sultanmuzaffar

A truly ‘Keliru’ night from NST Jan 14,2003

THE title says it all. Keliru which means "confused" was not only the winning song at TV3's 17th Anugerah Juara Lagu; it also aptly described the scene at the annual song competition when the results were announced. Murmurs of dissatisfaction were heard at the Dewan Merdeka, Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday night when hosts Intan Suraya and Ary Malik read out the winner.

Keliru? The best song? Well, it seems this was also "news" to the judges. The jury included Datuk Johari Salleh (head of the jury), Sharifah Aini, M. Nasir, Freddie Fernandez, Habsah Hassan, Khairil Johari Johar, Ahmad Izham Omar, Aishah and Khadijah Hashim.

The song, written by Aidit Alfian, was apparently not the panel's choice, giving rise to suggestions there could have been "invisible hands" at work.

Johari says: "The winning song was a surprise. I personally did not choose that song. And I believe I was not alone. The other judges were equally shocked.

"My personal picks were Menadah Gerimis (written by Azmeer, performed by Ziana Zain) and Bicara Manis Menghiris Kalbu (Aiman, Lukhman S, Siti Nurhaliza)," he adds.

Fernandez was equally puzzled. Determined to clear his conscience, he says he immediately asked other jury members after the show — and was surprised that none of them had picked Keliru! "All of us are shocked. This was not our choice," he said, adding that "we do not want to retract Aidit's credibility as a composer but we strongly feel that a post-mortem is required. We are now waiting for Johari to get in touch with TV3 to find out whether the results were tabulated accurately." According to Fernandez, a pre-judging process for lyrics and composition was done a week before the show. "We submitted the results on Jan 10 and naturally, none of us got to see which song the others had chosen. But when Keliru was announced the best song, we were stunned. We got together to discuss it and unanimously agreed that the result is not ours." Sharifah Aini adds: "I certainly did not choose that song. Our task for the night was only to choose winners for the Best Vocal and Best Performance categories. We are in a sticky spot right now because our integrity is being questioned and our credibility is at stake." For the veteran songstress, Nirmala (composed by Pak Ngah and Ce' Kem, performed by Siti), Syair Si Pari Pari (by Aidit Alfian and Ad Samad, performed by Zamani) and Julia (by G. Nola and Loloq, performed by Exists) were her personal picks, while another panellist said the lyrics in Cinta (by Fatullah and Baby, performed by Flop Poppy) and Julia were much "stronger" than the winning song.

According to TV3, "the result was strictly derived from the collective input of all the judges. Although this may not have been reflected in the judges' individual scoring sheets, the points collated showed that Keliru emerged in the top-ranking position. TV3 merely facilitates the judging process by ensuring that all inputs by the judges are accurately tabulated to derive the final ranking. There has never been any interference on TV3's part to override or otherwise change the results." At Press time it is understood that the judges have been called for a meeting at Sri Pentas.

Meanwhile, the overall event was a smooth-sailing affair. Production-wise, TV3 put up a straight-forward, no-nonsense show that was its best so far — yes, even better than the much-celebrated retrospective event it held a few years earlier.

From the beginning, the audience was spellbound. The a capella performance by vocal groups V.E, Ruffedge and Swara to introduce the finalists was deftly planned and executed. The harmonising was tight, suggesting the night held promise.

Of course, when there are hits, you get misses too.

The closing segment, entitled Inspirasi, was out of place and stuck out like a sore thumb. Combining music, movements and voice, this theatrical act a la Cirque du Soleil — yes, complete with abseiling acts, failed to make an impact to trace man's historical journey into music. Featuring tribal, traditional and modern tunes, it only came across as a mish-mash of stunts and dance styles.

For the first time ever, the hosts for the show were not full of themselves. Ary Malik and Intan Suraya came across as witty and charming with their lines. Intan's bold remark about Siti's standing in the industry ("if she wins people will say, "oh, no, not her again" and if she loses they go "oh, her popularity is waning") was timely.

Performances by the artistes also saw a variety of themes with entertaining results. There were Nurul and Ajai as cabaret performers, Amy Mastura with her Vegas "girls" gone wrong, Noraniza Idris (yes, with her usual troupe of dancers) giving a cross of Dikir Barat and Menora and Zamani's Victorian look, to name a few.

Siti's unique blend of Bollywood and Endang dance was spellbinding, rivalled only, perhaps, by Syzliana's rendition of Joget Langkah Delapan, accompanied by cute child dancers from Swatari. Nonetheless, Siti bagged the Best Performance Award much to the delight of the audience.

At a Press conference held later, Siti said the award meant a lot to her as it had been her birthday a day before.

Ziana Zain, who came out tops in the Balada category with Menadah Gerimis, was in tears when she accepted her award. She said: "After all these years, it is very heartening to know that I am still accepted. People have lot of expectations of me and the song and it was not an easy task." For Liza, who bagged the Best Vocal Performance — introduced for the first time — the award was a recognition after years of hard work. "I wouldn't have won if not for the beautiful composition by Aiman and Alam Maya." Speaking on behalf of the winning song, Ajai said he has always had faith in Aidit's compositions. "I don't normally sing other people's songs, but I trust Aidit's effort because his songs have a distinctive melody."