Once upon a time, somewhere at the begining of 1996, while i was ironing my army uniform, a sweet and energetic voice caught my attention on the tv set. When i looked at the screen, a malay popular group called '2By2' were singing with a 17 years old lady. I remembered that this petite singer who won the Bintang RTM (Radio & TV Malaysia) 1995 singing contest in which she sang Aishah's hit song "Camar Yang Pulang" which means "The Tern Which Returned".
They were singing 'MawarKu'. The young lady is not so pretty but her voice was so powerfull that i predicted that one day she would become a big star. Really enjoyed watching her pulling her voice to the high pitch. I never seen any singer who sang that song with such a wonderfull and excellent vocal range and control. Until now, i still can't find that video which was stage at RTM1, Hiburan Minggu Ini with "2by2" i think.
I keep watching and waiting.. watching and waiting again to see who this lady's name was? At last i found out that her name is Siti Nurhaliza. What a nice name? Siti means earth, Nur is light and Haliza was someone from the prophets family. What a unique combination and got commercial value man! I decided to make her my 3rd girlfriend, after i dumped Norzila Aminuddin and Amy Mastura.
Siti Nurhaliza is the fourth child in the family of seven siblings. Actually she was the fifth child as one of her sibling had passed away. Siti Nurhaliza, IC number 790111-06-5624, was the daughter of Tarudin Bin Ismail and Siti Salmah Bt. Bachik .
Her grandfather and her mother used to be a famous violinist and a traditional singer in Pahang respectively. Her brother, Ayie also used to be a singer too. But it's her uncle, a former singer who influenced her. Some of her idols were/are ex-Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad, Sudirman , P.Ramlee , Ziana Zain and Celine Dion.
The next day i went to the 'cassette' shop to buy her album. I found out that she had 2 albums, one duet with 2By2 and the other one was her solo album called "Siti Nurhaliza" under recording label Suria Records which was released on 1st April 1996.
Her songs had not been played in any radio stations, so i just gambled and brought her solo album caused i got the money for an album only. Lucky for me, her solo album did not disapointed me. Some of my favourite songs were 'Jawapan Di Persimpangan' and 'Jerat Percintaan'.
Dec 24 1996, the first award she ever received after becoming a recording artist was at the "Anugerah Muzik Singapura 1996" which means Singapore Music Awards organised by the Singapore malay radio station (Warna 94.2 fm). She won the "Most Popular Female Artiste" and the "Most Popular Song" ~ "Mawarku" duet with "2by2".
From there onwards, more and more awards started to fill up her cabinet. In Muzik Muzik 1996 now called Anugerah Juara Lagu, she won "Best Performance", "Best Ballad Song" and "Overall Juara Lagu" for the song "Jerat Percintaan" which means "Love Trap" and beat some award-winning singers such as Ziana Zain and Fauziah Latiff.
In January 1997 after winning the Muzik-Muzik 1996, Siti who was born on 11 January 1979 at Kg. Awah Temerloh , Pahang, stopped schooling to map out her future in showbusiness, although her initial ambition was to be a police officer, just like her father.
"I had my future all planned out then. Although I love singing, I wanted to be a police officer, like my father. But now that I've won this trophy, I'm definitely going into singing.", said Siti who completed her Form Five at Clifford Secondary School in 1996.
Siti Nurhaliza came out with another second 'self-titled' album, "Aku Cinta Padamu". This time 'Aku Cinta Padamu' song which means 'I Love You' become hit and soon more and more people became her fans and made her the star in the year of 1997.
The album was so successful that her record company, SRC released a different version album called "Betapa Aku Cinta Padamu" which means "How much i love you" for the Indonesian market.
Some of the hit songs were 'Bisikan Asmara', 'Kesilapanku, Keegoanmu' and 'Wajah Kekasih' In this album, she had included one traditional song called 'Sri Mersing' to test the market for her 1st traditional album.
Some of her wishlist was to further study in a private collegue and to have her own bussiness. One of her wish come true and now she owned 3 companies in Siti Nurhaliza Productions (SNP), Siti Nurhaliza Collections (SNC) and Siti Nurhaliza Marketing (SNM). SNP involved in Siti concert stuffs, SNC involved in selling Siti's souvenir (key-chains, t-shirts) while SNM involved in promoting Siti products such as C-TEA.
The first ever critisize she had was about the unwillingness to pose picture with male artists. Since then question "why she changed her words?" was asked when she posed with male artists.
For her, to pose a picture with male artists, it must have a valid reason. She don't mind posing with 2By2 as she was part of their duet album. She do not want to be popular artist because of gossip, and one of the way to protect her family good name was to avoid taking picture with male artist. She prefered to be known because of her quality voice and performace than because of sexy or gaining fame from other popular male artists.
20th August 1997, Siti was invited to host Indonesian tv station (Indosiar) "Satu Jam Bersama" programme. She sang "Bisikan Asmara", "Kesilapanmu", "Kaulah Segalanya", duet with Yana Julio for "We Could Be In Love", duet with Harvey Malaiholo for "Words" and her last and hit song "Betapa Aku Cinta Pada Mu".
In Anugerah Skrin dan Bintang Popular 1996 on 24 August 1997, she won another 4 awards: "Most Popular Teen Artiste", "Most Popular Female Artiste", "TV Most Popular Entertainer" and "Most Popular Artiste".
She beat Erra Fazira, Amy Mastura, Nora dan Aishah for the "Most Popular Female Artiste". She also beat KRU, Ziana Zain, Awie, Senario, Nurul, Zizie Izzette, Ngasriah Nasri and Elite for the other awards.
Siti bagged about 15 awards in 1997.
Sensasi Bersama Siti Nurhaliza concert was shown on the 2nd day of hari raya 1998 at Asro Ria. Behind the scene, during the recording of the show, every time siti make a mistake, ''Tuit… tuit… tuit'' sounds will come out from her. It was a signal she used back home in Kuala Lipis, Pahang. That where the "Tweet Fans Club" got it name.
In the show, she sang Cindai, Joget Berhibur, Sesuci Lebaran, Bisikan Asmara, Aku Cinta Padamu, I Will Always Love You, Jeritan Batinku, Bunyi Gitar, Jangan Tinggal Daku and Putus Sudah Kasih Sayang.
At the end of 1998, for the 1st time, Siti was invited to Saga, Japan, to sing at Pop Queen Festival (Saga Fiesta '98). She sang Cindai, Purnama Merindu and Satu Cinta Dua Jiwa.
1998 saw her bagged only 5 awards. Was siti losing her popularity?
Mid 1999, SNP first project, a documentation video of the making of her new pop album was planned. Opera Klasik, Rashid Sibir's company was appointed as the director of the video. The video shown the songwriters and the composers telling fans the meaning and history of every song in the album.
Parti Keadilan Nasional called for a boycott of Siti's albums because they claimed that siti was used by the country's leadership when she made a speech during her performance for the National Day celebration. Keadilan's information chief Ruslan Kassim said that Siti Nurhaliza's speech sounded similar to that of the Prime Minister's.
1998 saw her bagged only 5 awads, but 1999, she got 14 awards! The awards started to favour Siti once more.
3rd December 2004, Siti Nurhaliza confirmed that she will be holding a full concert at the prestigious Royal Albert Hall in London on April 1 2005. That was 4 months for her to do all the preparations she need. She will perform 30 songs, some medleys which will include pop and traditional tunes from her albums during the two- hour show.
Her intention of the concert was to test the international market. She will become the first Malaysian and third Asian artist after Indian singer Lata Mangeshkar and renowned sitarist Ravi Shankar to hold a solo concert at the famous London venue.
One of the thing she done was bringing Putrade Property Management Sdn Bhd as the concert management team and venture partner. Putrade's general manager who suggested April 1 as the show date as it was the same date siti first album, Jerat Percintaan, was released a decade ago.
10 years eh? From 1st April 1996 (it should be 1996 as she won Bintang HMI on 1995) to 1st April 2005, it 9 years only! We were tricked… The "Jerat Percintaan" album was labeled "SRC 96-3418" meaning it was released on 1996.
Then she brought multi-linguist and former TV presenter, Mahadzir Lokman as personal mentor to improve her English, communication skill and confidence.
Roslan Aziz was appointed as the show producer and musical director.
Others on the team were Steve Thornton (percussion), Aubrey Suwito (keyboards/band leader), Suhaimi ‘Pak Ngah’ Mohd Zain (lead musicians for the traditional segment), dancers from Yayasan Warisan Johor, Michael Ong and Radzuan Radziwil (costume designers), Nurul Shukor (make-up artist/buddy), Datuk Jimmy Choo (shoe designer) and 33-piece London Symphony Orchestra. No "Suara" the back-up singer. No Hillary Ang!
2 week before the concert… and bad news coming up…
No big corporations to sponsor the concert.
Concert executive chairman Ahmad Fazli Yaakob, or Fazley, said the absence of big sponsors forced the two companies behind the concert, Siti Nurhaliza Productions (M) Sdn Bhd and Putrade Property Management Sdn Bhd to bear most of the cost.
Why there were no big sponsors for the concert really a BIG question mark! She used to have all the sponsorship offers, why this happened now?
Only some of the air tickets for Siti’s 60-odd entourage to London were sponsored by an airline. Reporters have to pay their own way.
Fazley kept secret how much the show cost, but some sources said it was 1 and a half time what Sheila Majid paid for in Ronnie Scotts, London which cost 100,000 pound sterling in 1996. So roughtly it was about 150,000 pound sterling ~ RM 1.5 Millions?
She was happy to realise her dream of performing on an international stage, but the lack of sponsors made her feel a bit disappointed.
“After all, I’m doing my bit to bring Malaysian music to the rest of the world but it seems that not many people are aware of what I’m doing,” said Siti Nurhaliza.
Hmmm.. why the change in her intention? Her intention was to test the international market, but now she speak about bring Malaysian music to the rest of the world.
"Unlike sports events where sponsors abound, I hope there’ll be sponsors for events such as concerts involving local artistes, especially those held abroad,” continued Siti Nurhaliza.
How can she compared a sport event with a concert? A sport event is a competition while a concert is not! Unless it Jac (Malaysian Idol Winner) going to World Idol!
Why should the companies give sponsorship to the concert? What will they get in return? Examples such as Astro or Maxis, what will they get in return?
In Siti Nurhaliza Fantasia Tour, they sponsored because they get more clients to signed up for their products (Astro TV channels and Hotlink hp line subscribers). For the Indonesia tour, a bank got more clients to open a bank account. If they sponsor her for the london show, will they get that? You need to have a win-win solution for the company.
Why do a Apparel & Footwear company sponsored David Beckham? The answer is, fans of David Beckham would want to wear what their idol wear.
Promotions were made at BBC Indonesia, Oriental City (Colindale), Malaysian Embassy in London and United Malays National Organization (UMNO) Club.
Not an ideal place to promote Malaysian music to the rest of the world!
Ticket sales were not encouraging. Almost 70% of the tickets were sold just a day before the show. To boast ticket sales, discounted tickets were put up on sale. How can they do this? It's unfair to those who brought at the original price!
1 April… the April Fool!
A few hours before the show…
News came saying that the tickets were 100% SOLD OUT!
From the bloggers who went there, they said that the hall was only half fulled. It was supposed to seated 3000 audiences, but the full capacity is 5222 seats. Report from the newspapers said about 2500 audiences were there. Where were the "500 peoples" who bought the tickets that was said were "SOLD OUT"? hmmm… i got a friend from Singapore who bought the ticket but does not went to watch it. Does the rest also liked her? Just brought the tickets as souvenir?
There were even some news that free tickets were given out just before the show. Some who bought the ticket also get the free better seat ticket which caused the hall to be half fulled as you can see on the picture. It reminded me of Malam Amal Suria 2002 which they gave out unsold ticket freely. It's really NOT FAIR to the fans who brought the actual priced tickets.
Those who came were mostly malays and about 10% were europeans. Only a few loggia and 2nd tier boxes were occupied (priced at £100+ per person). I had expected this situation. Siti hope of testing international market shattered. Maybe she should performs in Japan, China, India or the US where there were fewer malays. The next show in Australia is also not a good place for testing.
The VIPs… they should be important peoples from london (ministers and artists) and should not be the sultan of pahang & brunei, malaysian members of parliment, malaysian artists (shasha, azza, zizi, chef wan and anuar zain)! It looked like a concert in Malaysia! What was anuar zain doing there? If he can attend this concert, why doesn't he around at the APM 2005?
A blogger said that 80% of the time Siti Nurhaliza spoke in Bahasa Malaysia. What Mahadzir Lokman had done? Was he supposed to teach Siti Nurhaliza to speak in english for the show?
One blogger comment that her dresses were inappropriate. But from the picture i saw, all the dresses were fine to me. Maybe this guy stayed too long in london and forget all about the malay costume. He may be think it was britney spear or mariah carey who was performing.
He also said that the choreography looked degradingly cheap and very 'low class' and the show lack of coordination. Another big question for Roslan Aziz. I can't comment on the choreography until i get the vcd of the concert.
What's so special about David Elliot, the chief executive of the Royal Albert Hall, extended an invitation for her to come back to the prestigious venue for another show in the near future? It's just a normal bussiness procedure to make money. Surely he had said that same thing to the other singers who had performed there!
Overall, the bloggers said that she performed very well to cover all the mistakes the team had done. Well done siti!
Congrat again to Siti Nurhaliza for becoming the first malay to perform in RAH. Malaysia BOLEH! Your dream come true.
This concert may be unprofitable in term of Siti Nurhaliza Production's financial outcome. But the experience venturing outside the malay countries was a valuable one.
You loose some, you gained some, lucky for Siti Nurhaliza… Her fans voted her as the Most Popular Star at Anugerah Bintang Popular 2005! RM115,000 (Kia Optima 2.0 car) + RM180,000 (Rafflesia The Pearl Centre jewelries) => that about RM300,000 gift from the fans to compensate her lost in RAH!
Hope this will be a stepping stone for Siti Nurhaliza to be an international star.
APM2005 menjanjikan acara yang gilang gemilang dan penuh dengan kejutan sempena tahun ke-5 Suria dilahirkan. Apa dah jadi? Mana kejutannya? Yang ada hanya kejutan bunga api di awal dan di akhir acara saja yang menarik perhatianku.
18 Februari 2005, planning nak mulakan journey ke Suntec Convention Hall jam 5 petang. Sebaik sahaja keluar dari pintu office, dengan tiba2 hujan mula membasahi bumi. Hai hujan, spoilt my day tuk datang awal to catch-up the Red Carpet event. Orang tua2 selalu kata hujan tu membawa rahmat, dalam fikiranku mungkin ini rahmat untuk kumpulan Bhumiband.
5.45 petang barulah hujan yang berlegar-legar di tempat kerjaku akhirnya berhenti memberi laluan kepada Putera Emas untuk menjalankan misi ke APM 2005.
Perjalanan dari Toa Payoh -> Jalan Besar -> Opir Road -> Temasek Boulivard amat licin.
Akhirnya sampai juga aku ke Suntec Convention Hall. Disana sudah ramai orang yang berkumpul di area Red Carpet. Budak2 CCS pun ada. Kemeriahan disana dikecohkan lagi dengan budak2 "Merbok Platoon", the budak2 pendengar RIA.
Aku mengambil keputusan untuk menunggu artis2 yang datang dengan kenderaan sponser di driveway saja. Diluar kelihatan budak2 security sibuk memblocking artis2 yang lalu untuk berjalan ke Red Carpet sampaikan tak sempat aku nak capture gambar2 mereka. Kalau aku tak sabar, dah lama aku maki budak2 security tu. Artis nak beramah mesra dengan peminat pun tak boleh! Sibuk menyuruh mereka cepat masuk. Tengok gambar bawah ni yang budak pakai tai merah tu. Macam nak kasi satu penumbuk aje
Kat sini pun ada jugak muka familiar yang aku kenal. Budak armyku pun boleh sesat kat sini. Kalau jumpa kat event2 macam ni mesti nak tanya "Kau datang sini support Siti ke? Kau minat Siti?". Malas aku nak jawap, aku kata aku support semua artis. Lain kali aku buat baju sendiri with word "Don't Ask Stupid Questions! I'm Siti Nurhaliza's fan"!
Lastly, artis yang ditunggu-tunggu ramai pun tiba dan disambut dengan pekik sorak dari peminat2. Siapa artis tu? Siapa lagi kalau bukan Siti Nurhaliza! Setelah ct menyanyikan sedikit lagu "Seindah Biasa", kami pun beredar untuk ke hall 601 dan 602. Selagi siti belum datang, selagi tu mereka tak akan naik ke hall. Bayangkan APM tanpa Siti Nurhaliza. Tentu tiket APM tak laku. A few day before the event, tiket $28 masih ada banyak lagi. Nasbib baiklah ada Taufik Batisah yang last minit dapat join sekali.
Ke toilet kejap sebelum acara dimulakan….
The multi-purpose fan and ticket
8.30 malam, acara dimulakan dengan bunga api dan lagu tema melawat Singapura. Yok turun S'pore yok!
Dewan yang mulanya sejuk, seminit demi seminit semakin menjadi hangat. Mana airconnya APM? Nasib baiklah ada kertas acara untuk dijadikan kipas.
We were not allowed to take photo or video. What the reason also i don't know. We we asked to surrender our cameras. By the way, i don't see any warning at the tiket nor during the ads that we cannot bring our camera.
48 Singapore Dollar, i was force to see the big screen once a while! Tu budak security memblocking lagi! Dahlah masa Red Carpet dia block, masa acara pun dia blocking the stage pulak! Yang hang nak gi diri kat tengah2 orang menonton tu apasal? Tak boleh ke jaga kat belah tepi saja? Sabar je.
Ruffedge tak ada lagu lagi ke? Asik "Tipah Tertipu" tu aje or maybe diaorang nak beritahu yang kami semua dah kena tipu dengan APM? Nasib baiklah Hasrul Nizam tak nyanyi lagu hitnya lagi.
Suasana yang agak meriah semakin lama semakin memboringkan sampaikan semasa diumumkan calon2 artis untuk sesebuah kategori agak sepi saja, nak2 bila disebut nama Misha Omar. Mana peminat Misha Omar eh?
Tahniah untuk PeterPan (really enjoy thier song), Dewa (you rock man!), Saiful Apek (tuk awal persembahan saja, selepas tu entah apa2 merepek dia nyanyi) dan the 3 Diva (persembahan lagu cinta best, the next 3 lagu tak berapa baik – it different when you see "live" than watching in TV).
Mana Ari Lasso, Sheila on 7 (2 orang saja yang datang), Anuar Zain, Spider, Misha Omar, Dayang Nurfaezah dan Siti Sarah? They don't deserved to be nominated in this award! Ari Lasso, Anuar Zain dan Spider tak seharusnya diumumkan sebagai pemenang anugerah! Not fair tuk artis2 lain yang penat2 datang. APM should imposes a new law that Nominated Artists "must" attend this awards or else the next best or popular artist get the awards. Imagine what will happened if all Malaysian and Indonesian norminated artists did not attend this event?
Congrat to Bhumiband! The only artist/band to receive 3 awards (New Best Band, S'pore Best Song – "Oh Kasih" and S'pore Best Album – "Suara Dunia") in APM 2005. Siti Nurhaliza only got the "Most Popular Song" for "Lagu Rindu" and the "Most Popular Female Artist" awards due to fans voting system. She still lose to Kris Dayanti for "Best Female Artist".
Can't wait to watch APM 2006. Maybe i watch at home this time . Next year hopefully Taufik Batisah is nominate for "New Male Artist", Bhumiband for "Best Band", Ahli Fiqir for "New Best Group" and "Samseng" for "Best Song" awards.
More photos at the gallery.
The winners were…
Artis Baru Wanita Terbaik : Dia Fadila
Artis Baru Lelaki Terbaik : Vince
Duo/Kumpulan Baru Terbaik : Bhumiband
Lagu Terbaik Singapura : Oh Kasih – Bhumiband
Kumpulan Paling Popular : Spider
Artis Lelaki Paling Popular : Anuar Zain
Artis Wanita Paling Popular : Siti Nurhaliza
Duo/Kumpulan Terbaik : Sheila On 7
Artis Lelaki Terbaik : Ari Lasso
Lagu Paling Popular : Lagu Rindu – Siti Nurhaliza
Artis Terbaik Singapura : Iskandar Ismail
Anugerah Khas : Dewa
Anugerah Pencapaian : Ramli Sarip
Album Terbaik Singapura : Suara Dunia – Bhumiband
Artis Wanita Terbaik : Kris Dayanti
Lagu Terbaik : Berhenti Berharap – Sheila On 7
Album Terbaik : Kulihat, Kudengar, Kurasa – Ari Lasso
