Back with the third and final instalment of #theSyarifs‘ wedding. This entry will feature photographs of the wedding dinner event, which I felt resembled a mini Pesta Perdana event, with the local Malay entertainment scene’s personalities making their presence by gracing the occasion. It was a long day for the newly-weds as well as those who had worked hard to make the whole event tick, yet everyone was smiling throughout till the very end, happiness etched on their faces and sharing the joy of the newlyweds. The wedding dinner event was held at the same venue (Alkaff Mansion) as the earlier morning’s solemnisation ceremony and lunch reception.
Like the solemnisation ceremony, those who had tuned in to the couple’s official Youtube channel, would have gotten a glimpse of what went on live via the webstream. Unfortunately I heard that the full clip has been taken down by Youtube due to copyright infringements of some of the songs featured. Though you will not be able to view the clip, I hope this entry would satiate your thirst to view some of the event’s happenings as well as see who’s who in the local Malay entertainment scene who had turned up. This was afterall THE “Wedding of the Year” for 2014, for me. It would be criminal not to feature this entry in my blog, especially when the groom took great pains to invite me and the wife to attend. For that I say “Thank You!!!” to Syarif and Malaque for having us, me in particular, for almost the whole day.
The wedding dinner event was hosted by Ben Muthusalam, Syarif‘s intern-mate when he did his internship with Mediacorp back in 2009. Please don’t ask me why the host’s name has an Indian surname. Maybe his good friends reading this can help to enlighten me cos I’m in the dark myself. Guests were treated to lovely performances by local groups TheTrisno Trio and Northbound, as well as a guest performance by Malaysia‘s Dina Nadzir, whose rendition of Katy Perry‘s “Unconditionally“, had my hairs standing. She is such an under-rated vocal powerhouse. We also witnessed Syarif singing a song titled “Malaque“, which he had composed with Trisno Ishak just two weeks leading up to the wedding event.
The eleven-tier wedding cake was specially baked by Malaque herself, whom some of us know specialises in pastries, desserts and cakes. Also, the cheesecake recipe during the dinner event itself, was specially concocted by her, assisted and executed by Chef Siti Mastura and team. Female guests were fortunate to have received a make-up kit by Benefit Cosmetics, to go along with the main door gifts consisting of a Grey by Ortenhill bag, a lovely jar series, Sugee cake by Chef Siti Mastura and Calvin Klein parfum vials. The gifts oozed class in every sense, a reflection of the newlyweds. All in all, it was a wonderful and memorable wedding event and here’s wishing the newlyweds once again a blissful married life with filial kids in tow… 🙂
Guests from radio and Berita Harian (from left): Ms. Isadhora Mohamed, Mr. Mohammad Sawifi, Mr. Azrin Rahim, Madam Hanim Mohd Saleh, RZ, TG and wife Haslinda Hamid…
Shahril Wahid and wife Suherdlya Sabar…
Imran Ajmain was seated along with his good friends, Ainon Talib (fourth from left) and hubby, Erwan Gunawan. To his left is his friend Suhaidah. The others on the same table (Suhaila – third from right, Rizman Kassim and Sulastri Yusof) were instrumental in making the event tick as they are part of Fatimah Mohsin’s team…
The Jauhar siblings, Janz, Janna and Jihan, who was SleeQ’s former manager…
The good people from Mediacorp Suria and yours truly’s spouse on the right…
Anugerah Skrin 2010 alumnus Nissa Bahruddin with Mediacorp Suria’s Siti Zuraidah Taib…
The creative minds behind Mediacorp Eaglevision…
Former national football team captain, Aide Iskandar and wife Ezreen Taib Zohri…
Didicazli and wife Nur Eliyana…
Hisyam Hamid, Mastura Ahmad, Shahrin Azhar and Haryani Othman along with their respective spouses. Jeff Catz (third from right) was alone…
Norfasarie came with her two beautiful children, Mika Bazil and Moza Alyka…
Den Sabari, Huda Ali and daughter Leia Qaseh…
Nurul Aini and hubby Sofian Roslan…
Marina Yusoff with her daughter Noshin Putri
Fauzie Laily and Nurul Huda, the ever loving couple…
Cast of Belah Hati (standing from left): Asraf Amin, Ateeqah Mazlan, Effendie (Ateeqah’s hubby), Mariana Yatie, Ayura Kefle, Junaidah Eksan and Imam Shah. Seated are Nurfarhana M Noor and partner Shannon Berkett…
Here they are joined by Mr. J.A. Halim, his son, Helmindra, daughter-in-law Fizah Nizam, and son-in-law Laurent Thevenet…
Rozzalina Ramli and her daughter Hannah Adyna, Ainon Talib and Norfasarie and her lovely children…
Mediacorp Suria interns Farhanny Salim, Deedee Durrani and the hardest working man of #theSyarifs’ wedding, Budi Iskandar Sa’ad…
Clockwise from top: Mediacorp Suria’s Yusnita Yaacob, Hazlina Halim, Riz Sunawan, Wan Haiz Salleh, Diana Halil, Farlina and hubby
Mr. Hassan Salleh and wife Madam Kamsiah Rahman…
Mediacorp Suria’s trailer producer Radhiah Zulkifli and hubby Sufian Faisal…
Nity Baizura and husband Mohd Hafiz…
DJ KC and Fiza O…
Aura Shai…
Syirah Jusni and Ashmi Roslan…
Mastura Ahmad and hubby Arshad Ismail…
Hisyam Hamid and wife, Mel (Rosmawati Hussin)…
Haryani Othman and hubby Fahmy…
Shahrin Azhar, with wifey Gee Aziz, daughter Iman Qistina and Jeff Catz…
Rozzalina Ramli, hubby Jai Wahab and daughter Hannah Adyna…
Wedding dinner event host, Ben Muthusalam…
Performance by the trio from Northbound…
Ahmad Khalis…
Fareez Shah…
Fauzaan Sahrudin…
Dina Nadzir…
The newlyweds with Mr. Darren Choy, Managing Director and CEO of Warner Music Malaysia…
The Trisno Trio…
Syarif performing his newly composed song for his beloved wife, aptly called “Malaque”…
The newlyweds with deejays from RIA 89.7FM and Warna 94.2FM and their partners…
Amongst the guests here include Mr. Indra Shahrir, Madam Amanah Mustafi who are flanking the newlyweds and Mr. Hamed Ismail (standing top right)…
The newlyweds with Shenthy Feliziana and partner…
The newlyweds with Trisno Trio and Ms. Renee Quek from Grey by Ortenhill…
The newlyweds with Bloco SG’s founder Syed Ahmad and wife Hanie Nadia…
The newlyweds with Nura Abdul Manaf, who was instrumental in directing the live webstream segments…
Amongst the guests here include Madam Zakiah Halim, Mr Suhaimi Jais and family, Dr. Edmund Lam (CEO of COMPASS) and Mr. Darren Choy…
The newlyweds and the ever creative Mediacorp Eaglevision team…
Azzah Fariha and Malaque are officially cousins by virtue of marrying the SleeQ boys…
Mediacorp Suria’s promo team and the newlyweds…
With the bride’s family…
The newlyweds with Fatimah Mohsin and Diyana Halik who are seated. Standing from left to right: Ezreen Taib Zohri, Aide Iskandar, Azlan M Shafie, Eriyana Amin, Suzairhe Sumari and Suhaillah Salam…
With the groom’s mother and elders…
With Northbound and their sessionists…
With the groom’s mother and siblings…
The newlyweds with Fauzie Laily, Nurul Huda and Dean Reziq, another hardworking personnel during the wedding event…
With Berita Harian’s Nurmaya Alias and hubby Muhd Mahfuz…
The newlyweds with Mr. J.A. Halim and his ever sporting family members…
With Nick Mikhail and wife Nora…
Without these amazing peeps from Fatimah Mohsin’s team, the wedding would not have been a success…
It’s been awhile since I did a review on an event that I attended at the Mediacorp TV Theatre. Simply because when I accepted the invites from Mediacorp Suriato attend these shows or events, more often than not, I did not see the need to review as they are either a light-hearted affair or for charity. I was there to just snap photos of the event and during the reception afterwards without seeing the need to comment much. Sometimes I don’t need to voice my thoughts as others have done it for me on social media. Anyway there are so many keyboard warriors out there too quick to jump on the bandwagon of criticising without giving substantial suggestions. I guess it’s a favourite pastime now to use one’s handphone keypads to comment every single thing they see on the google box, be it good or bad. I’m guilty of it sometimes when I watch football and passions are running high.
I note from several people I’ve met of late that this blog has somewhat stagnated and that the writer (or should I say, typist???) behind the words on this domain has lost his zest and panache to hit where it hurts, or to put it kindly, give a wake up call when it mattered. Over the years as I mellow down and become less confrontational and got to know more people, I find that it is a challenge to be as hard-hitting as before. I had to tweak and fine-tune my style so as not to be too cynical or cause frictions with others in the long run. Maybe fatherhood has made me more forgiving, understanding and giving others the benefit of doubt but I like to think I type better when I’m having that red mist and I don’t quite experience that as often as before. Wish I could post more entries but like I said from time to time, I am not paid to blog and this is something I do as a community service as and when I am free from my work, family and personal commitments.
The front row audience consisting of bigwigs in the local media industry as well as guest of honour Dr. Mohd Faishal Ibrahim…
Anyway, I was honoured to be invited again to attend the recent Viva Elektraevent at Mediacorp TV Theatre. The two-hour variety special was the fourth instalment by Suria and was previously known as Suria Elektra (2010), Rock Elektra (2011) and Bandstand Elektra (2012). The show belatedly celebrated the formation of MediaCorp’s Malay Broadcast Division, the merger between television channel Suria and radio stations Warna 94.2FM and RIA 89.7FM, hence there was an eclectic mix of performers from radio presenters to television personalities and established recording artistes that night. Viva Elektra in a way, symbolised the division’s hopes to establish a commitment to continually bring high quality programmes to their audience, be it on radio and television. Expect to see more of such shows in the near future involving the radio and television personalities. We are already anticipating cross-platform programmes like TeRaSeh 2.0, R&D and the sixth season of infotainment show JUS! this month. Viva Elektra was just the start!!!
The men who made the night ticked – Dyn Norahim and Khairudin Samsudin…
Looking at how the radio and television personalities collaborated on stage, I had a feel-good feeling that we can expect more entertaining shows on television and radio as well. Yes, I will not deny that I’ve heard rumours going round that certain gigs and jobs are affected due to the merger, but I would like to call upon all the artistes who might feel a little slighted that their places and roles in television programmes might be taken up by their radio counterparts, to treat this as a healthy competition. Granted we might not be like our next door neighbour where there are so many channels one can tune to and for radio and television personalities to still do well when they cross platforms, but there are possible avenues that can be explored. Radio could possibly have seasonal guest hosts like what Fauzie Laily did co-hosting Skoolz with Nity Baizura a few years ago. Or if they were to have a shake-up of personnel, who knows, they might just rope in some of these television personalities into their stables??? Let’s not see it as a form of hindrance to one’s rice bowl, but to work as a unit to lift the standards of our local Malay entertainment scene.
The cast of Tak2ut (from left): Ashmi Roslan, DJ KC, Fadhlur Rahman and Wan Haddad…
Maybe a little criticism I would have of Viva Elektra was that feeling of imbalance in some of their segments. While the skit involving the Tak2ut cast (Ashmi Roslan, Wan Haddad and Fadhlur Rahman) and DJ KC seemed a bit short, the Bangsawan and Pentas Radio segments felt a wee bit too long for my liking. I just feel that the song performed by Eiss, “Arjuna (Mencari Cinta)“, was redundant and only served to prolong the segment, even though the audience and myself were tickled by the humour presented by all the performers involved. It is nice to see new faces on television like Wan Haddad and Nurfarhana M Noor given their big break on a big scale event as this. Also Junaidi Sali who often plays a supporting cast to be given the limelight he deserves after all these years.
Fauzie Laily (left) seldom gets comedic roles but when he gets them, he excels…
Nurfarhana it has to be said, is a name and face to watch this year. Her stock is rising and it is not easy to score a lead role in one’s debut drama series (Rima Hatiku) and subsequent ones like Follow Fasha, unless one has the potential and package to succeed. She is currently seen in the new season of Di Luar Garisan and will be one of the participants for TeRaSeh 2.0. I won’t be surprised if she scores a hosting gig in the near future cos she has that bubbly personality to do it. You heard it first on this domain. Another one to impress me was RIA 89.7FM‘s Dzar Ismail. I’m a big fan of his daily Singa Maksima programme and from one karaoke session we had some months ago, I could see his hidden talent and passion in rapping, which was displayed that night when he performed “Cerita Kedai Kopi” with Tukangkata and Sezairi Sezali. I know some people do not quite like his sometimes excessive energy levels, but I think he is a breath of fresh air on radio. And yes I still claim credit unashamedly for saying he belongs in radio when I assessed his performances when he entered Anugerah Skrin back in 2010.
The one to watch this year – Nurfarhana M Noor. A flower blossoming at a continued pace…
Another criticism I would add on will be the choice of performing artistes and some of the songs they performed. Before the show, I saw on social media how people lamented that it’s basically the same faces over and over again. To some extent, I would agree with them as I too felt the same way when I saw the list of performing artistes slated to perform. No I am not attacking or blaming the singers who performed cos they are all excellent in their own respect. My complaint would be a lack of more variety than what we’re used to. Take for instance we have so many bands producing good quality music in Singapore. The likes of Diorama, Tujuh, Klutz are some of the bands that are under-rated here. And if you speak of individual acts, there’s Reyza Hamizan, Sufie Rashid, Chomel, Aidil Akmal, Nurdiana Saad, upcoming acts who deserved to be given their dues and be introduced to the masses.
The hosts replicating Ellen Degeneres at the recent Oscars and taking a selfie photograph with the audience…
I appreciate that we would want to entice people to watch as their favourites would be performing but it does not send a message that the artistes feel appreciated, even though radio plays their music on a daily basis. There is no point having your songs known on radio when people still dunno who you are. Just ask Audionauts when they won at APM2013. There were still people asking on social media and on newspaper reports wondering who they were. “Rentak Laguku“, the song performed by Aliff Aziz, Eiss and Sezairi Sezali, was another one that I felt was a bit redundant as it was only as recent as last October that we witnessed Amy Search and Bunkface performed the song at APM2013. And even though I love Taufik Batisah‘s “Sesuatu Janji” amongst all his songs to date, I think that was the fourth or fifth time he performed the song at a Suria event, in addition to APM2008.
Group photo with all the performers that night once the cameras stopped rolling…
Overall, Viva Elektra was an enjoyable show, even if it did overrun by about eleven minutes. The choice of having Khairudin Samsudin and Warna 94.2FM‘s Dyn Norahim was a good one, with both trading barbs at one another and the latter being the brunt of many of the former’s jokes. At certain points, Dyn looked jittery but it should be forgiven as this was afterall his first live television hosting gig. Speaking to him afterwards, he said that it was nerve-wrecking and a very different experience compared to his daily live show on radio. Like many others before him, I am sure he will grow into the role and be better. Am certainly looking forward to seeing him host the new season of JUS! alongside the gorgeous Ainon Talib and Nurul Akhmar come the end of April. For now I can’t wait for TeRaSeh 2.0. It’s gonna be an absolute riot!!!
Pre-show…
The guests calmly waiting for the show to start…
Eiss and Sezairi Sezali performing Hazama’s “Penglipur Lara”…
Hosts Dyn Norahim and Khairudin Samsudin…
Selfie time…
Cast of Tak2ut and DJ KC…
Wan Haddad
Fadhlur Rahman
DJ KC
Ashmi Roslan
Hanafie Warren
Alif Putra
Farisha Ishak
Junaidi Sali
Nurul Aini, RZ and Junaidah Ekhsan…
M Saffri A Manaf and Junaidi Sali…
Aisyah Aziz and Sarah Aqilah…
Dancers from Sri Warisan…
Nurfarhana M Noor
A B Shaik
Azlin Ali
Fauzie Laily
Aliff Aziz
Taufik Batisah
Dzar Ismail and Tukangkata…
Nurul Huda Ramdzan
Another round of selfie…
The current host of RE:TV and upcoming host for JUS! Season 6 – Ainon Talib and hubby Erwan Gunawan…
Fiza O and her sisters supporting hubby DJ KC…
DJ KC, Fiza O with their Berita Harian counterparts Linilidia Abdul Hamid (left) and Nurmaya Alias…
Fab 4 – Haddad, Fadhlur, Ashmi and Junaidi…
Dressed in their nines – Norfasarie, Mika Bazil, Hyrul Anuar, Ainon Talib, Erwan Gunawan, Nadiah M. Din and Syirah Jusni…
Intellectual and respected people here – Khairudin Saharom, Hazlina Halim, Hasliza Abdul Majid and Ahmad Nizam Abbas…
Viva Elektra hosts with the Sri Warisan dancers and their in-charge, the husband and wife team of Adel Dzulkarnaen and Marina Yusoff…
Aisyah Aziz with her twin sister, Ayeen…
Fauzie, Junaidi and Fadhlur…
Sezairi Sezali and his parents…
The Aziz siblings – Aisyah, Aliff and Ayeen…
Khairudin Samsudin with veterans in the acting scene, Nurijah Sahat, Ahmad Yusof and Jasmani Basri…
The current hosts of RE:TV – Ainon Talib, Hyrul Anuar, Nadiah M. Din and Sezairi Sezali…
Nadiah will never fail to ask me to capture a solo photograph of her whenever we meet…
Fiza O, Norfasarie and Mika Bazil with Suria’s Budi Iskandar and Mufreha Maarof…
Nadiah and fellow actress Biwa Mastura…
Nurul Aini with hubby Sofian Roslan…
Hyrul Anuar, Ashmi Roslan, Syirah Jusni and back-up singers on the night, Afiqah and Azhar Raz…