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14 December 2005
Short, But Worth It
The New Paper
By Sheela Narayanan
Siti Nurhaliza is the big draw at Suria's annualfund-raiser
WAS Suria's annual fund-raising show too short this year?
The Ikhlas TAA-Suria show on Sunday was about 1 1/2 hours long and had fewer performances than last year's show, which was about two hours long.
The show was held to raise money for Tabung Amal Aidilfitri (Aidilfitri Charity Fund), which helps low-income Muslim families. It is in its eighth year.
One of the show's hosts, Suzairhe Sumari, told The New Paper that he felt the show just whizzed by.
'I wasn't satisfied. It just went very quickly,' he said.
'It was a lot longer last year.'
Ikhlas TAA was shown live last Sunday night on Suria.
Besides packing in a powerhouse performance by queen of Malay pop Siti Nurhaliza (above), Suria tapped on MediaCorp's talent search winners from its four stations.
There was Singapore Idol's Taufik Batisah, Project Superstar's Kelvin Tan, Mohd Shabir from Vasantham Star and Khairul Anuar from Anugerah.
It also included the three Anugerah finalists Syed Azmir, Khairil Yusof and Fauzie Laily.
PROMOTE TALENT
The show was also meant to promote the four Anugerah performers.
Their new VCD release Bintangku (My Star) from the Anugerah competition was sold at the show.
The show included three dramatisations of TAA's case files by Suria actors.
The audience watched three skits that came on between the performances with each skit introduced by a Anugerah finalist.
Obviously, they were meant to tug at the heart and purse strings of the viewers.
Last year's show had performances from several Singapore and Malaysian artists like Liza Hanim.
However, housewife Sabariah Rahmat didn't think she was short-changed.
She paid $100 to attend the show at MediaCorp's Television Theatre.
'Yes it was longer and there were more performers last year, but this year the performances were good.
'And they had the best performer, Siti. It was short but worth it,' said the 40-year-old fan.
A TAA spokesman told The New Paper that the show brought in a little more than last year's show.
About $128,000 was made from call-in donations compared to $126,000 from last year's television event.
TAA also made about $18,000 from ticket sales.
Obviously, having Siti Nurhaliza made the difference.
If the audience's screams were any indication, the 26-year-old Malaysian chanteuse was clearly the most popular performer of the night.
She nearly brought the house down with a medley of songs from her latest album, Ceria Aidilfitri.
She also sang a ballad, Air Mata Ibu (Mother's Tears), and dedicated it to all the mothers in Singapore.
Taufik was a close second in the popularity stakes, singing a track called First, which he sang in both Malay and English.
BIRTHDAY SONG
And the audience sang a Happy Birthday song for him after comedian Ishak Ahmat told the crowd it had been his birthday the day before.
Kelvin received a very warm reception from the audience, especially after his rendition of Only Love.
The three slipped away after the show.
Meanwhile, the three Anugerah finalists were pleased that they shared the stage with Siti.
The talent-show winners sang the finale Tak Daya Menafi (Can't Deny) with her.
Said winner Khairul in Malay: 'My legs were shaking.
'And every time I came face to face with her, I would be speechless.'
Added Syed Azmir: 'During our rehearsals together, when I had to sing after her, I would just forget what I was supposed to do.'
Even Vasantham Star Mohd Shabir was taken in by Siti's charms.
'She is so glorious,' said the 21-year-old, who sang Rise And Fall for his performance.A repeat of the Ikhlas TAA show will be shown on New Year's Eve and donation phone lines will be open until 11 Jan.
10 December 2005
FLAME AWARDS - SIBEISUAY AWARD
The New Paper
By Sheela Narayanan, Jeanmarie Tan, Wendy Teo and Ho Lian Yi
Good luck, (you'll need it)
You don't know whether to feel sorry for them or laugh at their lack of luck. Somebody give our Si Beh Suay nominees a break already. But are the gods listening?
JUST give it to her already.Quan Yifeng badly wants to win our Si Beh Suay award this year.
QUAN YIFENG - She 'nose' she'll win
JUST give it to her already.
Quan Yifeng badly wants to win our Si Beh Suay award this year.
The 34-year-old compere qualifies with her stinker of a nose job, which saw her looking like a 'banged-up husky' instead of 'Snow White'.
Despite protests from everyone around her, Yifeng went for a nose implant in September, hoping to correct a bump on her nose bridge.
She ended up with a crooked nose bridge, unevenly-sized nostrils, a traumatic experience and plenty of drama.
Though Yifeng has since removed the implant and her nose is back to normal, the incident has scarred her - mentally - for life.
On her nomination, she exclaimed: 'Yes, I'm suay! And I'm even more suay than the others because I can blame no one for my suay-ness.'
Yifeng believes that the other nominees don't stand a chance against her.
'I will vote for myself! I deserved it (the botched job). And since I've got no sympathy, I might as well win this award.'
SYLVESTER SIM - Unlucky no more?
GOOD fortune smiled on Sylvester Sim during his Singapore Idol days - and he smiled, winked and pointed back.
This year, he seemed to have run out of luck.
In March, the 22-year-old rocker and then girlfriend Maia Lee filed for a marriage certificate but cancelled their wedding plans after news leaked out.
Two months later, they split on a sour note - with Maia flaming him in the press.
Sly didn't exactly Take Flight with his debut Mandarin album, and big plans to crack the Taiwan and Hong Kong markets also fell through.
In October, his mum was sentenced to two years' jail for cheating.
But Sly didn't seem to mind suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune and even implored the public not to feel sorry for him because he has 'grown up more'.
He said: 'People may see me as suay (unlucky in Hokkien), but it's all fated. All these things that have happened are bad, yes, but it was also good in a way because I learnt from it.
'Anyway, you cannot (avoid) this kind of thing. If it comes, it comes; you just have to face it.
'If you run or hide, you'll never learn anything. But I got through it and I'm still standing.'
Still, it looks like Sly is sorely in need of a good-luck charm - lucky underwear perhaps?
He joked: 'You mean people actually do that? Tell me where and I'll go and find one!'
But could he have found one already? Last month, Sly won the New Local Act award at the Singapore Hit Awards - and, boy, did it come at a good time.
SYED AZMIR - Lucky loser?
ANUGERAH runner-up Syed Azmir Syed Azman (below right) could not stop laughing when we told him he was nominated for this category.
'Are you serious?' he asked before breaking into another guffaw.
The 21-year-old national serviceman was the hot favourite in Anugerah - Suria's version of Singapore Idol - last month.
However, Khairul Anuar pipped him in the end.
Azmir had led the viewers' votes during the show and even into the finals, but Khairul beat him by about 900 votes.
Said Azmir: 'I must be unlucky, lah. All the time, people were saying I was the hot favourite.
'It was so close. It's just part and parcel of competitions. Maybe this nomination is appropriate.'
During the finals, Azmir was criticised for being a Taufik Batisah copycat.
'First, I disagree. I did my best for the competition and I know for sure I worked hard,' he said.
'It's also unfair to make a comparison between me and Taufik. That's just my style and I am comfortable with that.'
FIONA XIE - Unlucky theft
FIONA Xie sounded surprised - but only for a moment.
'Why am I nominated for the award?' she asked. 'Oh... it's quite obvious, ah.'
Yes, it's because she got her wallet swiped while partying at the Liquid Room Bar in February.
The thief made off with two Citibank credit cards and $250 in cash, and racked up more than $8,000 on her cards before being apprehended.
'I guess that was kind of unfortunate,' said the MediaCorp actress, who is filming a travel show in Adelaide, Australia.
This is her second nomination in a row.
'I just think it's funny. I thought I'd win last year.
'I hope Sheikh Haikel won't beat me to it again,' she said.
Haikel won for losing his DJ job and then getting implicated in a high-profile drug bust.
He's not in the running this year.
Not that Fiona, 23, really wants to win it this time.
But she has gone home empty-handed at the Star Awards four times in a row - and counting.
She was nominated in our Flame Awards last year for consistently missing out on the Star Awards trophies.
She didn't even attend last weekend's ceremony as she was still filming overseas. In retrospect, that was probably a lucky thing.
