Anugerah Planet Muzik 2013 Media Conference

It’s been a very dull 2013 indeed on this domain. Simply because I have been extremely busy on the family and personal front and blogging has been the very last thing on my agenda. Heck, I have not even been helping my good friend, DJ KC, update the Misteri Jam 12 Official Blog for quite some time as well. Logged into this blog for the first time in more than a month, and I realised that I only made six further entries right after the RATU competition ended in January 2013, with at least half being simple single promos for our local acts, Fauzie Laily, Sezairi Sezali and the SHR Menage production – Mega Lawak 2013 (You can scroll down to see the previous entries). I dunno if I should call this a “long rest”, a “hiatus” or “hibernation”, but it does feel that I have retired from the scene.

All that changed when I received an invitation to attend the media conference of Anugerah Planet Muzik (APM) 2013 towards the end of August. And I thought, what a great timing to make a long-awaited return. Of course, I accepted the invite with open arms, as regular readers would note that APM is close to my heart since it began in 2001, following it religiously on an annual basis. You can say that this is definitely one event I look forward to yearly. I got wind of sketchy details of this latest edition of our regional music awards event sometime during Ramadhan. Just hearing the name of the event venue made me bristled in anticipation. For those of you still wondering where it will be held this year, it will be at the newly-refurbished Suntec City Convention Centre Hall 601-604 on 18 October 2013.

The coveted trophy to be won come 18 October 2013…

You might ask why the excitement all of a sudden. If you have been following this blog since years ago, you would note, like a bad record how I have been championing for the event to return to the venue that provided the best APM throughout its twelve years of existence. It has been a long wait. Eight long years to be exact. And I am ready to be swept off my feet once more. The moment I heard that Suntec City Convention Centre will play host this year, memories of the 2005 edition began playing through my head. From the opening performance by Gerhana Ska Cinta, to the debut of PeterPan, the great performance by Dewa19, our own Bhumiband, the humourous medley of songs sung by Saiful Apek as well as the three Divas – Dato’ Siti Nurhaliza, Melly Goeslaw and Kris Dayanti belting away each others’ hits, from the start till the end, it was a definite joy to watch that edition.

The event was hosted by AB Shaik and Aura Shai…

What made that 2005 edition the best in my opinion, was also the acoustics of the venue as well as the sound system that was crystal clear. Something that did not do justice to such a prestigious show when the event was thrice held at Max Pavilion Singapore Expo. I remember watching SLAM‘s reunion concert on 24 February 2012 at the same venue and had secretly wished that APM would return some day, such was the rich sound quality that we got to enjoy that night and how close we were to the stage, that watching the monitor screens was a bit irrelevant. Ok am speaking on my personal experience sitting in the first three rows so it doesn’t count especially to those who were seated behind but for those who went to that concert, am sure you got my drift about the sound quality we enjoyed that night.

And then there was the Red Carpet event during the 2005 edition, a proper one whereby the artistes came in limousines with fans clamouring by the sides wanting to snap photographs with them. My hopes of wanting to watch another good show this time around, were further raised when I heard that the current newly-refurbished venue makes the fans feel closer to the stage no matter how far they sit. That alone my friends, is why you need to purchase the tickets to watch this upcoming edition of APM2013, which already promises acts like Indonesian crooner Cakra Khan and our own Jamiel Said to show their worth to the regional audience. I do not have the names of the performers yet, but you might like to check out the official APM2013 Facebook page for more details as well as the voting mechanics on how you can vote for your favourite / popular artistes.

Group photograph before the event proper began…

Speaking of voting, I hope that our regional neighbours would take the time to vote for their favourites and not complain afterwards when the awards go to “less-deserving winners”, according to them. I think in the past, they were given the opportunity to vote for their favourites or respective acts in their countries but did not do so. In the end, when the likes of Hady Mirza and Taufik Batisah won, there was uproar on social media like how a particular artiste or song was not popular in other countries but yet still able to win something, citing favouritism by the organisers and questioning the legitimacy of the wins. The voting game is simple, you vote more, your favourites have a higher chance of winning. If you don’t, be prepared to suck thumb and whine away. Heard that this time there will be a limit of 20 votes per voter. I think that’s a fair means to level the playing ground since we all know how “hardworking” some of these fans are at voting for their favourites.

Yaya Hamid seen here performing “Taman Hati“…

My goodness, I have been blabbering the past six paragraphs but have yet to talk about the media conference proper. This is what happens when you’ve been away for far too long from blogging and side-tracking way too much as a result. The media conference, unlike last year where it was held at Rendezvous Hotel, was once again held at the humble multi-purpose room at Mediacorp Caldecott Broadcast Centre on 3rd September 2013. APM2013 is special this year, for the fact that this is the first major project between Warna 94.2FM, RIA 89.7FM and Mediacorp Suria channel since their merger on 1st August 2013 to form the Mediacorp Malay Broadcast Division. As such, it would be very interesting to see what creative ideas can be exchanged between radio and television for this particular project and what viewers can enjoy come 18 October 2013.

Sufie Rashid performed Adele‘s “Rolling In The Deep“…

The media conference was graced by the performances of upcoming local acts Yaya Hamid and Sufie Rashid of “The Final One” fame. It was good to expose and introduce them to the invited guests though it has to be said that both of them still need to learn to be more composed and be wary of their pitching. I detected several flawed notes and going off-key from the two of them, but I attribute that to jitters, which is understandable since they were performing in front of more experienced performers as well as bigwigs from the local entertainment industry. I think I would have felt a little intimidated myself if I was in their shoes. Still, I hope that they will build on the experience and give off better performances in future.

The addressing panel consisting of Dr. Edmund Lam, CEO of COMPASS, Ms. Zakiah Halim, Senior Vice-President, Mediacorp Malay Broadcast Division and Mr. Hassan Salleh, Assistant Vice-President of RIA 89.7FM…

Ms. Zakiah Halim, Senior Vice-President of the Mediacorp Malay Broadcast Division praised the efforts of our local acts who had submitted their entries, noting that a lot of improvements have been made to the extent that the judges had a difficult time choosing the nominees. One of the judges had also noted that the quality of our local music is almost on par with their regional counterparts, so much so that they could not distinguish which country they belonged to. Over the years, a lot of good music, quality ones, have been produced and our creative songwriters out there should take heart that they are on the right track and that their works have been recognised, not only by the judges judging their works for APM, but also the listeners have received and liked their songs on the airwaves as well. Long may their good work continue!!!

With regards to the list of nominations, I am happy to see the likes of Tengku Adil and Jamiel Said getting their recognitions by their respective nominations. The former especially, who has been in the scene since he first came to our attention with his involvement in Anugerah 2003. Faced with many setbacks and pitfalls, all that hard work over the past decade has been worthwhile for Adil. Likewise it is difficult to break into the Best categories with our regional counterparts being stronger in many aspects. To see a local name in those categories, no matter if they win in the end or not, is already a positive sign that Singapore acts can breakthrough and be on par with those in Malaysia and Indonesia. And of course, we share their pride at being nominated. Another nomination I am pleased with was Sheikh Haikel‘s nomination for Best Collaboration (“Eh Lah“). I had expected it to be nominated last year but did not qualify for evaluation as the song was produced in 2012, not 2011, which was the qualifying criteria. However I am a bit disappointed that Diorama‘s “Hipokrasi” did not get nominated for Best Singapore Song at the very least, as I felt it had the right quality and vibes of a Top Five song.

Tickets to Anugerah Planet Muzik 2013 go on sale from tomorrow 16 September 2013, priced at $48, $68 and $88 at all SISTIC outlets.