8/10/2019 The Bangsar Boy - The sound of music

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COMMENT SATURDAY METRO, 17 MAY 2008M14

By NIKI CHEONG

niki@thestar.com.my

THIS revelation probably is notgoing to put me in a very goodlight, but yesterday, my cousin

Elaine took me to Laundry Bar at TheCurve in Mutiara Damansara,Petaling Jaya to catch some local actsperforming at a Motorola event.Thing is, it was my first time goinghere, which is a little bit embarrass-ng, really, because it is one of the

premier spots to catch local acts inaction.

The last act was by popular bandEstranged, which had just recentlywon the Juara Lagu competition andwas nominated for two Anugerahndustri Muzik (AIM) awards. For

me, it was a night of great music andwonderful company, so I had a real-y good time.

It has been a while since I haveaken any interest in local music,

and I am ashamed to say that I don'tknow much about it. Sure, like mostothers, I can throw around namesike Ning Baizura, Siti Nurhaliza and

Mawi but even then, I probably do

not know the lyrics of any of theirnewer songs. Which is embarrass-ing, because I have been, throughwork, been trying to help boost theprofile of up-and-coming, young,new musicians.

There was a time in my life when

my friends would label me a “rock-er”. Trust me, I was anything but.Still, my friends were accepting meas part of their “fraternity” and Iwasn't going to argue. This hap-pened when I was studying atMethodist Primary School in PJ.

Many of my friends then wereyoung Malay boys who were in thesame class as I was. One day, proba-bly during recess, I remember justwalking about singing to myself – if Iremember right, it was a song bylocal singer Shima – when my class-mate came up to me, hit me reallyhard in the back and said: “Wah, Niki.Kau nie rocker jugak ye?”

Me? A rocker? Yeah, right. But Itook it all in, played macho andreplied: “Mesti ah. Habis, kau ingat 

aku nie apa?” I never understood until years

later, when I discovered that Shimawas known as the Princess of Rock(Ella was the Queen). Except that I'mpretty sure I was singing one of herballads ... because I'm soppy like that.

But, the fact was that, as a kid, I wasreally into Malaysian music. I grewup with the amazing voice of SheilaMajid and was a huge fan of AmyMastura and Ning Baizura. Heck, Iwas wailing at the top of my voice inthe shower day in, day out, to musicby Freedom, Search and Wings.

I still sing local songs – FauziahLatiff and Ziana Zain's, for example –

but it's like I was stuck in the late 80sand early 90s. I haven't updated my,ahem, repertoire since then.

I suppose when Astro arrived withMTV and Channel [V], and theInternet arrived with mp3s, foreignmusic was so much more accessible.That was also the time when I hadallowances which enabled me topurchase magazines – Smash Hits,Top of the Pops – it's no wonder whyI ditched Malaysian music for Britishbands such as PJ & Duncan, Oasis andyes, the Spice Girls.

I suppose this is one of the thingsabout living in a city, in that globali-sation is so powerful, that it is hardnot to be caught up in popular cul-ture. Unfortunately, we also comefrom a much smaller country than

some of the Western countries, andas such, local “products” are just notas popular or easy to “sell”.

That said, Malaysian music hascome a long way since my days of translating Francesca Peters' songsinto English. I've caught numerouslocal bands performing as the open-ing act for foreign acts, watched ourmusicians win regional awards andread about some of their successwhile attempting to break it into theinternational music market.

But after last night's perfor-mances, I ask myself why I haven'tbeen to watch more of these per-formers in action. So, this is mypromise: I will catch more local acts.After all, if we won't support ourown musicians, who will?

BANGSARBOY

The sound

of musicLocal talents need our support

n this era of globalisation