...as though I walk through the shadow of the valley of death...

About lunch time, aku dapat panggilan. Ada orang inform that Loloq had already passed away. Terbodoh jap aku. Lum sempat gather my thoughts, dua lagik SMS masuk. Followed by another call. Semua memberitahu benda yang sama. Berita yang aku sungguh tak sangkakan, dan memang... mengejutkan.

Rosli Khamis, atau abang Loloq, born in Singapore to his father from Masjid Tanah, Melaka, and his mother, a Chinese-Muslim convert - a mualaf, was one of the most important people in the Malaysian music industry.

I always heard his name dulu, and bila berpeluang kenal dia, didn't really get the chance to sit down and talk to him.

The last few years, we kept bumping into each other.

And aku ingat time yang paling lama aku penah sembang ngan dia, masa soal aku kena ban over the AIM issue (please don't ask me, selak page belakang banyak banyak catch up). Dia banyak advise aku to stand my ground, and fight for what I believe in.

People like M. Nasir and him dulu scared me, because they were intelligent, thinking people, who were artistes in all essence of the word. They weren't in this line for popularity and fame, but because they were passionate. They lived and breathed music.

Abang Loloq penah nasihat aku, and bagik kata semangat. Dalam kekadang rasa fed up berada dalam industri yang kekadang ngarut ngan all these superficial things, he told me to focus on what I wanted to get across.

"Semuanya bermula ngan ko lah. Ko kena usaha sendiri, takkan nak dok ngadu nasib je kan? Kalao nak wat camtuh, then no different lah ngan orang yang nyusahkan hidup kita. So make that change la.... has to start somewhere kan."

Something like that...

And at that point - I kept fighting. Masa forum AIM, dia, abang Nasir, abang Ali Bakar, abang Farihin... semua fought for the same things I did. Not because we were rebels or tak puas ati ngan several people. Nope. Because we wanted the music industry to grow, not die. And I felt proud that I wasn't doing something stupid - and it was for the good of our future, though I had doubts before abang Loloq assured me, that there always would be a price to pay.

Masa Gemilang menang dulu pun sama. Aku tak puas ati soal lirik - walaopon takde la bombastic bahasa aku, aku rasakan lirik by Asmin Mudin, was just grammatically horrible. And it didn't really make sense. Abang Loloq was one of the only ones who had the guts to say it - when others just ngata belakang-belakang.

That was the sort of man Loloq was.

He said what he felt, he fought for what he believed in. He saw the world in all its beauty, and appreciated semua anugerah Tuhan.

And then - at 1.37pm, in the Damansara Specialist Centre, abang Loloq mengehembuskan nafas terakhir.

At 6.45pm, selepas jenazah dimandikan di Surau Al-Ikhwan, Bandar Baru Sungai Buloh, he was buried di Tanah Perkuburan Islam Bandar Baru Sungai Buloh.

I didn't cry, though a lot of people who knew him very well did.

I guess I didn't know him that well. But I did feel a loss. Loss of a modern day poet. Loss of someone who saw something in me when I fought, apart from a freak trying to cause trouble which many think I am.

Abang Loloq, rest in peace. I pray for you to be blessed for the way you've touched so many lives, through your words, whether in song as to many, or in what you've said directly, like to me.

I'm sorry I didn't get to meet you one last time at least. But I'll always remember the support and advice you gave me.

I'm not as good with words as you were, dan aku tak reti nak gambarkan betapa sedihnya industri muzik Malaysia kehilangan seorang yang begitu berharga dari segi sumbangan karya.
At least one thing made me smile today though. To see the majority of people in the industry yang menghadirkan diri to pay their last respects.

Ramai sangat.

Ni beberapa orang yang datang yang sempat aku recall. Sorry kalao tertinggal sesapa.
M. Nasir, Amy & Yazid (Search), Hattan, Misha Omar, Jaclyn Victor, Ella, Andy (Flop Poppy), Nurul, Ajai, Tam & Tony(Spider), Farhan, Mila, Haziq, Man Bai, Farihin Abdul Fatah, Zainal Abidin, Hillary Ang, Joe (Wings), Neves (Pretty Ugly), Cat Farish (The Fabulous Cats), Aidit Alfian, Mohariz Yaakup, Ad Samad, Ramli MS, Ali Bakar, Aziz Bakar, Rosyam Nor, Adlin Aman Ramlie, Afdlin Shauki, Eman Manan, Mamat Khalid, Badaruddin Hj Azmi, Marlia Musa dan ramai lagi.

Mawi berada di Syria ketika ini so understandable lah absence dia. Tapi aku sedikit terkilan ramai artis yang mencipta nama dengan jasil karya Loloq tak muncul.
Senang sangat kekadang manusia lupa.

Anyway... I can't go on and on. Here are some pictures I took today. Hope you guys say a little prayer for him, please in your own way. Nothing much more to say for now...

Semua menunggu jenazah dibawa keluar.


Kak Marlia Musa, Hattan, Hillary, kengkawan press cam Serimah and Saharuddin.


Abang Nasir and Bada, Aziz Bakar dan ramai lagi menunggu sekali.


Amy dan Hattan were among the earliest sampai.


Departing for the Surau Al-Ikhwan


Dalam perjalan ke Sungai Buloh sempat tengok sign nih. Apa nak jadik eja pun tak reti ke??? KECERMERLANGAN???


Di masjid - Mila, dan Jac antara meka yang datang to pay their last respects.


Ella was with Jojie. Nurul pun sekali.


Misha and her sister Mimi.


Tempat jenazah dibawa before the burial


The final resting place


Preparations






Farewell to a poetical genius

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Art in all forms

Aku tatau korang perasan ke tak. During Anugerah Juara Lagu, kan ada gambar penyanyi on those big screens.

I don't know exactly what showed up on TV, but it was right behind the stage on those giants screens mounted.

Anyway, had a closer look, sebab masa masuk smalam, dapat door gift ni.

It was a velvety pouch with drawstring, inside ala tarot cards ada gambar penyanyi, tajuk lagu, sebaliknya ada info lagu dan lirik serta pic komposer dan penulis lirik.

Erm... ada lipstick Loreal gak (promosi percuma nih)
Memula tak prasan apa apa pasal the pictures, they looked quite well shot, with quite interesting art design la gak.

Cuma memula timbul tanda tanya, kenapa penyanyi diberikan that spotlight, when traditionally they keep emphasizing that the competition is about the songs, and the real stars of the night are the composers and lyricists.

But didn't bother thinking too much about it, as the tarot-card like bits inside ada lirik, so time lagu yang suka tuh, leh sing a long ala karaoke kalao tak ingat lirik.

Merasalah sementara tuh ada sorang kawan sebelah aku nih, asik touch up lipstick sebab sukakan Loreal dia dapat.

But one weird thing struck me...

I couldn't put my finger on it, so today, while I was fiddling about with the cards when I noticed something really that I couldn't put my finger on.

Pikir punya pikir, when finally, it struck me what had been there all along that I noticed but couldn't identify as to what was so strange about the pictures.

Well, not all the pictures, Just these four.

Korang tengok kalao korang perasan tak anything weird about these pictures and see if you manage to see what I saw from them.

It's not too hard really...

Erm... hope no one says I'm making a mountain out of a molehill about this. Just an interesting observation jerk.


Do you guys see it? No? Ok, it's that little light yang terpancar from their heads. Other pics takde, cuma these four, which I thought was kind of weird. Unintentional maybe, but in traditional Christian artwork, usually such an image is reserved for angels, saints and generally holy figures.

Erm... graphic artist tak pikir the possible sensitivity of the reference ke? Sesuatuh sangat tau. Tak caya? For those of you who don't know what I mean, here are a couple examples of Christian religious artwork.



See what I mean? So we had Saint Faizal Tahir, Saint Sahri and Saint Fazli ke? Aiyo! Very...erm... oh nevermind.

Hopped over to my sister's place in Bangsar to fix the mini theatre system thing I got her for Christmas.

Loose plug jerk.. cam la aku ni mechanically inclined or whatever you call it sampai terer nak baiki benda electronics nih.
Caught Miami Ink jap sebelom kuar supper (walaopon she brough me dinner from Delish).

My sis had told me that Eddie, our tattooist (responsible for the beautiful works of many tattooes, including the one on the left, on my left arm - still unfinished) that he was taking three months off to LA.

So anyway tengah layan the program tuh, ada ad for the new program (da masuk musim kedua in the US), titled LA Ink, starring Kat Von D, the sexiest tattoo artist alive, who was once part of Miami Ink (before Ami became such an asshole and kicker her out).

My sis and I started talking about Kat and LA Ink, when she said, Eddie was being invited on the show for its latest season, possibly as a guest tattoo artiste.
Yes, apparently he is in talks and considering to be part of the show.
Wow!

Bagus la kalao jadik sebab selama ni Sarawakian tattooes are known the world over da.
Setanding ngan the Japanese style as well as well as the Maori tribals.

In fact, ramai orang putih aku perasan ada ramai omputeh yang sporting tattoo bunga terung tuh, as well as other tribal references to the traditional Iban and Orang Ulu designs.
So kalao Eddie jadik masuk program tuh, memang bangga la sebab tattooes are a form of art, and Eddie is one helluva artist and is already known - and it would be great if he could get on TV.

Yeay!

That means my tattooes kang jadik even more valuable than they are already. Like my sis said, kalao Eddie jadik masuk program tuh, I can always strip off my skin and sell it to some weirdo who wants Eddie's work.

Eeew!!!

But seriously, Eddie, dude!!! I hope you make the LA Ink cast, at least as a guest tattoist.
Lagipon, ramai artis dan celebrities make the LA Ink show, so it would be great to see a Sarawakian, make that a Malaysian, make an international program for peoploe to see his works of art.

Meanwhile, am beginning to watch LA Ink because it is a lot flashier and glitzier than Miami Ink, which is getting pretty tacky with its backstories which are so... erm.. boring and mushy.

I love you, Kat Von D!!!!!


Masa nak ciao tuh, my sister gave me this.If you don't know what it is. That my friends, is a greenstone, a jade, tapi bukan jadeite, but a type of jade called nephrite.

It's a pendant measuring about six inches, and is in the form of a mere, or a Moari club.

The mere was used as a thrusting club, particularly to attack the victim's temple or under his ribs. The pounamu ( greenstone) mere has always been highly prized, possibly because of its scarcity and the amount of work required to make it.

And now, I'm wearing a replica (takkan nak wear a real club - though it feels like one cause it is HUGE)

It feels awesome - and I think it's not so much a fashion statement as in something really symbolic to me.

Plus tuk my sis, memang sentimental value (well kind of) sebab ex dia yang belikan. I think it's like worth almost a grand.

Cantik.. suka sangat!

Sorted out my stuff, and hung out until si Juan called me out for a drink. We were joined by a couple of friends, when about midnight, dapat mesej kata Loloq kat Damansara Specialist Hospital.

Rushed there, and met Mohariz there.

We couldn't go in or anything, but we lingered and caught up and just basically tried to find out how he was.

Thankfully dengar abang Loloq da stabilise.

It was something to do with a blood clot in his brain.
So apparently on Sunday he was rushed to the hospital. That's why dia tak muncul time Anugerah Juara Lagu.

Siang tadik da jalani surgery, and now he's recuperating.

He's still in ICU, and doctors are still monitoring his progress, but meka kata dia da stabilise.
Guys, say a payer for Loloq ok... and let's all hope he recovers soon.


Went for another round of drinks and a chat. Balik unpacked my stuff. And settled in to sleep.
Bushed!

Anyway - lupa nak add on to Shamil and the gang of Channel [V] - thanks guys for the lovely Heroes premiums korang antar bagik aku.



Tau jer aku Heroes freak kan!

I love it!!!

More to my collection.

Eh... nak tidur dulu.

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