Sunday, July 31, 2005

THE BEST! Thank you Malaysia!



Dah terbukti! Satu Malaya akhirnya mengiktirafkan the best four in Akademi Fantasia.
Begitu bersyukurnya kami kat stadium. Berdebar jugak masa Aznil nak announce result.
But after Yazer was called, out, we knew Kefli da takder harapan.

The day started out hectic sebab nak agih-agihkan tiket pada semua. Ramai lak time nak dekat masuk final ni. Mula-muka tergelak baca kat website Astro pasal kata tiket sold out.

Yelah...every week kata nak habis, tetap berlambak ruang kosong kat stadium tu.

But tonight - it was different.

Memang padat! Perghh!

Sampai stadium 7.20pm pun da penuh parking. Nak letak keta kat celah belakang stadium seperti biasa lak kali ni, kena halang. Adus! Katanya tuk Astro je. No amount of sweet talking could help.

So we parked kat entrance nak masuk balik ke jalan besar. First time jauh sangat.

Masuk je, syukur lah semua yang kena amik tiket ngan aku sampai awal. By 8pm semua da settle, masuk tempat duduk pun da booking. Dok belakang Farah dan parents dia with Mas. Apa lagi...sempat la mengumpat sikit.

Sekali ngan my best friend, si Ted along with fellow bloggers Sultan Muzaffar dan Juan Danza and teman wartawan lain cam si Farihad dok ngan kengkawan dari Astro cam Norizan and all.

Biasalah...lepas ni tak dapat laa nak carut lagi persembahan budak-budak. Masuk final, suka ke tak suka (later found out semua aku suka kan) I am still supportive.

It was fun...because I suppose everyone had this apprehension of whether a mistake was going to be made.

But there was a certain party atmosphere sebab tak kisahlah risau mana pun - we knew this had to be it!

Mawi, Felix, Yazer & Kefli - Lagu bonus - Medley Ghazal Untuk Rabiah (Jamal Abdillah dan Nasir), Apokalips (M.Nasir), dan Ekspres Rakyat (Kembara)
Apa nak katakan ek. It was decent. I have no idea why it was called a tribute. Too self-indulgent for me. Nothing great about the boys' medley...kira biasa-biasa saja. Kefli looked and sounded really out of place in this one.

Yazer - This Love (Maroon 5)
I have a feeling that Yazer didn't have a clue what the song was about, and how to go about performing it. Kelakar to see him gyrating away...they might as well as given him a real dance tune cause he didn't seem to get into the funk of things.

And what the hell was he wearing? It seems that somehow he was wearing a sweatshirt inspired top ala karung guni that made him look heavier walaupun Aznil kata dia lost weight. He didn't have a sense of coordination in his little dance routine and vocally was so out of breath - he might as well be shagging jer. Terbayang lak ngan bunyian dia so out of breath, images from Putrajaya masa peluh meleleh tak henti-henti. And his diction was horrid, and I was straining to see if he forgot any of the words to the tune. Thank God it was finally bye-bye Yazer!


Marsha - Ku Pendam Sebuah Duka (Khatijah Ibrahim)

Aku da sediakan tissue Premier yang disponsor tuk meleleh airmata pada this one. But somehow...her fumbling with the lyrics didn't seem to help. So it was a slow start yang memang horrifying, especially at this stage of the competition to screw up....Memang kita semua cringing gila babiks ler takut sangat Marsha tak mampu bak lagu.

But into the second verse dia pick up habis and ended it proving she was one of the better vocals for the night. And yes...I dedicated the song to someone and habis juga dua pack tissue Premier.

Definitely one of the highlights of the show as usual!

Felix - Anak (Freddie Aguilar)

Aku cam bengang sikit the way they tried to put the spotlight on Yazer for backing him on guitar. Nak gorengke nak solo ker skali ngan Sham, buat lah masa lagu sendiri. Dahler sebelum tu Yazer da di promo lebih-lebih oleh Astro bab rumah orang tua tu (nak undi simpati ke). I mean...why couldn't all the kids have been taken. Anyway - another thing about the backing, perlu ke mintak Mawi backing juga kalau setakat tambourine.

Still - Felix managed to hold on to his spotlight walaupun lagu tu simple and easy listening.
And yes, I think he had the right expression for the song throughout. Simply captivating! Makes up for the past few weeks of horror from Felix.

Kefli - Tak Tahu (Adam)
Ni apa kes ni??? Teruk sangat ke sampai tertonggeng?

Setakat choreography - minimal and nothing to shout about. Vocally - he did everything! Wrong that is....

Bukan sahaja lupa lirik - dahlah bukan sekali. Ni lari tempo...pitching...key...tc. Everything was just so wrong. And the sengau was stilll as irritating as ever!

The joke is - it's only lagu Adam. Takder ler challenging mana pun! Aku rasa masa lagu ini dipilih dulu, they were trying to get something easy for him. Well, apparently mereka tak sedar easy is not in Kefli's vocab. After all - he still has trouble trying to figure out how to breathe and sing at the same time! And the trying to walk like Mawi thing was hardly cute! It was him being insistently irritating as usual...

Aku enjoy this show only because of Mawi (boleh tahan ler rap dia walaupun aku rasa Yazer ni ada hidden potential nak rap ngan groove dia).

Mana tak nya, si Mawi asyik buat second voice, "Yo! Yo! Ya-ah-ow! Ya-ah-ow!". Adus...pecah peruts!

Amylea - Gemilang (Jaclyn Victor)
So I would be the first to admit Amylea's version tak se power Jac's.
But WOW! She made it hers! Lagu tu jadi lain sangat ngan improvisation dia yang just nice, tak overboard.

She lost some steam mid-way due to the limitations of her voice, cracking a little here and there, but like Marsha, picked up and rocked the house!

Standing ovation dari kita!

Puas juga seeing a real performer like her, announced the qualifier over si sengau Kefli tu. I mean really! In a world that had any values of fairness, she wouldn't have been in contention against someone like him in the first place!

Suka pic ni... tengok muka Kefli torture nak maintain muka diplomatic over penyingkiran dia! Padahal, nampak sangat dia tahan sentap tu.

Seriously Kefli...

Did you really, actually think you stood a chance???

Mawi - Pergi Tak Kembali (Rabbani)
Mmm...this one aku tatau camna nak comment. Ok would be it. Bukan sebab Mawi tak bagus ke...ada kesilapan ke...ataupun aku tak hendak memberikan dia credit for doing his best.

Perhaps for one thing the song cam tak power. Also, since it's his forte, kekuatan dia pada irama nasyid, aku rasa cam biasa je dia sampaikan. Memang bagus dan bersahaja, tapi susah nak feel apa-apa sebab ala kadar je.

The funny thing is - seperti seseorang bloggers mengatakan - kalau orang lain surprise macam-macam kejutan, adakah Mawi pada mata Astro hanya layak untuk dibacking by kumpulan nasyid kampung dia je ke? (Tu pun off gila babas! Mencacatkan persembahan Mawi je)

But - Mawi at least maintain consistency dia dan tak slack ler.

Still, I think Pupus dia punya strongest performance so far.

Amylea & Marsha - Lagu bonus - Medley Jerat Percintaan (Siti Nurhaliza), Bunga-Bunga Cinta (Misha Omar), Tangisan Dalam Kerinduan (Farah) dan Gubahan Rindu Puisi Syahdu (Fauziah Latiff)
Wow! Kalau lah dua orang ni terus final wat camni! Adus! Ni baru standard boleh dibanggakan! Farra masuk pun takder effect.

The best thing is - kalau empat orang pelajar lelaki kena layan tiga lagu bonus, the two girls took on four songs! You have to respect that! Plus they did it their way. Again, a little few hiccups here and there - but deserving of another standing ovation!

Menuju Puncak was ridiculous. I mean...takkan Astro tak sedar hambar semacam je choreography musim ni! Dari konsert pertama, semua bising kata sedih sangat tarian tuk lagu tema Akademi Fantasia ni - and sill no change has come about!

Nine weeks later, we're still served with the same pathetic fare!



Yang peliknya kali ni - bila the final pose - kenapa Mawi seorang tu keluar dari the whole set-up. I mean, looking at the picture - it simply doesn't make sense. Sensitif ke kalau dia bersentuhan dengan pelajar memana? Ke takut cam sebelum ni dimana Kefli 'menunggang' Mawi in the last pose sampai tak reti henti meraba (usha balik replay of the last concert).

Whatever it is - Menuju Puncak has been taken to new heights of silliness!

By the way, the final tribute with semua yang tersingkir was touching - only sadly it was for AFVOKAL more than anything else.

Kalau nak sangat wat AFVOKAL, bagik laa memasing kuar lagu sendiri ke pa. Ni tak. How you suppose to judge them individually from a group song. You're talking about everyone singing on a different key and all.

Plus, everyone has their set piece for a solo, so there's bound to be seorang dua yang lebih kan?



Whatever it is - consolation prize or not - AFVOKAL (which is Anugerah Vokal Popular - sebab diundi dan bukan Anugerah Vokal Terbaik seperti didakwa Astro) should go to only among Idayu, Fuad, Amylea, Amy, Marsha or even Aidil (seriously?). Why do I say that? Well - from their unique vocal tone - to their much polished appearance now since their introduction, I think these few yang menyerlah overall.

Yes, even Aidil didn't sound as bad as he did when in Akademi ketika mempersembahkan Didn't We Almost Have It All in the group performance. Elliza was the most horrible, screeching like pontianak mengilai kena buasir (boleh ke?)

Anyway, back to the show...

And the result?



Apa lagi? The four best performers, who have been consistently delivering for weeks now! Thank God Malaysia got it right! Teringat musim lepas masa Bob diumumkan masuk and aku terpikir how the SMS votes were right for the first time the whole season!

And this time - Malaysia got it right. Mungkin aku masih tak setuju peratusan antara empat pelajar tu jauh sangat, but still - they are in the final!

Aku sekarang tak kisah siapa duduk di tangga mana. Sebab untuk aku - cukup lah keempat-empat mereka layak, teramat layak untuk masuk final!

Habis saja pengumuman - berpuluh SMS aku terima on all three mobile numbers aku! Sampai habis bateri phone siot!

Bergegas ngan bebudak tuk amik kek kat keta - lari ke belakang production area di mana dah janji ngan Idayu & Co. nak celebrate birthday Fuad. Sayang Bob tak ada kerana outstation tuk show kalau tak leh celebrate skali.

Anyway, a BIG happy birthday to both Bob dan Fuad!!!



Lama gak tunggu meka nak masuk ke area production tempat makan crew - but sampai-sampai saja, Idayu, Reza, Amy, Aidil, Elliza, Akma (Ekin tak nampakl lak) nyanyi Happy Birthday tuk Fuad. Separuh tenaga pengajar pun masih ada nak wish skali termasuk abang M.Nasir, kak Marlia (thank you for staying back, babe) and a few more.

Abih tu sembang-sembang ler kengkawan sana. Puas jugak result. And rata-rata most of us hardly care how the final turns out because buat kali pertama, statement Vince 'tiada pengalah' makes sense'.

I was told by friends that there is a possibility that dia sentimen mungkin digunakan sesetengah pihak dalam kempen tuk AFUNDI masuk final ni.

And they are the two most sensitive things that anyone could harp on. So I hope we all can pull together and vote for who we believe is talented - and not bother with these two issues which some extreme fans mugnkin menggunakan.

Sentimen pertama of course mengenai dua pelajar dari Borneo and dua pelajar dari Semenanjung. I say, so what? We're all still Malaysians kan? Biar kita banggawith the best we have to offer without caring which state or side of the country we're from!

The second is a more sensitive issue. Sudah pasti Mawi dan Amylea beragama Islam while Felix dan marsha are Christians. Again, aku merayu semua dalam keghairahan mengundi pelajar tersayang, supaya jauhi diri dari sentimen sebegini. We are voting for talent - and that's all that counts. Kita masyarakat muhibbah - and there is no difference between us all - race, religion, creed or any other distinguishing factors. Remember...blur the lines that seperate us, and only allow talent to shine through!

After all - pelajar-pelajar Akademi Fantasia telah membuktikan kami lah a community which prides itself ont he unity our nation is so proud of -maybe we could learn something from them!



Ok laa...letih siot...from the excitement and anticipation (and I suppose the subsequent partying) but thank you to everyone who voted for the girls to make sure they got into the final!

Nak habiskan update radio.blog ngan lagu-lagu serta beberapa pics dari konsert semalam sebelum KO sat. Pagi kena bangun awal sebab nak gi Desa Waterpark for the @15 Chatterz Club Family Day with pelajar-pelajar tersingkir. See you guys there!

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