taken from The Star 31 March 2023
By Mumtaj Begum
Being interested in venturing into new areas of music, legendary Malaysian artiste Datuk M Nasir didn’t hesitate when he was asked to join hands with talent agency Alternate Records & Talents to compose tracks for TV serials using the agency’s young talents.
The idea was broached by Datuk Khairul Anwar Salleh, the CEO of Televisyen Media Prima & Primeworks Studios.
The result of the collaboration between Nasir’s recording label, Luncai Emas, and Alternate Records will be heard on Media Prima-owned platforms such as television network TV3 where new Malay dramas air as well as its Malay radio stations.
At a press conference earlier this month to announce the partnership, Nasir said: “My works have appeared in soundtracks (OST) for a long time. One of my earliest compositions was for the 1984 film Azura, and I have produced many others over the years.”
As it happens, the iconic singer had just released a new song titled Munajat which is part of the soundtrack for the film Imam, which stars Nasir and was showing at cinemas recently.
He continued: “I have also contributed to many dramas. But for dramas, usually a TV station will take my existing songs to be part of a drama’s soundtrack. So, while the TV OST industry has been there for a long time, I haven’t been part of it officially until now.
“Also,I have been busy promoting my own songs. I felt that I had a strong foothold (in music) with what I was already doing. But what I didn’t realise was that, OST is another way or means for me to explore in terms of marketing. So, I was keen to look into that aspect of it.
“Television is a big market. And there are digital distributions as well. So, it’s a good opportunity to compose songs for TV drama.”
For a start, Luncai Emas will compose 10 new songs which will be sung by artistes under Alternate Records.
Among the singers who are signed with the agency are Puteri Khareeza, Hariz Fayahet, Marsha, Hazama, Voice In Public, Shaz TJ dan Aqmal TJ. Of the 10 songs, three will be performed by Nasir, which will be also released as singles.
According to Khairul, there are many more thing that he wants to do via this collaboration.
“Today is the starting point for us to work with Datuk M Nasir. We know that Luncai Emas has a vast library and there are many potential songs for us to explore – whether we want to rerecord a song with new interpretation or make a totally new content from that,” Khairul elaborated.
Besides bringing freshness to the local music industry, Nasir is excited to see what the young talents can bring to the table.
“As a composer, my main expectation of the young singers is that they can perform the songs,” he said, adding that he is confident that the talents with Alternate Records already have the voices suitable for the television market as they were discovered through reality talent TV shows.
Previously known as Monkeybone, Alternate Records was created in 2006 to sign winners and potential contestants of 8TV's reality show One In A Million if no other recording label signed them.
“I have also placed expectations on myself ... of whether I can do this, whether I have the energy to do this because I have so many things going on as well,” said Nasir, who is also busy preparing for the upcoming concert Sifu & Aku, which is happening in May.
At the same time, the 65-year-old pointed out that Luncai Emas has in-house composers and producers who can work with Alternate Records’ singers even if he can't oversee everything.
But he stressed: “I hope the singers understand what is required of them to be performers of songs for a drama.
“On my part also, I have to understand what is needed to make new songs.
“My hope is that we become successful, because it’s great when something that we do becomes successful.”
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