Category: Singapuraku

6 Penyanyi Muda Singapura Yang Perlu Diberi Perhatian Tahun 2017 Ini

BERITAMediacorp: Siapakah bakat-bakat baru muzik Melayu Singapura yang dirasakan akan merancakkan lagi persada seni tempatan tahun ini?

Yang pasti, industri muzik Singapura sedang diperkayakan dengan bakat-bakat muda yang mempunyai kekuatan masing-masing dengan pelbagai genre muzik mereka mempertaruhkan.

Lagu-lagu nyanyian mereka juga semakin mengisi segmen-segmen permintaan lagu di stesen Radio RIA 89.7 FM dan juga carta Lagu Paling Popular Minggu Ini( LPMI).

Selain menyanyi, bakat-bakat tempatan juga mampu menghasilkan lagu-lagu ciptaan mereka sendiri secara persendirian ataupun mereka bekerjasama dengan komposer tempatan untuk menghasilkan lagu-lagu yang berjaya menguasai ruang udara kedua-dua stesen radio Melayu tempatan.

Dalam laporan ini, BERITAMediacorp menonjolkan enam bakat muda dan baru – Isnina, Farhan Shah, Haikal Ali, Mai Dhaniyah, Faridzuan Faris serta Amy Hakimi – dan mendapatkan apakah harapan dan aspirasi mereka untuk tahun 2017 ini.

(Gambar: Isnina)

ISNINA

Isnina antara bakat baru Singapura yang lagunya “ Buaya” menjadi antara pilihan pendengar di radio RIA 89.7FM untuk segmen-segmen permintaan seperti JukeBox897, #Goje dan I-Overdose. Bakat nyanyian beliau digilap sejak umur sembilan tahun apabila turut serta bersama keluarga berkaraoke.

Single pertama Isnina “Buaya” dicipta olehnya sendiri dan pertama kali mendapat melodi menerusi alat Ukulele sebelum dicantikkan” oleh penerbit bernama Fakir J Mario dan Kuzai dari Greendoor Studios.

Kejayaan lagu Buaya membuatnya “lebih bersemangat untuk menulis” lagu baru bagi tahun 2017 nanti. “Tak sabar nak kongsi (lagu baru) untuk 2017” katanya baru-baru ini. Hanya menerusi lagu-lagu ciptaan beliaulah diharap dapat menjadi identitinya yang tersendiri.

“Isnina berharap agar pendengar dapat menjiwai lagu-lagu saya. Saya juga ingin meluaskan pengetahuan saya dalam dunia hiburan. Saya ingin berjumpa ramai orang (dalam industri), bekerja dengan mereka dan mudah-mudahan dapat menulis untuk mereka, selain dari membuat persembahan,” luah Isnina kepada BERITAMediacorp.

Juga dalam senarai ‘harapan’ beliau, ialah untuk dapat bertemu dengan artis dari Malaysia dan Indonesia, berkerja atau menulis untuk mereka dan juga membuat persembahan di sana.

(Gambar: Farhan Shah)

FARHAN SHAH

Farhan Shah, seorang penuntut jurusan pemasaran dan komunikasi dari Universiti Western Australia, baru sahaja melancarkan single terbarunya Terjatuh Hati terbitan Haramain Osman dan Judah Lyne dari The Lion Story. Beliau juga rancang merakamkan single pertama Inggeris dan sebuah EP.

Meskipun masih menuntut di Perth, Farhan rajin mencari masa pada hujung minggu atau cuti sekolah untuk pulang ke Singapura merakamkan lagu baru atau membuat persembahan.

Untuk 2017, Farhan ingin menghasilkan lebih banyak lagu, sebuah EP dan konsertnya yang kedua jika ada kesempatan.

Ini luahan beliau kepada BERITAMediacorp: “Ramai anak muda Singapura yang sangat berbakat di Twitter, Instagram dan Youtube. Salah satu harapan Farhan untuk tahun 2017 ialah untuk terus menolong memupuk bakat-bakat muda Singapura agar industri kita menjadi lebih rancak and bertenaga.”

Farhan kini mengidam untuk merakamkan album pertama jika ada peluang atau berkolaborasi dengan artis-artis seberang tambak menerusi sebuah lagu atau persembahan. Itulah yang sedang diusahakan kini dengan harapan ia akan berjalan dengan lancar.

(Gambar: ParanormalMY)

HAIKAL ALI

Penyanyi yang menempah nama di Anugerah Planet Muzik(APM) 2016 menerusi single Bertemu Kembali, Haikal Ali, kini sedang berkerjasama dengan The Lion Story untuk menulis dan merakamkan sebuah lagu duet bersama seorang lagi penyanyi dari Singapura.

“Saya tidak dapat memberi banyak maklumat disebabkan projek ini masih di peringkat perancangan” terangnya.

Single pengenalan Haikal sudahpun ditonton lebih 105,000 kali di YouTube, sekaligus satu pencapaian yang cukup memberangsangkan bagi artis Singapura ini.

“Dulu hanya sebuah mimpi, kini sebuah kenyataan. Kalau nak kira paling banyak, tak salah saya, ada juga yang lebih tontonan dari saya tetapi saya ingin ucapkan terima kasih kepada peminat-peminat di Singapura dan di luar Singapura kerana menerima lagu Bertemu Kembali dengan baik.

Shoutout kepada Paranormal Records, The Malaya TV yang merakam dan menggubah MV tersebut dengan baik dan juga Mawar Rashid yang sudi menjadi “kekasih” saya dalam video itu,” kongsi Haikal kepada BERITAMediacorp.

Sebelum ini, ada yang menyangka bahawa suara Haikal adalah milik penyanyi dari Indonesia.

“Kalau sekarang, saya hanya cuma rasa ‘neutral’ tentang ini. Saya berterima kasih mempunyai suara saya,” jelas anak muda berusia 23 tahun ini.

Beliau menyerahkan kepada Tuhan, seandainya ada rezeki untuknya melebarkan sayapnya ke Kuala Lumpur atau Jakarta:

“Saya hanya beri yang terbaik mungkin, kalau rezeki saya di sana saya ikut, kalau di sini saya ikut. Cikgu sekolah menengah saya pernah ingatkan saya ‘di manapun kita pijak, ini bumi Allah’ jadi tak kira lah dimana saya berada, selagi saya boleh sumbangkan sesuatu untuk kehidupan orang lain saya akan teruskan,” ujar Haikal kepada BERITAMediacorp lagi.

(Gambar: Mai Dhaniyah)

MAI DHANIYAH
Penuntut tahun tiga Politeknik Republik, Mai Dhaniyah, yang kini popular menerusi lagu Kasih yang masih rancak diudarakan di radio, bertekad untuk terus menyanyi dan berusaha untuk memantapkan kerjayanya sebagai penyanyi. Selain menyanyi secara solo, beliau juga menyanyi bersama kumpulan A Cappella.

Mai mengakui, single kedua berjudul “Kasih” mendapat tempat di hati para pendengar walaupun mungkin ramai yang belum kenal kepada penyanyinya. Beliau akur kurang mendapat liputan di media massa.

“Mungkin Mai sebagai artis independent yang tidak terikat dengan mana-mana pihak, jadi promosi kami lakukan sendiri,” katanya jujur kepada BERITAMediacorp.

Mai pernah diberi kesempatan pada November lepas untuk membuat showcase di KawKaw SG bersama artis/pelawak Hamzah Adon, bagi mempromosikan lagu Kasih.

Sungguhpun begitu, Mai berkata menyanyi adalah satu hobi baginya buat masa ini.

“Cuma pada waktu ini belum masanya untuk Mai menyanyi sepenuh masa kerana harus fokus pada pelajaran dan selepas itu untuk mencari pekerjaan yang sesuai,” kongsi beliau lagi.

Mai bakal merakamkan single beliau yang ke-3 pada tahun 2017 ini. Beliau akan terus bekerjasama dengan penerbit yang sama iatu Faizal Sapuan. Bagi beliau, Faizal adalah salah seorang penerbit yang memahami kekuatan serta kelemahan suaranya.

“Ada perancangan untuk membuat album/mini album tapi mungkin ini mengambil masa yang lebih sikit, untuk memastikan mutu dan lagu yang sesuai untuk Mai,” dedah beliau lagi kepada BERITAMediacorp.

Objektif beliau dalam industri hiburan tempatan adalah untuk mencipta identiti tersendiri supaya bila dengar lagu nyanyiannya, pendengar akan tahu itulah vokal Mai Dhaniyah.

Banyak lagi yang beliau ingin capai dan harus pelajari seperti ilmu mencipta lagu untuk Mai sendiri dan untuk penyanyi lain juga.

(Gambar: Faridzuan Faris)

FARIDZUAN FARIS
Faridzuan Faris adalah seorang lagi bakat tempatan yang mendapat perhatian penggemar muzik tempatan. Beliau kini mahasiswa tahun kedua jurusan Perniagaan di Universiti Nasional Singapura (NUS).

“Selamat Tinggal Sayang” merupakan single pertama beliau yang mendapat perhatian penggemar muzik setempat. Single keduanya “Selamanya” masih giat dipromosikan.

Untuk tahun 2017, beliau berhasrat untuk kembali kepada asas dalam bidang muzik dengan mempelajari gitar dengan lebih mendalam lagi.

“Gitar alat muzik yang saya sering gunakan untuk menulis lagu. Buat masa sekarang ini, saya ingin terus menulis lagu, berkolaborasi dengan rakan-rakan muzik dan buat lagu-lagu cover dahulu.”

Meskipun disibukkan dengan pengajian, Faridzuan tetap akan memberikan tumpuan kepada kerjayanya sebagai penyanyi: “Muzik boleh dilihat sebagai saling melengkapkan sekolah. Bila tidak sibuk dengan pengajian, saya akan buat muzik.”

Untuk tahun 2017 nanti, anak muda ini berharap untuk “mengeluarkan lagu yang akan diterima oleh pelbagai umur dan mengukuhkan lagi identitinya sebagai penyanyi pop R&B”.

Selain itu, beliau dan sekumpulan kawan kini memulakan inisiatif @localyoungtalents di Instagram, di mana mereka “ingin menggalakkan lebih ramai anak muda untuk tampil ke hadapan membuat muzik”.

Mereka sempat membuat showcase pertama mereka pada 18 Disember lalu dan mendapat sambutan yang menggalakkan.

“Diharapkan inisiatif LYT ini akan menjadi sumber inspirasi bagi rakan-rakan lain untuk menyemarakkan lagi industri muzik Singapura,” kata Faridzuan penuh harapan.

(Gambar: Mohamad Farhadi)

AMY HAKIMI
Diperkenalkan menerusi single Aku Redha ciptaan Olly Maguire, penyanyi Amy Hakimi bertekad untuk “terus berusaha meningkatkan prestasinya agar dapat memberikan persembahan yang lebih baik untuk pendengar dan orang sekeliling yang selalu menyokongnya”.

Beliau selesai merakamkan lagu berjudul Teman bersama artis-artis Voz Management seperti Ajib Alkaff, Jumali Sanotri, Juffri, Andri ETH Band dan bakat baru Aaryz Shiraz.

Jika tiada aral melintang, pada Mac 2017 nanti Amy akan muncul dengan single kedua ciptaan beliau sendiri yang mengekalkan genre slow rock.

Apakah yang akan Amy lakukan untuk kekal bersaing dengan artis-artis Singapura yang kini semakin hari semakin ramai?

“Amy akan cuba pelajari di mana kekurangan Amy dan perbaikinya. Semua ada kehebatan masing masing jadi Amy akan buat yang terbaik atas doa ibu ayah dan mereka yang menyokong Amy,” terang penyanyi bersuara lantang itu kepada BERITAMediacorp.

Untuk projek seterusnya, Amy sudahpun berbincang dengan pihak pengurusannya untuk mencipta lagu sendiri.

Jika ada peluang, beliau turut ingin cuba melebarkan sayap ke Malaysia dan Indonesia setelah menceburkan diri dalam industri muzik tempatan dengan lebih mendalam lagi nanti.

Source: Berita Mediacorp

January 10, 2017
Singapore’s Stagnant Start-Ups

Facebook, Amazon, eBay. Other than cultures of innovation, disruption and now serious valuations, something that all these once start-ups now tech-giants have in common is that they aren’t Singaporean.

Ok, obviously global tech start-ups are largely an American phenomenon. But even at the level of local and regional start-ups, the Little Red Dot is lagging behind with very few recognisable names in the start-up game.

What about Grab taxi, you ask? Well, it is Malaysian-founded, though now Singaporeanised thanks to investment and this too is another recurring problem where local start-ups are struggling despite Singapore’s financial ecosystem pouring money into regional ventures.

With strong intellectual property legislation, excellent connectivity, a range of government programs in support of innovation and diverse options for funding, Singapore is — on paper at least — a paradise for start-ups.

However, as regional ventures have flourished on Singapore’s soil local entrepreneurs appear to be missing out. According to a recent Tech in Asia article, local ventures have raised only a fraction of the funding raised by their foreign counterparts.

Singapore has much to celebrate and be proud of… but it needs to relook its start-ups policy. This after billions of dollars’ worth of government funding directed at local start-ups for several years.

To some extent, of course, the discrepancy in the performance between local and regional ventures is inevitable. Start-ups operating in Indonesia, India or China benefit from huge domestic markets and are an attractive proposition to investors.

Also there are clear gaps to be filled in these markets that don’t always exist in Singapore where international companies already operate comfortably.

However, Singapore with its sizeable economy and talent pool should be producing internationally and regionally competitive start-ups. Just look at Israel, a country with a similar population, GDP and high-tech base, which is churning out start-ups at a formidable pace including the home-grown navigation app Waze which was bought by Google for US$1 billion (RM4.47 billion).

Something isn’t quite right, our start-up ecosystem is not working for local entrepreneurs and this is a problem.

Though some might say it’s simply meritocracy with foreign start-ups having better revenue models and harder working teams, the reality is that Singapore as a nation must develop its core at every level particularly at the level of tech-innovation and entrepreneurship.

If you look at the labour market, Singaporeans are now heavily favoured — with restrictions on S-passes and employment passes benefiting qualified Singaporeans.

But in terms of the start-up ecosystem, we seem to be at an active disadvantage, seen as consistently less worthy of investment than those operating in larger markets with lower barriers to entry.
Here’s my hypothesis:

1. Singapore start-ups haven’t moved to capitalise on the country’s competitive advantages. While we don’t have a large market we do have a sophisticated research base, and a more complex financial ecosystem than most of our neighbors. This means Singapore can compete in niche products like genetics and robotics, but for too long our local start-up offerings have been along the lines of retail solutions, payment gateways etc. simple clones that haven’t developed deeper technologies even though we should have the talent to do so.

2. The second problem may also be the government’s own largesse. Billions of dollars’ worth of grants, incubators and ambitious funding programs don’t guarantee success. One of the dangers of these schemes is that a lot of start-ups become vehicles for obtaining funding and don’t have the business plans and commitment needed for success. Better targeted funding which offers to co-fund or match funding raised by founders with clearer milestones is essential to propelling a healthy start-up economy.

3. The global start-up narrative has focused on a small number of visionaries — fearless leaders in their garages and basements ingeniously disrupting their way to success. It must be noted though that most successful businesses in Asia are family businesses with family and community support structures. It might be time our funding and development models reflected this with family units encouraged to fund projects and ownership structures, loans etc that facilitate this. While this is somewhat unconventional, involving the family/community has the advantage of removing the fear of failure many isolated Singaporean entrepreneurs have — as risks are now shared.

4. Finally, the key weakness in terms of creating successful start-ups is our increasing distance from our immediate region. Despite amazing transport connectivity to every part of Asia, Singaporeans are too used to seeing the country as a bubble. As such, Singapore’s conditions do not reflect those of the region and Singaporeans are not geared to solving the regional problems which present the largest opportunities. A population that’s increasingly speaking Mandarin and English but not Malay, leave alone Tagalog or Bengali, is not well-equipped to succeed where we have the greatest competitive advantage – our neighbourhood. Raised to see our neighbours as dirty and dangerous, young Singaporeans are not willing or able to scrap it out on the streets of Jakarta or Dhaka but this is where the opportunities are and if we don’t break down these psychological barriers, start-up success will remain elusive.

Source: themalaymailonline

January 10, 2017
Aku Tak Kenal Siapa Shia

I never had a friend who is Shia or anything other than Sunni. I was brought up in Singapore as a normal Muslim child. went to school, had a decent education and made several friends of different ethnicity.

As i grew older, i had to fill up more forms like the G50, insurance papers or even resume and interview details of myself, and i got to know about my sect. that was when i learnt that i am a sunni. embarrassingly, i was a drop out from religious school back then when i was younger due to certain circumstances so this was something new to me. “Ini kau letak je sunni”, that was what i was told to write by a friend without any hesitation. And i still remembered it till today.

So out of curiosity i asked him what the other side of sunni was (if there is any) and i was told about Shia. A small community of muslims that are of different teachings from us that we should not really speak of or supposed to know of. It was a surprise to me but i did not pursue the issue any further. Perhaps i would never know anything more anyway.

I don’t know anything about shia or who are these shias in singapore. some people say that they may be among us and we would not know it. the question now comes down to how can we effectively embrace everyone in Islam, if there are like “closeted” muslims living around us though abiding by the same religion Islam? can they come out? Or are they not supposed to come out?

Teh O

Reader’s Contribution

January 9, 2017
Call To Embrace Diversity In Islam

There is a growing confidence in the Malay-Muslim community about its place in Singapore, said Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs Yaacob Ibrahim.

But even as it enjoys successes, challenges remain, he said, highlighting the need for the community to embrace diversity in Islam.

In an interview with Malay newspaper Berita Minggu, Dr Yaacob said the community has made progress in three areas.

First, Malay students are doing better in education. Besides more of them scoring well in national exams at the primary, secondary and polytechnic levels, there were also more who achieved first-class honours in universities last year, he said.

There was progress made in the religious life of Malay Muslims too, he added. He cited how donations to mosques have increased, and low-income families are getting help through their programmes, among others.

A third area of progress, which Dr Yaacob described as “more innate”, is that more Malays are stepping forward to do more not just for the community but also for other Singaporeans. Some have launched start-ups, while others do community work such as serving food and cleaning the homes of poor Singaporeans of other races.

The community has progressed on many fronts, Dr Yaacob said. “Divorce rates are coming down, our educational achievements are going up, home ownership is stabilising, wealth is increasing in the community, (there are) better jobs and there is a greater diversity of talent.”

But as the community grows in self-confidence, it also has to embrace diversity in Islam. The Islamic faith is “very diverse” and there is a need to respect differences, he said.

As a vocal minority online and in the region has sought to sow discord against Shi’ites, Dr Yaacob said there is a need to respect minority Shi’ite Muslims in predominantly Sunni Muslim Singapore, noting that senior Muslim scholars have all along considered Shi’ites as part of the mainstream in Islam.

“They pay MBMF (Mosque Building and Mendaki Fund). They come to our mosques. They pray together with us. They celebrate the same Hari Raya. So why are we not treating them as fellow Muslims but different?” he said.

He gave the example of how the chairman of the Moulana Mohamed Ali Mosque at UOB Plaza, Mr Mirza Namazie, is Shi’ite while the majority of its board is Sunni. “That’s a great example of how we deal with diversity, and we have to continue with that,” he added.

Source: The Straits Times

January 9, 2017
Undergrad Part-Time Tutor Rejected By Tuition Agency Due To Parents’ ‘Racial Preferences’

Tuition has become a staple for school-going children in Singapore.

While it is understandable that each child — and by extension, family — may seek specific tutors for specific needs, one tutor has come forward to share her experience of being repeatedly rejected for tuition jobs — despite being more than qualified for it.

The tutor is an undergraduate student from a local university and is seeking part-time work at a local tuition agency for extra income.

The agency essentially acts as a middleman by matching families with the tutors for the required subjects.

Compiling all the requests of the different families, the tuition agency then sends them out to the tutors under them. Interested parties can apply to take up the vacant slots.

As the tutor in question specialises in English and Literature, she has repeatedly applied for positions that required tutors for those two subjects.

However, time and time again, she has met with responses from families like the one below:

Recently, it was more blatantly put across to her:

Deep-rooted problem

Speaking to Mothership.sg, the tutor said she feels frustrated that she has to deal with this kind of issue time and time again.

This is despite the fact that she is a first-class honours student.

She also related that she has even met with a situation where after she was rejected by the family, the same tuition gig was offered to someone she knew, who is Eurasian Chinese.

She also said any language or communication barrier with non-English-speaking families should not be a problem, particularly in her case, as she is from a mixed Malay-Chinese family.

Acknowledging the sensitivity of the issue, she doesn’t demand recourse.

Instead, she said she understands that some people just don’t feel comfortable with certain races.

What have the authorities said about such practices

According to TAFEP’s job advertisement guidelines stated in its fair employment practices handbook,

“Employers who advertise a position requiring a specific attribute which may be viewed as discriminatory should ensure it is indeed a requirement of the job and state the reason for the requirement in the advertisement…

Race should not be a criterion for the selection of job candidates as multiracialism is a fundamental principle in Singapore. Selection based on race is unacceptable and job advertisements should not feature statements like ‘Chinese preferred’ or ‘Malay preferred’.

Religion is unacceptable as a criterion for recruitment except in cases where employees have to perform religious functions as part of the job requirement. In such cases, the requirements should be clearly and objectively presented”.

But such practices are normalised

However, a quick check on forums has shown how prevalent racial preference in tuition has become in Singapore.

Ultimately, the student tutor said she hopes people, especially parents, can have a more open mindset towards tutors like her.

She said: “I just wish that it wasn’t this way because it hasn’t changed since my mum’s time.”

Source: mothership.sg

January 9, 2017