengan nyanyian langsung, suku kata demi suku kata. Jika sesuatu perkataan terasa berat, ia dibuang. Jika sesuatu huruf vokal menyempitkan rongga suara, ia dibuang. Mereka berdebat, membina semula, membuang draf, dan berhenti hanya apabila lirik itu terasa seolah-olah sememangnya telah wujud di dalam melodi itu sejak azali.
Lebih seratus lagu Ramlee memikul kata-katanya, dan kepelbagaian itulah intinya: ratapan eksistensial yang mentah dalam Jeritan Batinku dan lelucon bersinkopasi Madu Tiga terbit daripada pena yang sama, berselang dua tahun. Beliau juga penolong pengarah dan penyumbang skrip bagi kebanyakan filem tersebut, dan kemudiannya mengarah sendiri, termasuk filem seram kultus Puaka (1974). Apabila Ramlee meninggal dunia pada 1973, beliau bukan sahaja kehilangan seorang sahabat. Beliau kehilangan instrumen yang selama ini menjadi tempat kata-katanya direka khas.