I don’t know whether to spell it as Melaka or Malacca. We came the night before because Nabil Raja Lawak had to attend a briefing but he came so late. I fell asleep waiting to have dinner. The condo they put us up at was so peaceful but the television set was in the living room so I couldn’t lounge in bed while waiting another 18 hours to showtime! A day before had confirmed with Ning’s management that I wanted to sing “Pasti” with her, but what was playing in my mind was actually “Kau Dan Aku”. So when she arrived for rehearsal, the song “Pasti” started and it was such a high and difficult key for me. Ning said I sounded like a girl, so we changed it to the correct “Kau Dan Aku” and I nailed it. I got all nervous, and blushed the entire time. I was so red during rehearsal and was even redder during the show. But Mdm Ning was a joy, and keep making my dreams come true again and again and again.

Diariku #11

27th July 2008

Mencari Haluan Lain Untuk Hiburan Tempatan

Saya pernah bertemu dengan seorang pemuda bernama Faliq Aizat semasa di Seremban. Dia bercerita tentang cita-citanya menjadi seorang pelakon drama dan filem terkenal, saya rasa amat teruja dengan adanya peluang yang luas untuknya di negara Malaysia. Tetapi katanya, saingan terlalu sengit dan politik di kalangan produser dan penerbit sangat berleluasa. Saya ujar kepadanya bahawa itu sememangnya lumrah hidup dalam dunia hiburan tetapi dia yakin saya tidak memahami keadaan yang sebenar. Kemudian saya terfikir tentang situasi artis di Singapura pula. Sedangkan negara yang mempunyai lebih dari 10 rangkaian stesen televisyen dan 20 stesen radio mempunyai masalah menangani hal ehwal artis, inti penyiaran dan kehendak-pasaran, apa lah nasib rakan-rakan seperjuangan saya di kampung halamanku?

Faliq baru tamat pelajaran kolej di mana beliau aktif menjadi aktivis untuk badan persatuan teater di sekolahnya. Setelah mengikuti Enfiniti Productions sebagai ahli kru logistik untuk ‘P.Ramlee The Musical’ musim pertama, dia mendapat watak kecil sebagai salah seorang anggota pemusik latar P.Ramlee semasa musim kedua. Saya difahamkan dia juga sudahpun ditawarkan watak ensemble (pelakon ramaian) untuk sesebuah produksi teater musikal yang akan berlangsung di Singapura pada hujung tahun ini. Walaupun dia masih baru dan mentah, saya rasa pengalamannya mengejar bintang-bintang dengan cara menaiki tangga perlahan-lahan, jauh lebih bermakna dari mereka yang hanya inginkan glamor cepat dan cerewet apabila diberi tawaran menonjolkan bakat mereka.

Setahu saya, Adi Putra, juga mengikut langkah tersebut. Bermula hanya sebagai seorang juruteknik untuk syarikat produksi, sekarang namanya semakin harum dengan kemunculannya sebagai hero dalam filem filem box office dan drama televisyen primetime di Malaysia. Aaron Aziz juga yang dulu hanya dikenali dengan rupa kacaknya. Diam diam ubi berisi, kini beliau bergelar penerbit dan pelakon termasyur di Kuala Lumpur, siap dengan kontrak jadi duta produk L’Oreal. Dengan penghijrahan anak-anak Singapura ini satu persatu pergi mengejar impian mereka di seberang tembak, mungkin pihak dari Singapura mula mengambil berat tentang bakat tempatan. Rima Adams kini berlakon drama sepanjang 32 minggu di saluran ternama Semenanjung, dan katanya Aliff Aziz juga telah menerima tawaran berlakon filem. Bukankah itu isyarat terbesar bahawa bakat Singapura itu amat berjenama? Tetapi jangan cepat menuding jari menyalahkan kekurangan peluang. Saya harap bakat dari Singapura tidak sesekali menadah tangan untuk seni mereka. Usaha sendiri lebih mulia dari menunggu sesebuah keajaiban jatuh dari langit.

Cuba namakan kesemua badan-badan teater Melayu di Singapura, dan produksi terbitan mereka yang terkini. Kemudian namakan tiga artis aktif tempatan yang belum menerbitkan album. Payah kan? Kepada mereka yang ingin menjadi pelakon atau penyanyi, saya menasihatkan supaya mengambil berat tentang dunia seni luar dari gelanggang pop komersil. Bermula dari bawah adalah cara paling bermakna untuk mempelajari selok-belok industri dan membina nama sendiri. Google sahaja hari ini! Pasti akan terjumpa maklumat tentang terbitan baru, ujian bakat, kerja kosong, kursus dan bengkel seni.

Pihak media seperti televisyen dan radio tidak boleh sentiasa menyediakan haluan untuk bakat baru sepanjang tahun. Mereka mengelolakan sebuah bisnes dan mutu penyiaran mereka harus tepati peraturan dan bajet disediakan pihak atasan. Jadi apa boleh kita lakukan sebagai penggemar hiburan ataupun anak muda yang mempunyai bakat terpendam? Jom ikuti perkembangan teater dan acara konsert mini tempatan!

Saya hampa apabila diberitahu tiket untuk ‘Romzi Dan Juleha’ di Esplanade awal bulan ini terbitan Teater Kami sudah habis dijual. Bagus lah! Ini bermakna orang kita sudah mula berubah citarasa dan gaya hidup mereka. Wah, sejak ‘P.Ramlee The Musical’ bukan main lagi makcik mula menonton teater!

Dengan pihak media mempromosikan teater dan konsert mini tanpa mengenakan syarat-syarat pengiklanan, lebih ramai orang Melayu kita akan bertambah minat dan akan memberikan sokongan. Pihak televisyen dan radio akan perlu menaiki prestasi dan mutu penyiaran mereka dan akan berkerja-sama, berganding bahu mempromosikan bintang tempatan. Kemudian pelakon, pengarah, penerbit teater akan melangkah ke dunia televisyen dan perfileman. Penyanyi, pemusik dan lagu lagu mereka boleh dikenali tanpa program realiti mencari bakat baru. Bila itu terjadi kelak, bakat baru seperti Faliq Aizat dari Seremban akan turun ke Kota Singa untuk mencuba nasib menjadi pelakon drama terbitan kita pula dan bukan lagi seperti sekarang. Siapa tahu?

1988…Segaris Sinar OST

In the 4th episode of ‘Segaris Sinar…1988′ showing on Suria Channel (Singapore) tomorrow 29th July at 9.30pm, it shall feature a little of my song called ‘Hanya Menari’ taken from my debut album ‘Dengan Secara Kebetulan’. Thank you to Sanif Olek, Raudha, Suria.

The theme song as featured above is the voice of Aliff Aziz singing a signature Azlan Abu Hassan masterpiece ‘Nyala’ taken off his first album as well. Syabas!

It is probably the only shot of me without a cap on, and the only shot ever to make it to the press without hair! It was taken during the Nur Beauty Pageant (Search for Nur / Dara.com CoverGirl) as organised by KarangKraf’s Nur and Dara.com

I think it was my first time ever watching a Muslimah beauty pageant and the talent segment was quite interesting, especially when one of the contestants played the theme song for Ben 10. It’s a cartoon on Cartoon Network ok!

Thanks to Kak Intan from KarangKraf for this, and Ida Farhani Sidiq who was one of the finalists as well. She sent me this.

Raudha, my Singapore manager, got so excited with this because she’s a fan of Nur Magazine. Haha.

I was photographed at Anugerah Juara Lagu earlier this year and it was included in the latest issue of Malaysia’s Eh Magazine giving thumbs up to what I was wearing. Thanks to Shegar and Ermenegildo Zegna (Malaysia)

STOP MAKING PERFORMERS PAY TO PERFORM. NO MATTER HOW YOUNG AND NEW THEY ARE, AND NO MATTER HOW MUCH THEY NEED TO BE IN YOUR EVENT. IT’S NOT THE WAY TO DO IT. STOP IT RIGHT NOW.

Only during the Klik Magazine Birthday Bash last week did I get to look at May’s edition and they featured my ‘Diari Seekor Kumbang’ blog saying its a fun read and that I even talk about breakfast. Haha. Thank you to Klik!

Since Klik Magazine (Malaysia) highlighted my blog as an interesting read and featured it last May, I suppose I could do some sales here. Haha. They had a purple-themed birthday bash last week at Kepong, a cafe slash restaurant over there. We came early and everybody was in purple already. I changed to my lilac shirt immediately (topi merah tak lepas). I am so not the type to play musical chair and passing parcel game, unless everybody there are adults. But I am probably the oldest amongst all the artistes who came that day and I got a bit nervous when I hear there were going to be games. Then came out the cakes.

We had to decorate the cakes, and I was paired up with Daniel Lee from Malaysian Idol 2. He did most of the job, but we won anyway! I won the lucky draw and got some DVDs, and then in another game, decorating a sandwich, my group also won again. Apa ni. There was Alif AF, Farah Asyikin, Dafi, Winnie K and more! Yeah, so that was a very purple and prosperous day for the old boy amongst kids at a birthday bash that was so fun.

Thanks to Klik Magazine. Happy birthday!

Earlier this year I went to the zoo with the Singapore Imtiaz and quite frankly I love the zoo. Its mainly the animals but I like going to the zoo with people and friends. When Murai, an info-tainment site in Malaysia, asked me to be a part of some celebrations at the Zoo Negara, I flipped. Zoo Negara is 10 minutes away from my house. (Quite strangely, the FINAS building is right next to it too. So you’re editing film and outside your office window are elephants. Seriously!)

So it’s Earth Day and I was put in Murai Batu (a name of a bird) and I, the gila kuasa freak that I am, designed our banner and asked everybody to just colour it. Haha. It was fun lah. But I couldn’t control what was going on with the treasure hunt. 10 clues, 10 different locations within the zoo, each clue leading to the next, first one back to the starting point wins handphones sponsored by Astro. I was in the same group as Nadia AF6, and Jaclyn Victor and us kept bumping into each other going in opposite directions because our clues were given in the reverse order. It was tiring but it was fun like crazy. I couldn’t even fit into the Murai t-shirt so there I was in my Gap shirt and favourite red cap glowing like a tomato from the heat. We won plush toys and CDs. Jadi lah. Yazzer from AF’s group won the phones. I made some new friends and I got to apply my paramedic skills a bit. A bit only.

I think youth organisations in Singapore should pair-up with local radio, and print media to do more interesting activities other than leadership camp a.k.a learn how to tie knots and abseiling, and youth-at-risk programs should include some celebrity stardust to add value and mileague to it. And that artistes should be willing to take it up!