A ball with AIM

taken from New Straits Times 30 April 2007
By : SHUIB TAIB

Feathers and frills for M. Nasir!

SHUIB TAIB felt the fresh new vibes from the latest instalment of the Anugerah Industri Muzik awards show held on Saturday.

HAVING watched Anugerah Industri Muzik "live" several times before, I had come to expect the same run of things from the awards show on Saturday night. AIM in previous years has had its share of hits and misses.

But what do you know? When you least expect it to be good, it turns out to be better!

The 14th edition of AIM held at Putra World Trade Centre, Kuala Lumpur was one of the best in a long time ... thanks to the fantastic sound system, brief "thank-you" speeches, the a la Las Vegas opening gambit courtesy of M. Nasir, and also the contributions of the other three hosts — Afdlin Shauki, Bob Lokman and Adibah Noor.

If Afdlin and Bob were deadpan or selamba, Adibah was effortlessly natural and funny.
You would have been tickled by Adibah’s little antics onstage, especially when the commercials came on. A little "shaken" by the whole experience of having to host a show "live" for the first time, Adibah tried to keep herself calm and composed by whistling and talking to herself.

But the excitement, or rather surprise, really began with M. Nasir who opened the show with Juwita ...Citra Terindah.

Okay, we have heard Nasir sing before and he does so pretty well but to see him dance in synchronicity with the dancers?

Mind you, the dancers (by the way if only they could have danced with more heart) were a cabaret, complete with feathers and frills!

Bob summed it well when he said "Dunia nak kiamat ... M. Nasir menari! (The world is coming to an end M. Nasir dances!) Throughout his singing career, I have never seen him dance like that. Dahsyat ...." I say refreshing.

From Las Vegas to Tokyo. AIM continued to inject international flavours — the hosts came on dressed in kimono.

Thanking the sponsors in a song but done so with a Japanese inflections, Adibah was cute.

There were great performances by Anuar Zain in Perpisahan — he was backed by a 30-piece orchestra conducted by Ramli M.S. — and rock legend Ramli Sarip and Mawi belted out Iqra with a wonderful back-up group.

Reshmonu gave a fiery performance where he rendered Where There Is Love There Is You, featuring Miz Nina.

Siti Nurhaliza, Aishah, Jaclyn Victor and Noryn Aziz showed why they were still very much sought after when they collaborated in Mulanya Di Sini, a special tribute to the late Seha, who was instrumental in the inception of AIM.

Then Search and Wings showed all the rocker-wannabes how to sing, dress and act like rock superstars when you are over 40. The organiser was also smart in putting the three Faizals together to present an award. Although they all had their own style of delivery, Faizal the DJ has a more audible "emcee/presenter" voice compared to Faizal from One-In-A-Million and Faizal from AF4.

Often, in the past, surprise winners went up on stage to receive their awards and had no clue as to what to say, and therefore, tended to drag. So when such things seemed about to recur, the musicians cued in.

The organiser should exercise some flexibility though and stay alert to allow the winners to say a bit more, like in the case of singer Ahmadi Hassan who took home the Best Nasyid Album award.

Apparently, the album was to be Ahmadi’s swan song so perhaps he should have been given a bit more time to speak. Indeed, after lying low for the last 25 years, Ahmadi finally cut his last album which won the Best Nasyid album category.

"This was not my comeback album, but more of a goodbye album. After this, I shall retire," said Ahmadi.

The segment featuring nominees for Best New Artiste showcased what the industry had in store for the future.

The finalists were Fazli Zainal, who sang Harapan; Bob (Pengalaman Cinta); Farhan AF4 (Aku Saja Yang Tahu); Izwan Pilus (Indah Lelapku); and Sean Ghazi (Ku Impikan Bintang) did a decent job although the singing was at times pitchy.

My only question is, how did Bob make it to this category? Wasn’t he a product of AF2 some three years ago...?

As far as the results were concerned, there weren’t many upsets. Perhaps the biggest was Jaclyn’s victory over Datuk Siti Nurhaliza in the Best Vocal In An Album (Female) category.

Then again, no offence to Siti but it was about time someone ended her eight-year-reign as the Princess of Vocals. And who better to do that than the talented Jaclyn. Siti was graceful in her defeat.

"Please don’t make an issue out of this because Jaclyn is such a great singer. She deserves it. I’m just glad that I had won something because, honestly, I thought tonight I might go home empty-handed," said Siti, who has never gone home without any wins at any awards show!