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Kenangan Di Rantau Abang was one of my favorite songs when I was just eight, nine or so. I got so emotional in a child-ish way just imagining the hamparan permaidani indah, lirik-melirik permata nilam ku gelisah. I remember asking my Mom what it meant because I had a suspicion that the gentleman Rafeah Buang was missing in this song was about to marry somebody else in Rantau Abang! Mom hushed me up saying that it was none of an eight-or-nine-year-old business.
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And when Sheila Majid sang this song in her Sheila-Majid-ly way, I was about 15 or somewhere there. It was love at the second sound the second time around. Still I had the suspicion about the permaidani and permata nilam. But by then, after many many visits to Dungun, Paka, Kuala Trengganu (for Bintang RTM recording) and to Rantau Abang… I knew how easy it was for one to get oneself a mustika kalbu – or two – whenever one visited Trengganu. Men from the east coast were charmers.
Are they still?
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Kenangan Di Rantau Abang
Rafeah Buang
Angin malam lalu
Membawa pesan dari
Mustika kalbu
Nyiur nan melambai
Bulan nan mengambang
Hati kini terdampar
Di Rantau Abang
Di sana ku melihat
Hamparan permaidani indah
Lirik melirik permata nilam
Ku gelisah
Ku tanya pada malam
Bintang bertabur mengapa suram
Hatiku resah dan merindu
Di Rantau Abang
Questa è Enida 