Saturday May 17, 2008

The sound of music

Bangsar Boy
By NIKI CHEONG

THIS revelation probably is not going to put me in a very good light, but yesterday, my cousin Elaine took me to Laundry Bar at The Curve in Mutiara Damansara, Petaling Jaya to catch some local acts performing at a Motorola event.

Thing is, it was my first time going there, which is a little bit embarrassing, really, because it is one of the premier spots to catch local acts in action.

The last act was by popular band Estranged, which had just recently won the Juara Lagu competition and was nominated for two Anugerah Industri Muzik (AIM) awards. For me, it was a night of great music and wonderful company, so I had a really good time.

It has been a while since I have taken any interest in local music, and I am ashamed to say that I don't know much about it. Sure, like most others, I can throw around names like Ning Baizura, Siti Nurhaliza and Mawi but even then, I probably do not know the lyrics of any of their newer songs. Which is embarrassing, because I have been, through work, been trying to help boost the profile of up-and-coming, young, new musicians.

There was a time in my life when my friends would label me a “rocker”. Trust me, I was anything but. Still, my friends were accepting me as part of their “fraternity” and I wasn't going to argue. This happened when I was studying at Methodist Primary School in PJ.

Many of my friends then were young Malay boys who were in the same class as I was. One day, probably during recess, I remember just walking about singing to myself – if I remember right, it was a song by local singer Shima – when my classmate came up to me, hit me really hard in the back and said: “Wah, Niki. Kau nie rocker jugak ye?”

Me? A rocker? Yeah, right. But I took it all in, played macho and replied: “Mesti ah. Habis, kau ingat aku nie apa?”

I never understood until years later, when I discovered that Shima was known as the Princess of Rock (Ella was the Queen). Except that I'm pretty sure I was singing one of her ballads ... because I'm soppy like that.

But, the fact was that, as a kid, I was really into Malaysian music. I grew up with the amazing voice of Sheila Majid and was a huge fan of Amy Mastura and Ning Baizura. Heck, I was wailing at the top of my voice in the shower day in, day out, to music by Freedom, Search and Wings.

I still sing local songs – Fauziah Latiff and Ziana Zain's, for example – but it's like I was stuck in the late 80s and early 90s. I haven't updated my, ahem, repertoire since then.

I suppose when Astro arrived with MTV and Channel [V], and the Internet arrived with mp3s, foreign music was so much more accessible. That was also the time when I had allowances which enabled me to purchase magazines – Smash Hits, Top of the Pops – it's no wonder why I ditched Malaysian music for British bands such as PJ & Duncan, Oasis and yes, the Spice Girls.

I suppose this is one of the things about living in a city, in that globalisation is so powerful, that it is hard not to be caught up in popular culture. Unfortunately, we also come from a much smaller country than some of the Western countries, and as such, local “products” are just not as popular or easy to “sell”.

That said, Malaysian music has come a long way since my days of translating Francesca Peters' songs into English. I've caught numerous local bands performing as the opening act for foreign acts, watched our musicians win regional awards and read about some of their success while attempting to break it into the international music market.

But after last night's performances, I ask myself why I haven't been to watch more of these performers in action. So, this is my promise: I will catch more local acts. After all, if we won't support our own musicians, who will?

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