This includes Ismail Marzuki, a singer-cum-songwriter known for his nationalist works;[2] the blind singer Annie Landouw;[3] and the theatrically-trained husband and wife team Kartolo and Roekiah.
The orchestra practiced in Kampung Kepuh, Kemayoran, Batavia (now Jakarta), in the home of musician S. Abdullah, and played a variety of songs, both originals and arrangements or adaptations.
[6] Sometime after 1925, after Dutch entrepreneurs established NIROM, Lief Java began playing music over the radio as part of the station's Eastern Programme.
Thus, sometime after 1937 the orchestra quit NIROM[8] and joined the rival station VORO (Vereeniging voor Oostersche Radio Omroep), playing live every Saturday.
[11] As Roekiah was the main star of Tan's, the orchestra was retained to score the company's later releases.