Jumaat lepas I went to Pusakag in Penampang to watch KENTE 2, it's a singing/entertaining competition organized by Kadusmusic Entertainment (KE). KENTE stands for KE Next Top Entertainer, so my guess is they are looking for an entertainer who can sing, or vice versa. I fully support their effort to promote our local music and culture.
Now what I'm more interested to talk about is actually about the contestants. Owh btw there is also another singing competition di Hunter @ Kinabalu Daya Hotel. We just love singing don't we?
This KENTE competition ada beberapa pusingan saringan, if not mistaken I think there are about 5 to 6 heats before the finale 16 April 2010. There one I went was heat 2. Ada 10 orang peserta and 2 will be chosen untuk terus ke final, 2 lagi akan dipilih oleh juri dan penonton untuk 1 more time bertanding dalam pusingan wild card. So 2 orang yang berjaya for that night was Bryan and Rudy. These 2 guys was in my fav list after watching their performances, the other contestants pun bagus2 juga, but ya ada juga yang kurang bagus. There was this 1 girl who didn't finish her 2nd song, ada glitches during her singing, nda sampai note terus dia berlari turun stage. That was sad but yalah, I tried to understand her situation juga. Maybe jarang or nda pernah menyanyi depan orang ramai, kurang or terlebih latihan, pressure jadi 1st performer, but I wish you all the best for next time girl.
Format KENTE is for the heats, the contestants will need to sing 2 songs. 1 song in kadazandusun language and the other could be in english or malay. This format juga digunapakai untuk final nanti. So macam ni la, after watching the whole show saya terperasan yang kebanyakan if not all the contestants lebih kasi tunjuk their taring time nyanyi lagu in malay or english. Orang bilang time dorang nyanyi those songs kira macam tu-lagu-makanan-dorang-la something like that. But still, ada juga contestants yang dua2 lagu pun bukan makanan dorang, sila pilih lagu lain la maksudnya hehe ^_^
So persoalannya is why is it like that? Saya ndala buat kajian terperinci but saya akan ambil contoh si Bryan and Rudy. Now saya macam lupa2 sudah apa lagu kadazandusun yang dorang nyanyi that day but I remembered Bryan nyanyi lagu Anuar Zain and Rudy sang an Air Supply number. They sang the kadus songs well but they really showed their skills time nyanyi their 2nd songs. So antara kesimpulan spontan saya pada malam itu adalah:
- Dorang sudah terlampau biasa nyanyi the chosen non-kadus songs
- Their chosen non-kadus songs punya genre memang dorang minat
- Melodi lagu kadus yang dorang pilih tidak menunjukkan skil dorang atau dorang sendiri yang tidak terkasi tunjuk skil
- Genre lagu kadus yang dorang pilih bukan genre yang dorang betul2 minat atau dalami
So yang di atas tu hanyalah sikit2 saja andaian saya pada masa itu. Tidak semestinya betul juga, but maybe juga ada betul dia kan ^_^
Well if I am to write about this I got lots to write about. But untuk dia jadi nda terlampau panjang, I think we the sabahan songwriters should start exploring and be more openminded when composing a kadus song. I heard people keep saying yang our people suka irama yang aramaiti punya saja, but at the same time I got aunties yang dengar all these urban music. Even youths yang kita ingat dengar lagu2 melayu mendayu pun rupanya hafal lagu Alicia Keys. I am not suggesting la actually di sini, I'm just giving opinions manatau ada orang baca and terbuka fikiran ka kan? Also to the artistes and performers, this is something to think about for both you and me - how do we make ourself interesting in our song and on stage, how do we make people interested to listen and watch us on stage (or mana2 lah).
After writing all the above, this is why KE's effort and role is important. To organize such event, it requires a lot of passion and motivation. This is why we need to write more kadus songs yang berkualiti. We have a small industry here in Sabah, but at least we have one.
If you want to read more, wait for my upcoming book ^_^