Anugerah Juara Lagu (AJL) 25: Review

The show: 

Malaysians all over the country were divided into three major groups last night: those watching Anugerah Juara Lagu 25 (AJL 25), those watching the match between Manchester United and Liverpool and those who might or might not be in front of the TV but oblivious to the fact that these two events actually took place last night. I belong to the first group, among many supporters of a certain singer-songwriter whom i've recently taken interest in and sorely disappointed that she didn't even make it to the top three. So if you happen to be one of those people from the last group, this is what you might have missed. 

The first few minutes of AJL is very crucial in setting up the mood of the whole show. This year in celebration of 25 years of the longest running chart show in the country, the producers have decided to showcase a performance by two former winners of the coveted Best Song title since the show started. Francesca Peters started the ball rolling with a heartfelt rendition of Sekadar di Pinggiran, the winner of the first ever AJL back in 1986. This is followed by a slightly over the top performance by elected head jury and three time winner of AJL (1994, 1997, 1999), M. Nasir with Tanya Sama Itu Hud Hud and Ghazal Untuk Rabiah. 

This year's competition is one of the toughest to date. Without the presence of a crowd favorite, all songs stand equal chance at making it to the top three. By stripping off the old genre system, the juries are given more freedom to choose the best three songs without being confined to choosing one song from each genre and deciding which genre deserves to win the coveted title of Best Song of the Year. In a way, most of the artist contending last night realized that just singing their songs is not enough to win the prizes offered for grab. For that reason, majority of the performances last night were over the top trying to overdo each other with disappearing acts (Hafiz for Noktah Cinta) , flying acrobats (Adira for Ada Kamu), David Blaine's escape act  (Faizal Tahir for Hanyut) and the old high school three-in -one, poetry reading/ singing/ theatrical act with a dramatic end (Shahir for Kebahagiaan Dalam Perpisahan) which comes out stale, boring and out of sync with the rest of the performances last night. 

Despite the stadium being jam-packed with fans, the mood of the whole show was somewhat muted. This is partly due to the absence of seasoned singers e.g. Siti Nurhaliza and Ziana Zain (who help push the rating sky high especially when they're competing against each other), lack of sing-along tunes (most of the songs featured last night never made it to the karaoke box) and the fact that majority of the songs last night were composed by young tortured souls baring their heart on the sleeves of their baju kurung, baju kebaya or whatever they're wearing. A bigger part of the problem lies in the three hosts who has been doing this for the past six years but still unable to bring any significant change despite the show being in its 25th year. Cheryl Samad, Faizal Ismail and Ally Iskandar has almost zero chemistry together. Ally is just too damn frigid, Cheryl seems bored, unable to entertain herself with Faizal Ismail's goofy antics and Faizal being the clown of the trio continuously delivers ridiculous one-liners which are more misses than hits. This is probably due to the fact that the performers last night took too much time getting ready backstage that they were forced to come up with impromptu, out of script lines just to occupy the long break in between performances.

To me, the highlight of the whole show was the performance by the three great divas, Sharifah Aini, Ziana Zain and Siti Nurhaliza. Kak Pah well-known for forgetting the lyrics to her own songs got some help from a cleverly disguised screen on stage (it doesn't help that her eyes were constantly fixed on the screen with the camera focusing on her face throughout her performance). Ziana Zain delivered the best performance of her classics, Anggapanmu and Madah Berhelah (with a new arrangement, accompanied by an orchestra) in a gorgeous dark blue evening gown. Siti Nurhaliza gave a spectacular finish with three songs that puts the word creative in Etnik Kreatif  i.e. Cindai, Badarsila and Balqis (Cindai and Balqis were crowned Best Song in the year 1998 and 2000 respectively) accompanied by a troupe of dancers wearing Arabian night inspired garbs. This performance got the fans screaming and shouting and literally jumping up from their seats.

The result:

To be continued......................