I know this is already stale news by now as it has already been reported in Berita Minggu yesterday and at the same time, Gumbira.com, ran a real time update as soon as the names were announced on Jus last Monday, a first of its kind in our local Malay entertainment industry, which shows that progression is in the works, and hopefully more to come. Little things like these deserve every bit of mentioning, no matter how trivial it may sound cos it is high time we make use of modern technology to our advantage. But nonetheless, in case you guys still do not know who has qualified for the Top 20 for the upcoming Anugerah competition, here are the names of the elite 20:

Females

1) Kunjung Wide Whitaker

2) Hairani Hassan

3) Melissa Saila Isa

4) Shahirah Jamaludin

5) Hafizah Naser

6) Nur Asilah Mohd Osmera

7) Nora Baharom (Hope I got the right photo to the name…)

8) Suriani Sulaiman

9) Khatijah Abdul Rahman

10) Nur Sarah Aqilah Jamil

Males

1) Ahmad Hairul Md Salleh

2) Muhd Hussein Ahmad

3) Muhammad Idris Suliman

4) Muhamad Safuan Husen

5) Azhar Amid

6) Muhd Hydir Mohd Idris

7) Muhammad Afiq Bakry

8 ) Muhd Hairizam Mohamadan

9) Nohrain Bin Abdul Rasid

10) Kamsani Jumahat

So what do I make of the finalists??? The announcement actually threw up a few surprises for me. Surprise in the sense that a few I thought who were actually more deserving, in terms of vocal strength, were left out and in their place are good-lookers who are relatively ordinary in the voice department. I can more or less understand why some of the better ones were left out, it could have been due to their dressing sense, their attitude on stage or maybe because they lacked the aura to capture one’s imaginations.

The judges had made their picks and it is up to these 20 to now carry the responsibility (I stop short of saying “burden” because they are relatively new to the industry and not fair to heap such a word on) and prove that their selections are not flashes in the pan. I’m happy that at least one of my favourites had been picked and a few I had pinpointed were also in. Now I just cannot wait for the next fortnight to roll over so that we would then be able to witness what they are made of live on national television…

P.S. Thank you to the good people at Suria for sharing the list of Top 20… And apologies if I did not manage to snap the photos of the others who made it to the Top 20 during the 3rd Round Auditions…

Categories: Anugerah