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Surabaya. Legendary rock singer Andalas Datoe Oloan Harahap, better known as Ucok AKA, passed away on Thursday at the age of 70 from lung cancer.

“Ucok had been hospitalized six times for the same illness. This morning at around 5 a.m., he was admitted to the emergency unit. But half an hour later he was beyond help,” Arul, Ucok’s manager and personal assistant, said on Thursday.

Ucok’s music career began with the formation of the AKA rock band in 1967. The name AKA was taken from the name of his father’s pharmacy, Apotek Kali Asin.

Fellow musicians, including Ian Antono, Ahmad Albar and Jelly Tobing, attended Ucok’s funeral in Kebraon Tegalan Public Cemetery in Surabaya.

Ian said Ucok was a sensitive man. “He might look fierce, but make no mistake, he was a very sentimental man. He could cry just because of a woman.”

Ucok’s sentimentality contrasted sharply with his stage persona. He would sing with his head upside down, lie prone on the stage, leap into ponds or even jump from a height of three to five meters without sustaining any injury.

Before his death, Ucok had expressed his wish to help the victims of Lapindo mudflow. He wanted to build a stage at the location of the mudflow to entertain and give moral support to the local residents but his wish was denied because the authorities refused to give him permit.

Ucok was determined to create something to show his concern for the mudflow disaster in Sidoarjo. He planned to write 10 songs he described as “red and white rock,” but before he accomplished his goal, he had breathed his last.

He was married eight times and leaves behind eight sons and 14 grandchildren.



With additional reporting from Antara