A low-wattage event

taken from New Strait Times 1 Mei 2006
01 May 2006
FARIDUL ANWAR FAINORDIN

The 13th Anugerah Industri Muzik had as much excitement as a bottle of pop that’s all out of fizz. FARIDUL ANWAR FAINORDIN tells why.
IT was a long, drawn-out affair, an evening easily forgettable.

The 3½-hour 13th Anugerah Industri Muzik awards show on Saturday at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur was a lacklustre, unglamorous and tiring affair, with repeated on-stage references to winners being temporarily indisposed.

This year, there were not many screaming fans lining up outside Dewan Merdeka to catch a glimpse of the stars on the red carpet.


As one walked up to the third level of the building where the award ceremony was to be held, it was easy to think that city folks didn’t seem to see the point of going to the show this year. The many empty seats in the hall was proof of that.

But nothing seemed more incredulous than the defensive comments made against the Press during one acceptance speech by an album producer.

There were also repeated pleas by another producer directed to the organiser for more awards to be given out (instead of just one) for each win, since he now had to share the trophy for his winning album with other producers.

This prompted Afdlin Shauki who shared hosting duties with Bob Lokman, to retort: “Next time, don’t get too many producers to work on one album”. Ouch!

Where performances were concerned, the event managed to bring out the best of the local music industry by featuring artistes from various music genres — from rock to nasyid, and pop to hip-hop.

There was no “special” performance, no international act to add that extra something to the event, unlike the previous years. After all, it’s not like we really need them anyway, considering the wealth of our local talents, right?

As for the acts that night, it was about time viewers and industry folks realised what they have been missing out on, namely, in the amazingly refreshing talents of Shanon Shah and Ridzuan who, until recently, were largely unheard of.


Both singers, who emerged winners with Best Performance in an Album — Male and Most Promising Artiste respectively gave great performances that night. They warranted big rounds of applause.

Nominees for Best New Artiste — Adibah Noor, Ahli Fiqir, Dina, Jaclyn Victor (who won the award) and Sharifah Zarina — also showed us why they deserved to be in the category with performances that can be best described as spectacular.

The other performers that night — Jason Lo, Zoul, Ellyana, Brothers, Waheeda, Akbar, V.E, Spider, Hazami and Siti Nurhaliza— were fine. The duet Ghazal Untuk Rabiah by M. Nasir and Jamal Abdillah came across as something quite “different”. The event had the National Symphonic Orchestra providing the music under the baton of Ramli M.S. and members of the national choir. And quite easily, the duet could’ve been the event’s highlight, but Nasir and Jamal singing and dancing in suits didn’t quite fit in. If only they had made an effort to change into something more appropriate, the performance would have been perfect.

This year, nasyid group Raihan was the recipient of the special mention award Artis Kembara, in recognition to its contribution in promoting Malaysian music abroad through its recent international tour.

The members’ speech, short and sweet, was to the point: “Delivering good message is as important as entertaining.” It was the group’s third win in this category after bagging the award in 1998 and 2001.

Strengthening her position as the unbeatable female vocalist, Siti Nurhaliza bagged the Best Vocal Performance in an Album (Female) for the eighth consecutive time through her live album Siti Nurhaliza in Concert in Royal Albert Hall, London.

Many found it hard to believe when Warkah Buat Laila (performed by Zahid) won The Song of the Year award, beating other favourite contenders such as Gemilang (Jaclyn), Aduh Saliha (Mawi) and Terlalu Istimewa (Adibah).

Luckily, shock values have never been a big part of AIM’s agenda. For the most coveted award, The Best Album, it went to Gemilang as predicted — Jaclyn’s fourth win out of the eight categories nominated in. Sighs of relief were heard across the hall.

By the way, whoever came up with the idea of “giving” the first 15 minutes of the show to the hosts to babble away while introducing the musicians in a sing-song format should seriously rethink what an awards show is all about.

It felt as if we were watching Saturday Night Live with Afdlin and Bob.


The winners
1. Special award: Sri Wirama — S. Atan.
2. Special award: Artist Kembara — Raihan.
3. Best Album: Gemilang — Jaclyn Victor.
4. Best Album Cover: Bert Ismeth Ulam Raja — Rebirth Into Reality.
5. Best Engineered Album: Kasih — Dayang Nurfaizah.
6. Best Musical Arrangement in a Song: Ramli M.S. — Gemilang.
7. Best Group Vocal Performance in an Album: V.E — For You.
8. Best Vocal Performance in an Album (Female): Siti Nurhaliza.
9. Best Vocal Performance in an Album (Male): Shanon Shah.
10. Best New Artiste: Jaclyn Victor.
11. Best Pop Rock Album: Santai —Awie.
12. Best Nasyid Album: Raihan — Ameen.
13. Best Hard Rock Album: Live & Unplugged at Planet ‘05 — May.
14. Best New Local English Artiste: Deja Voodoo Spells.
15. Best Music Video: Sleepy Head — Lo.
16. Best Indonesian Album: Padi.
17. Most Promising Artiste: Ridzuan.
18. Best Local English Album: Rebirth Into reality — Too Phat.
19. Best Pop Album: Gemilang — Jaclyn Victor.
20. Song of the Year: Warkah Buat Laila — Zahid.