Asia's Best Kept Secret - At The Royal Albert Hall, London

I was on this laptop writing my previous post when Sita put on a VCD featuring Siti Nurhaliza in concert at the Royal Albert Hall London. I continued writing while at the same time listening to her songs but it got more and more interesting, attracting my attention, that I switched off the laptop and joined Ram in viewing the two and a half hour video show.

Sita bought the VCD for her mother. Siti Nurhaliza is one of Malaysia’s very popular songstress. I quite like her songs. She is versatile, able to adapt to any style, whether it is jazz, modern, classics, ethnic or foreign, she performs them very well. I think being accepted to perform at the Royal Albert Hall, London, says a lot on the capability of the singer. I like music, I listen, but nowadays I do not normally go out of my way to purchase music CDs or tapes. I used to buy them in my younger days but have stopped doing so since many years ago. So when Ram mentioned about Siti Nurhaliza’s Albert Hall CD, I was slow in purchasing one and finally Sita offered to buy one for her.

I have listened to her songs over the car radio and I very seldom watch TV thus I have not seen much of her on TV but I know of her popularity and have heard or read news about her in the papers. She is one commercially savvy personality, able to seize opportunities, and very focused in her music career. There have been attempts to ‘throw her to the dogs’ by those who are jealous but she has withstood all these, persevered and came out unscathed every time. She has her own production house now and I hear that it is doing very well. On April 1st. this year she brought pride to the nation. She glorified the country by performing at the Royal Albert Hall, London. This performance was jointly sponsored by leading corporations in the country. That’s how much confidence people have in her.

Watching her video I was attracted to how the performance was professionally executed. She was backed by professional musicians, back up singers, back up dancers, event managers, expert public relations supports and the Royal Albert Hall musicians. She had one of the best, if not the best, support to make the show something that the country can be proud of.

Just one singer, but a myriad of support groups and personalities are required to push that one singer to the pinnacle of her career. The overall event manager had, just before the start of the show, and after days of preparations, rehearsals and practices, called upon everyone together so as to psyche them up for the show by asking them to give their best, saying that they are there because they are the best, and that they should continue to give the best. Siti Nurhaliza herself talked to all of them by saying that they have been going through the routines and that they are a team and supports each other to make it a success. She acknowledged that she would be nowhere without the support they provide and that speaks volume of this petite lady. She is a motivator in her own right.

The show was indeed something that Malaysians can be proud of. They have put together a wonderful show. They have itemized the songs and arranged them in the order to build up audience support. The dances were very well choreographed and the songs, music, musicians and musical instruments very well selected and planned. The end result was something quite spectacular in its own rights. Proofs that local musicians and singers have the capability to be world class if they only stay focused and work hard at it. The announcer, a popular, multilingual local PR management man, announced at the start of the show, that Siti Nurhaliza was Asia’s best kept secret…… it is now secret no more …

MKI Ramblings Unlimited,
Petaling Jaya