malaysia is on shortage of stars?

warning: this article was written by a guy who knows nothing about music. some of things he say may not be true or ermm…bullshit…haha

i’m not an entertainment industry buzz. in fact, i don’t care less about the industry. i’m much the need to know basis kind of guy if its come to entertainment. but last night, after watching some tv, being stoned and have a big headache, i realized and noticed that malaysia is on a draught. our country have a shortage of stars apparently. there were soo many talent show nowdays. talent show is like a plague. they are everywhere. it is like the reality show but the contestant dosen’t have to lie, backstab or form an alliances…i guess…

when i was still schooling, i remember that there are some talent show in school put up by the teachers for finding who’s the talent person in the school. hey, i’m not that talent so i stay away from things like this. ha ha. some of my relatives told me that he once joined the bintang rtm and became a backup dancer for rtm. that’s quite good. they are some really talented people, some needs a polishing and some…not…that talent at all or nowdays those william hung wannabe say it as “i don’t have any professional training at all“.

talent search in malaysia began on 1959 where it was named bintang radio (tak glemer lah nama). they improved the show, step by step and finally debuted on tv on 1964. there were also other talent show called bakat tv at that time. when rtm was formed on 1969, bintang rtm also was born. during the production years (1974-1986), bintang rtm produce a lot of stars. some of them were the late sudirman, jamal abdillah, ramlah ram and others. on 1986, they reformat it and it became a talent show with many names such as suara 90’an, teen star and bintang hmi which generates stars like nora, liza hanim, dayang nurfaezah and of course the famous siti nurhaliza and misha omar. it’s safe to say that many of our malaysian artist out there get their kick start in music business by joining the rtm talent show.

when we are nearing the millennium, tv3 came out with their own brand talent show called sinaran passport kegemilangan. it was an instant hit with the tv viewers on all age. sticking their asses in front of tv every sunday afternoon. but, strangely, i don’t see any stars produced on this show. just those guys from senario which was a phenomenon but lasted for about 3-5 years. then some of them parted from that group due to some irreconcilables and formed the aku kaya group. now the show has been cancelled…i guess. last year, there are some talent show emerge, show such as who will win on ntv7 where contestant were given a 10 minutes or so to karaoke. then they judge the winner. of course not to forget the akademi fantasia, a show that some 20 student will be chosen to entered the akademi and every week, they have a concert contest and they booted one student out. it airs on astro. then it became another instant a hit where many of our teenagers and even the old people watch the tv every saturday night, seeing who will be booted off the school.

this year, there are many more to come. the audition which is on ntv7, akademi fantasia season 2 and malaysian idol on 8tv, a show that based on american idol. i wonder who will be the simon cowell of malaysia.

while all these talent show are good for the music industries, which of course produce more stars, it has some ‘keburukan’ in it. last month i saw in a newspaper that some of the akademi fantasia ex-student complains that they were abandoned by the management. i have some say to that ex-student. “wake up lah. being in the music business is not easy. once you have a name in the industry, try to use it wisely. take a look at the other student. they know what to do. bukanla sit there and gigit jari waiting for the management to jaga them and jual their name all the time. (this statement is done without knowing all the facts. but hey, i don’t give a damn)”

but seriously, they should make a talent show where people can write and play their own music. reducing manufactured stars and creating more real talented stars. they also should start a talent show which is not populated by the malays. other race want to enter the talent show and become a star also. the underground music scene which all of the artists write and play their own music needs recognition and more people to buy their album. from my opinion, english artists like flop poppy or butterfingers has to sing in malay to get recognition and more malay people to buy their album. from underground to mainstream. what’s wrong with the malays?

in the end, my opinion is that, such talent show should be reduced. we are already producing many artists. and some if them i even never heard of. there are too many cocky artists who don’t know how to write a song or sing nowdays. plus, the management can’t manage them all the time. so, kesian la the less talented one terbiar and only the strong succeed. tapi, semua nak cari makan juga. they should take care one another. so the industry will have some integrity, be prosperous and recognised in the eyes of the world.