Malaysian pop
Encyclopedia
Malaysian pop or abbreviated as M-pop refers to popular music forms in Malaysia. The Malaysian pop is a musical genre
consisting of pop
, rock
, hip hop
, electronic
, and R&B
music.
troupes. These troupes are in fact a type of Malaysia opera influenced by Indian opera at first known as Wayang Pasir (Persia) which was started by rich Persians
residing in India. They portrayed stories from diverse groups such as Indian, Western, Islamic, Chinese, Indonesian and Malay. Music, dance, acting with costumes are used in performance depending on the stories told. The musicians were mostly local Malays, Filipinos and Guanis (descendants from Gua in India).
One of the earliest modern Malay pop songs was "Tudung Periok", sung by Momo Latif, who recorded it in 1930. In the 1950s, P.Ramlee became the most popular Malay singer and composer with a range of slow ballad
s such as "Azizah", "Dendang Perantau" and the evergreen "Di Mana Kan Ku Cari Ganti".
music came to the forefront. The localised name 'Pop Yeh-yeh' genre was popular in Malaysia, Singapore
, and Brunei
in the 1960s. Pop Yeh-yeh ruled the Malay music scene from 1965 to 1971. The music and fashion of The Beatles
and other British
rock and roll
bands during the 1960s were a strong influence of the pop yeh-yeh bands and also generally influenced the Malay music industry of that period. In fact, the term "pop yeh-yeh" was taken from a line from the popular Beatles song, "She Loves You" ("she loves you, yeah-yeah-yeah".)This may not be a fact as the term "pop yeh yeh" was never used in the 1960s but much later when such music was revived in the 1980s by M. Shariff & The Zurah. It might be that music journalists of the 1980s coined the term.
The first local song in the Pop Yeh-yeh vein was a song called "Suzanna", sung by M Osman in 1964. During the height of the pop yeh-yeh craze, a lot of the bands that were formed tried their best to mimic The Beatles in their look, songwriting and performance style. But still the musical style was taken from The Shadows and The Ventures. Usually the bands (also referred to as "kumpulan gitar rancak" - "rhythmic guitar bands" – or its acronym "kugiran") consists of four members who sings on top of handling the basic four musical instruments (two electric guitars, electric bass and drums). Most of the bands were formed in Singapore but also in Malaysia. The southern state of Johore and Singapore were the hub of activity for these bands. Most of the recordings were done in Singapore such as at the old EMI Studio at MacDonald's House in Orchard Road and many small studios owned privately.
The word "Kugiran" was first aired on Radio Singapore in the weekly Top Chart "Lagu Pujaan Minggu Ini" programme on Radio Singapore and hosted by the 1st Malay DJ M.I.A. (Mohd Ismail Abdullah). It was understood the acronym "Ku-Gi-Ran" was the idea of a subtitling officer, Daud Abdul Rahman. It is also said that it was P. Ramli who coined the term to differentiate it from the combo styled Malay bands of earlier times. "Kugiran" comprises 5 piece band members and a vocalist, one lead-guitarist, one bassist, one rhythm-guitarist, one organist (keyboardist) and a drummer.
The formation and development of these kugirans encouraged the establishment and existence of various recording companies in Singapore in the 1960s and a lot of these songs were recorded on vinyl and sold well commercially. Some of the singers who made their name during that period include M Osman, A Ramlie, Jeffrydin, Roziah Latiff & The Jayhawkers, Adnan Othman, Halim "Jandaku" Yatim, Afidah Es, J Kamisah, Siti Zaiton, J. Sham, A Rahman Onn, Hasnah Haron, J Kamisah, Fatimah M Amin, Asmah Atan, Orkid Abdullah, A. Remie, Zamzam, Salim I, Kassim Selamat, M Rahmat, A Karim Jais, M Ishak, Hussien Ismail, Jaafor O, A Halim, Azizah Mohamed, S Jibeng and L Ramlee. Other popular rock and pop bands of the period include The Rhythm Boys, The Siglap Five, The Hooks which featured A Romzi as their lead vocalist (they scored a hit with the song "Dendang Remaja"), Siglap Boys, Les Kafilas, Cliffters featuring Rikieno Bajuri, Impian Bateks featuring Rudyn Al-Haj with his popular number "Naik Kereta Ku" and a cappella like "Oh Posmen", "Gadis Sekolah" etc., The Swallows featuring "La Aube", "Angkut-angkut Bilis" etc. whose vocalist was Kassim Selamat and the EP was featured in a radio station in Germany. There, "La Aube" was in the German pop chart. Almost all the above mentioned artistes were Singaporeans. The most popular ones from the Malaysian side of the divide must include L. Ramli, Roziah Latiff & The Jayhawkers, J.Sham, Orkes Nirvana, The Sangam Boys and Les Flingers. The music and lyrics were usually composed by the bands themselves. The band leaders were also the producers of the albums of the period.
The golden age of pop yeh-yeh started to dwindle in 1971. Since the fall of the popularity of pop yeh-yeh, the center of the Malaysia music industry shifted up north from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. A lot of composers, songwriters, lyricists, singers, and producers started to gain foothold not only in Kuala Lumpur
but also in other cities including Johor Bahru
and Ipoh
to grab the opportunity of the emerging and rapidly changing Malaysian music industry.
, Discovery, Carefree and Cenderawasih
took the lead to modernize Malaysian Pop music; solo singers like Sudirman Arshad
, Sharifah Aini further push the music to its peak.
Between 1979 to early 1980 - emergence of blues outfit/band called THE BLUES GANG in Malaysia specialising in blues and the emergence of a hard rock/heavy metal outfit/band called SWEET CHARITY from Singapore - these two groups changed the Malaysian music scene.
Before the mid 1980s another genre of music appeared. This time it was slow rock, heavy metal, hard rock and the blues. Popular bands from the west like Scorpions
, Led Zeppelin
, Deep Purple
, Def Leppard
were some of the major influences for these Malaysian bands.
M. Nasir
previously a Singaporean played a leading role in shaping rock music in Malaysia as a song writer and producer for a period of almost ten years. He produced local rock bands like Search
and Wings and took them to their highest level of Malaysian rock music. Piracy in the form of duplicating cassettes and CDs became rampant and uncontrollable around this period as sales of these items soar which was supported by the country’s wave of economic success.
Between the mid 80s and early 90s, R&B
and Pop music
became the focus of the urban youngsters. This music was cosmopolitan and catered to a professional and educated crowd. In 1985, Sheila Majid
a singer groomed by engineer/producer Roslan Aziz made a debut album called "Dimensi Baru" which was financed and produced by Roslan Aziz
himself. With a lovely mellow voice together with a bunch of creative musicians like Mac Chew and Jenny Chin both influenced by R&B, fusion and jazz achieved their dreams and set a new direction for many Malaysian R&B artistes to come. This was evidently clear when her second album EMOSI was released in Indonesia and earned the BEST R&B ALBUM in the prestigious BASF awards in 1986. This historical release has changed the facet of the music industry. In the mid 1990s, a rap group 4U2C with 7 young boys was introduced by ZMAN Production and a producer Man Senoi & Mam Rap and they had made a big hit in the market and received few gold and platinum and also KRU
, a vocal group composed of three brothers among others developed Malay rap and hip-hop.
In 1996 a school girl by the name of Siti Nurhaliza
from a rural town Kuala Lipis in the state of Pahang
released an album produced by a talented pop music producer named Adnan Abu Hassan. This album of Malay Pop genre was a huge success. She included different genres such as Malay pop, R&B and Malay Traditional music in her later albums with much success. This singer is now very popular in the country.
was released. This was received very positively by the public and the international music scene especially in Asia
. Around this time nasyid pop music which was a form of Islamic religious which utilized a vocal group and accompaniment of only percussions music entered the market. Developed by vocal groups like Raihan
, Rabbani
and Brothers
, this music got a lot of support from the countryside and religious fans.
easily available, downloading was the easiest and cheapest way to obtain recordings through mp3 files. Hardware CDs were also available in shops, illegal CD stalls and night markets. Priced at a quarter (1/4) of the original product price, CDs from major distributors and recording companies were no competition for these pirates. Many of the Malaysians prefer illegal music copies than original music copies. The market further deteriorated with the arrival of hardware such as mp3
players and mobile phones with similar features.
Many factors has caused the Malaysian music industry declined:
As a result, Malaysia, along with its neighboring country, Singapore, is two of the countries in South East Asia where illegal music copies outsells legal music copies. Sales of domestic and international repertoire are in the same levels in both countries, comparing to other South East Asian nations.
The piracy of music CDs has caused all original albums sold in Malaysia, whether local or foreign to be attached with an original hologram sticker since 2000 before it can be sold. At the time of introduction, it only covers audio CDs, cassettes and music VCDs. In 2003, the sticker was updated with hologram feature and now also covers non-music video releases and video games. Also, in 2004, the certification levels were down from 15,000 copies and 25,000 copies to 10,000 copies and 20,000 copies for an album to be certified as Gold and Platinum, respectively.
The encouragement from the Malaysian government towards privatization
of broadcasting stations received support from the public. An array of new radio and TV stations were built.
During the early 2000s, introduction to a new form of entertainment called “Reality Shows” revived public interest in music entertainment. Shows such as Akademi Fantasia
and Malaysian Idol
allowed the public to choose their own stars by sending SMS
through hand phones or computers at the convenience of the audiences. This excited the public because they were involved in the making of a celebrity and could choose who they wanted instead of having record companies create & distribute artistes.
Research implied that comparing from the past decades many other forms of entertainment such as DVDs, cable TVs, increased radio programmes and change of life styles has affected the musical interest of the public towards local musicians. However, this is still not representative of the active live music circuit with performers who compose and perform their own materials. Increased commercialisation and product placement
s using musicians casts a giant shadow over the local independent music scene and gives a skewed perception of what the local music "industry" represents instead of the voice of local musicians who still actively perform at pubs, gig venues and cafes.
From reality shows, stars such as Vincent Chong
, Jaclyn Victor
, Danell Lee Chee Hun and Mawi
are able to sell larger numbers of CDs compared to other musicians.
Music genre
A music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other types of music...
consisting of pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
, rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
, hip hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
, electronic
Electronic dance music
Electronic dance music is electronic music produced primarily for the purposes of use within a nightclub setting, or in an environment that is centered upon dance-based entertainment...
, and R&B
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
music.
Background
Malaysia's pop music scene developed from traditional asli (pure) music popularized in the 1920s and 1930s by BangsawanBangsawan
Bangsawan is a type of traditional Malay opera. It was known to have developed from a sort of Indian theatre performance during the 19th century by visiting Indian travellers....
troupes. These troupes are in fact a type of Malaysia opera influenced by Indian opera at first known as Wayang Pasir (Persia) which was started by rich Persians
Persian people
The Persian people are part of the Iranian peoples who speak the modern Persian language and closely akin Iranian dialects and languages. The origin of the ethnic Iranian/Persian peoples are traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians and themselves part of...
residing in India. They portrayed stories from diverse groups such as Indian, Western, Islamic, Chinese, Indonesian and Malay. Music, dance, acting with costumes are used in performance depending on the stories told. The musicians were mostly local Malays, Filipinos and Guanis (descendants from Gua in India).
One of the earliest modern Malay pop songs was "Tudung Periok", sung by Momo Latif, who recorded it in 1930. In the 1950s, P.Ramlee became the most popular Malay singer and composer with a range of slow ballad
Ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...
s such as "Azizah", "Dendang Perantau" and the evergreen "Di Mana Kan Ku Cari Ganti".
1960s: Pop Yeh-yeh
In the 1960s, western-influenced Yé-yéYé-yé
Yé-yé was a style of pop music that emerged from France, Québec and Spain in the early 1960s. The term "yé-yé" derived from "yeah! yeah!" The style expanded worldwide, due to the success of figures such as the French singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg....
music came to the forefront. The localised name 'Pop Yeh-yeh' genre was popular in Malaysia, Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, and Brunei
Brunei
Brunei , officially the State of Brunei Darussalam or the Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace , is a sovereign state located on the north coast of the island of Borneo, in Southeast Asia...
in the 1960s. Pop Yeh-yeh ruled the Malay music scene from 1965 to 1971. The music and fashion of The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
and other British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
bands during the 1960s were a strong influence of the pop yeh-yeh bands and also generally influenced the Malay music industry of that period. In fact, the term "pop yeh-yeh" was taken from a line from the popular Beatles song, "She Loves You" ("she loves you, yeah-yeah-yeah".)This may not be a fact as the term "pop yeh yeh" was never used in the 1960s but much later when such music was revived in the 1980s by M. Shariff & The Zurah. It might be that music journalists of the 1980s coined the term.
The first local song in the Pop Yeh-yeh vein was a song called "Suzanna", sung by M Osman in 1964. During the height of the pop yeh-yeh craze, a lot of the bands that were formed tried their best to mimic The Beatles in their look, songwriting and performance style. But still the musical style was taken from The Shadows and The Ventures. Usually the bands (also referred to as "kumpulan gitar rancak" - "rhythmic guitar bands" – or its acronym "kugiran") consists of four members who sings on top of handling the basic four musical instruments (two electric guitars, electric bass and drums). Most of the bands were formed in Singapore but also in Malaysia. The southern state of Johore and Singapore were the hub of activity for these bands. Most of the recordings were done in Singapore such as at the old EMI Studio at MacDonald's House in Orchard Road and many small studios owned privately.
The word "Kugiran" was first aired on Radio Singapore in the weekly Top Chart "Lagu Pujaan Minggu Ini" programme on Radio Singapore and hosted by the 1st Malay DJ M.I.A. (Mohd Ismail Abdullah). It was understood the acronym "Ku-Gi-Ran" was the idea of a subtitling officer, Daud Abdul Rahman. It is also said that it was P. Ramli who coined the term to differentiate it from the combo styled Malay bands of earlier times. "Kugiran" comprises 5 piece band members and a vocalist, one lead-guitarist, one bassist, one rhythm-guitarist, one organist (keyboardist) and a drummer.
The formation and development of these kugirans encouraged the establishment and existence of various recording companies in Singapore in the 1960s and a lot of these songs were recorded on vinyl and sold well commercially. Some of the singers who made their name during that period include M Osman, A Ramlie, Jeffrydin, Roziah Latiff & The Jayhawkers, Adnan Othman, Halim "Jandaku" Yatim, Afidah Es, J Kamisah, Siti Zaiton, J. Sham, A Rahman Onn, Hasnah Haron, J Kamisah, Fatimah M Amin, Asmah Atan, Orkid Abdullah, A. Remie, Zamzam, Salim I, Kassim Selamat, M Rahmat, A Karim Jais, M Ishak, Hussien Ismail, Jaafor O, A Halim, Azizah Mohamed, S Jibeng and L Ramlee. Other popular rock and pop bands of the period include The Rhythm Boys, The Siglap Five, The Hooks which featured A Romzi as their lead vocalist (they scored a hit with the song "Dendang Remaja"), Siglap Boys, Les Kafilas, Cliffters featuring Rikieno Bajuri, Impian Bateks featuring Rudyn Al-Haj with his popular number "Naik Kereta Ku" and a cappella like "Oh Posmen", "Gadis Sekolah" etc., The Swallows featuring "La Aube", "Angkut-angkut Bilis" etc. whose vocalist was Kassim Selamat and the EP was featured in a radio station in Germany. There, "La Aube" was in the German pop chart. Almost all the above mentioned artistes were Singaporeans. The most popular ones from the Malaysian side of the divide must include L. Ramli, Roziah Latiff & The Jayhawkers, J.Sham, Orkes Nirvana, The Sangam Boys and Les Flingers. The music and lyrics were usually composed by the bands themselves. The band leaders were also the producers of the albums of the period.
The golden age of pop yeh-yeh started to dwindle in 1971. Since the fall of the popularity of pop yeh-yeh, the center of the Malaysia music industry shifted up north from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. A lot of composers, songwriters, lyricists, singers, and producers started to gain foothold not only in Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million...
but also in other cities including Johor Bahru
Johor Bahru
Johor Bahru is the capital city of Johor in southern Malaysia. Johor Bahru is the southernmost city of the Eurasian mainland...
and Ipoh
Ipoh
Ipoh is the capital city of Perak state, Malaysia. It is approximately 200 km north of Kuala Lumpur on the North-South Expressway....
to grab the opportunity of the emerging and rapidly changing Malaysian music industry.
1980s to 1990s
DJ Dave, Hail Amir and Uji Rashid introduced Hindustani-influenced music in the 1970s. Between the late 1970s and mid 1980s, the market for local recordings and artiste was in big demand, bands and musicians performing in clubs and pubs were contracted to record. Although The Jayhawkers led by Joe Chelliah was the first wholly non-Malay pop band to record Malay pop songs as a pre-cursor, it was in the mid-1970's that later non-Malay artistes, bands and businessmen ventured into the Malay music industry. Bands like AlleycatsAlleycats
The Alleycats is a Malaysian band which was formed in 1969, and gained popularity in the late 1970s. They consist of musicians from Penang, and gained popularity in their home state earlier on in their career.-Band members:Members include:...
, Discovery, Carefree and Cenderawasih
Cenderawasih
Cenderawasih may mean:* Cenderawasih , name in Indonesia for birds of paradise in the genus Paradisaea* Cenderawasih Bay, a large bay in northern Province of Papua, Indonesia...
took the lead to modernize Malaysian Pop music; solo singers like Sudirman Arshad
Sudirman Arshad
Dato' Sudirman Haji Arshad DIMP, JMN, AMN, AMP was a Malaysian singer and songwriter. He was known as the 'Singing Lawyer', the 'People's Singer' and the 'Elvis of Malaysia'.-Early life:...
, Sharifah Aini further push the music to its peak.
Between 1979 to early 1980 - emergence of blues outfit/band called THE BLUES GANG in Malaysia specialising in blues and the emergence of a hard rock/heavy metal outfit/band called SWEET CHARITY from Singapore - these two groups changed the Malaysian music scene.
Before the mid 1980s another genre of music appeared. This time it was slow rock, heavy metal, hard rock and the blues. Popular bands from the west like Scorpions
Scorpions (band)
Scorpions are a heavy metal/hard rock band from Hannover, Germany, formed in 1965 by guitarist Rudolf Schenker, who is the band's only constant member. They are known for their 1980s rock anthem "Rock You Like a Hurricane" and many singles, such as "No One Like You", "Send Me an Angel", "Still...
, Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
, Deep Purple
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members believe that their music cannot be categorised as belonging to any one genre...
, Def Leppard
Def Leppard
Def Leppard are an English rock band formed in 1977 in Sheffield as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement. Since 1992, the band have consisted of Joe Elliott , Rick Savage , Rick Allen , Phil Collen , and Vivian Campbell...
were some of the major influences for these Malaysian bands.
M. Nasir
M. Nasir
Mohamad Nasir Mohamad or M. Nasir , is a Malaysian poet, singer-songwriter, composer, producer, actor and film director.-Career:...
previously a Singaporean played a leading role in shaping rock music in Malaysia as a song writer and producer for a period of almost ten years. He produced local rock bands like Search
Search (band)
Search is a rock band in Malaysia.It was founded in 1981 by Yazit , Hillary Ang , Nasir , and Zainal . The group went through many line-up changes in its career, but the songs and music remained strong and unique among Malaysian and Singaporean fans...
and Wings and took them to their highest level of Malaysian rock music. Piracy in the form of duplicating cassettes and CDs became rampant and uncontrollable around this period as sales of these items soar which was supported by the country’s wave of economic success.
Between the mid 80s and early 90s, R&B
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
and Pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
became the focus of the urban youngsters. This music was cosmopolitan and catered to a professional and educated crowd. In 1985, Sheila Majid
Sheila Majid
Shaheila binti Abdul Majid or commonly known as Sheila Majid is a popular singer from Malaysia. She is of Mandailing-Javanese descent. - Biography :...
a singer groomed by engineer/producer Roslan Aziz made a debut album called "Dimensi Baru" which was financed and produced by Roslan Aziz
Roslan Aziz
Roslan Aziz is a Malaysian music producer/engineer and the man behind Malaysian acts such as Sheila Majid and Zainal Abidin, Amir Yusoff, Prema, Zubir Ali,Raja Atilia and 'aLi . Co-founder of the Roslan Aziz Productions label , the first local recording label to generate interest from abroad, R.A.P...
himself. With a lovely mellow voice together with a bunch of creative musicians like Mac Chew and Jenny Chin both influenced by R&B, fusion and jazz achieved their dreams and set a new direction for many Malaysian R&B artistes to come. This was evidently clear when her second album EMOSI was released in Indonesia and earned the BEST R&B ALBUM in the prestigious BASF awards in 1986. This historical release has changed the facet of the music industry. In the mid 1990s, a rap group 4U2C with 7 young boys was introduced by ZMAN Production and a producer Man Senoi & Mam Rap and they had made a big hit in the market and received few gold and platinum and also KRU
KRU
KRU is a Malaysian pop group that was formed in 1992. The group comprises three brothers: Norman Abdul Halim, Yusry Abdul Halim and Edry Abdul Halim...
, a vocal group composed of three brothers among others developed Malay rap and hip-hop.
Siti Nurhaliza
Dato', or occasionally Datin Seri, Siti Nurhaliza binti Tarudin DIMP, JSM, SAP, PMP, AAP is a Malaysian singer, songwriter, record producer, television presenter and businesswoman. To date, she has garnered more than 200 local awards as well as international awards...
from a rural town Kuala Lipis in the state of Pahang
Pahang
Pahang is the third largest state in Malaysia, after Sarawak and Sabah, occupying the huge Pahang River river basin. It is bordered to the north by Kelantan, to the west by Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, to the south by Johor and to the east by Terengganu and the South China Sea.Its state...
released an album produced by a talented pop music producer named Adnan Abu Hassan. This album of Malay Pop genre was a huge success. She included different genres such as Malay pop, R&B and Malay Traditional music in her later albums with much success. This singer is now very popular in the country.
Islam-influenced pop
In 1991, an environmental album recorded by Zainal Abidin, songs written by Mukhlis Nor and produced by Roslan AzizRoslan Aziz
Roslan Aziz is a Malaysian music producer/engineer and the man behind Malaysian acts such as Sheila Majid and Zainal Abidin, Amir Yusoff, Prema, Zubir Ali,Raja Atilia and 'aLi . Co-founder of the Roslan Aziz Productions label , the first local recording label to generate interest from abroad, R.A.P...
was released. This was received very positively by the public and the international music scene especially in Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
. Around this time nasyid pop music which was a form of Islamic religious which utilized a vocal group and accompaniment of only percussions music entered the market. Developed by vocal groups like Raihan
Raihan
Raihan is a Malaysian nasheed group originally composing of five members that took Malaysia by storm with the release of their debut album Puji-Pujian in October 1996. The group's original lineup comprised Nazrey Johani, Che Amran Idris, Abu Bakar Md Yatim, Amran Ibrahim, and Azhari Ahmad as the...
, Rabbani
Rabbani
Rabbani is a Malaysian nasyid group. Rabbani's members currently consist of Ahmad Shafie, Zulkiflee Azman, Mohd Loqman Abd. Aziz, Rithauddeen Yaakob, and Azadan Abd Aziz....
and Brothers
Brothers
Brothers are male siblings.Brothers may also refer to:- Film :* Brothers , an American silent film directed by D. W. Griffith* Brothers , an American film starring Vonetta McGee and Bernie Casey...
, this music got a lot of support from the countryside and religious fans.
The 2000s
By the late 1990s with the internetInternet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
easily available, downloading was the easiest and cheapest way to obtain recordings through mp3 files. Hardware CDs were also available in shops, illegal CD stalls and night markets. Priced at a quarter (1/4) of the original product price, CDs from major distributors and recording companies were no competition for these pirates. Many of the Malaysians prefer illegal music copies than original music copies. The market further deteriorated with the arrival of hardware such as mp3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
players and mobile phones with similar features.
Many factors has caused the Malaysian music industry declined:
- Excessive piracy (piracy is not a new phenomenon in Malaysian music market, it has been a phenomenon since 1970s, with pirated vinyls and audio cassettes sell at the half of the price of the original product)
- The revenue for Malaysian music industry decreased from over RM300 million in 1997 to only RM60 million in 2009
- Many local record labels out of business
- Illegal downloads
- The price of original cassettes and CDs decreased
- The number of local artists active in the music industry dropped from over 200 in 1997 to less than 100 in 2009
- Local record labels has forced local artists to produce album themselves
- Many local albums released after 2006 have less songs (mostly 5 - 9 songs)
As a result, Malaysia, along with its neighboring country, Singapore, is two of the countries in South East Asia where illegal music copies outsells legal music copies. Sales of domestic and international repertoire are in the same levels in both countries, comparing to other South East Asian nations.
The piracy of music CDs has caused all original albums sold in Malaysia, whether local or foreign to be attached with an original hologram sticker since 2000 before it can be sold. At the time of introduction, it only covers audio CDs, cassettes and music VCDs. In 2003, the sticker was updated with hologram feature and now also covers non-music video releases and video games. Also, in 2004, the certification levels were down from 15,000 copies and 25,000 copies to 10,000 copies and 20,000 copies for an album to be certified as Gold and Platinum, respectively.
The encouragement from the Malaysian government towards privatization
Privatization
Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...
of broadcasting stations received support from the public. An array of new radio and TV stations were built.
Akademi Fantasia
Akademi Fantasia is Malaysia's first reality television show in which a number of contestants called students compete for the winning title and a chance to start their career in the entertainment industry. The first season premiered in June 3, 2003 and was one of Astro Ria's highest rated shows...
and Malaysian Idol
Malaysian Idol
Malaysian Idol is the Malaysian version of the Idol Series that started in UK, similar to shows such as UK's Pop Idol and American Idol in the franchise. This show is a contest to determine the best young singer in Malaysia, with the winner receiving a major record deal, although some runners-up...
allowed the public to choose their own stars by sending SMS
SMS
SMS is a form of text messaging communication on phones and mobile phones. The terms SMS or sms may also refer to:- Computer hardware :...
through hand phones or computers at the convenience of the audiences. This excited the public because they were involved in the making of a celebrity and could choose who they wanted instead of having record companies create & distribute artistes.
Research implied that comparing from the past decades many other forms of entertainment such as DVDs, cable TVs, increased radio programmes and change of life styles has affected the musical interest of the public towards local musicians. However, this is still not representative of the active live music circuit with performers who compose and perform their own materials. Increased commercialisation and product placement
Product placement
Product placement, or embedded marketing, is a form of advertisement, where branded goods or services are placed in a context usually devoid of ads, such as movies, music videos, the story line of television shows, or news programs. The product placement is often not disclosed at the time that the...
s using musicians casts a giant shadow over the local independent music scene and gives a skewed perception of what the local music "industry" represents instead of the voice of local musicians who still actively perform at pubs, gig venues and cafes.
From reality shows, stars such as Vincent Chong
Vince Chong
Vincent Chong Ying-Cern , internationally known by his stage name Vince , is the first reality TV star to issue from Malaysian Akademi Fantasia. Chong is popular as a R&B-inclined singer-songwriter...
, Jaclyn Victor
Jaclyn Victor
Jaclyn Joshua Thanaraj Victor is a singer and actress, popularly known as Jac, who won the inaugural Malaysian Idol and Ikon Malaysia. For being the winner of Malaysian Idol, she won a recording contract under Sony BMG Entertainment. She is under the management of The 8 Unit. She represented...
, Danell Lee Chee Hun and Mawi
Mawi
Asmawi Atan, better known as Mawi, is a Malaysian singer and winner of the Third Season of Malaysia's popular reality show, Akademi Fantasia...
are able to sell larger numbers of CDs compared to other musicians.