Rilek1Corner

Tag: The Voice

  • Commentary: Reserved PE For Malays Akin To China’s The Voice For Chinese; Both Exclude Certain Communities From Contesting

    Commentary: Reserved PE For Malays Akin To China’s The Voice For Chinese; Both Exclude Certain Communities From Contesting

    For those who dont understand why it’s a bad call to reserve the presidential race for Malays, let me bring you back to a similar incident.

    Remember when ‘The Voice’ came to Singapore but was looking only for Chinese singers to participate in its competition? Many were livid. For what? For the same reason why people are sickened when the presidential election exclude certain community from contesting.

    That’s what this presidential system has created. Unhappiness among the people.

    If for such an inconsequential singing competition can make us feel upset because we are excluded from participating it, the presidential election is on a national scale and such policies from the government creates ill-will between the community.

    Race based policies create division instead of strengthening our social fabric.

    Let me take you further to an environment where you can resonate better.

    Supposed the principal of the school where you send your children to study, decides to bar your child from participating in the school 100m race as he wanted a particular person to win it. What would you have done?

    Your answer to the above will guide you to what you would do today and understand why such policies are destructive and we have to move away from it.

     

    Source: Khan Osman Sulaiman

  • Celebrity Judges: The Voice Singapore, Malaysia Must Embrace Diversity

    Celebrity Judges: The Voice Singapore, Malaysia Must Embrace Diversity

    The celebrity judges of the inaugural Singapore/Malaysia edition of reality singing show The Voice agree that in future, the show should consider lifting its Mandarin-speaking requirement.

    At the show’s first press event held at Hotel Jen in Johor Baru on Tuesday (July 4) evening, Malaysian singer Gary Chaw, one of the four mentor-judges on the show, told The Straits Times that the show should “diversify”.

    The 37-year-old said in a mix of English and Mandarin: “This is just the first season, but going forward, perhaps the producers could work out something with the franchise rights holder where the show could work in many languages.

    “After all, Singapore and Malaysia are multi-racial countries, and so we should diversify.”

    The producer of the show, mm2 Entertainment, had told The Straits Times in May that it had acquired the format licence to produce the Singapore/Malaysia version of The Voice in Mandarin “based on the assessment that it is most commercially viable.”

     

    Source: www.thestraitstimes.com

  • Alfian Sa’at: The Voice (Nanyang Edition) Debacle A Lesson In The (Lack Of) Equality

    Alfian Sa’at: The Voice (Nanyang Edition) Debacle A Lesson In The (Lack Of) Equality

    Yes, I am tired of stuff like The Voice (Nanyang Edition) cropping up time and again, I am tired of some Chinese people who saw nothing wrong with it, of them seeing no problem when Chineseness is squarely equated with Singapore when it is just one square in the giant patchwork that is Singapore culture, I am tired of them mentioning Shila Amzah any chance they get as if that settles the debate, I am tired of the fact that they don’t see that it’s not just a matter of learning Mandarin to join the contest but that I’m not considered significant enough for the show to be marketed to someone like me, I am tired of having to remind others that I exist too, that my language is not the same as yours, that if I want to choose to learn your language it will be out of my own free will and not because I have to succumb to a monolingual environment that you have shaped in your image, whether out of thoughtlessness or convenience or a demonstration of majoritarian might…

    But I am aware that this fatigue will interfere with my own openness to other cultures, to my curiosity about the beauty and the wisdom contained within them, that I must never close myself to the other even when the other wears the garments of an oppressor, that I will continue to catch the offerings at the Huayi Festival and the M1 Chinese Theatre Festival even if I don’t see a reciprocal gesture of those catching Pesta Raya or the Kalaa Utsavam programmes, that I must always be conscious that in any multicultural society there is a relationship between language and power, that there are those who believe to speak another’s language is to submit to their rule and power (and this is the pathology of the vernacular school system in Malaysia), that however difficult it is to de-link language and power one has to do it because it will otherwise trap your ways of thinking, that there is no such thing as a superior or inferior culture, as there is no superior or inferior language, that though there are dominant languages they do not exist to dominate and though there are minority languages their fate is not to be subordinate, that however foreign a language might be one must always keep faith that it contains the word for ‘patience’, or ‘forgiveness’, or the very concept at the heart of this: ‘equality’.

     

    Source: Alfian Sa’at

  • The Voice SG & MY: Participants Can Be Of Any Race Or Nationality, But Have To Be Fluent In Mandarin

    The Voice SG & MY: Participants Can Be Of Any Race Or Nationality, But Have To Be Fluent In Mandarin

    Popular international reality TV show The Voice has now made its mark in Southeast Asia, with a new show aimed at Singaporean and Malaysian audiences.

    The singing competition will now be adapted for the countries under one program, co-produced by mm2 entertainment along with cable providers StarHub (Singapore) and Astro (Malaysia).

    They’ve now opened entries to aspiring singers from these two countries, and they assure that they’re “on the search for true talents with good voices regardless of their appearances.” But there is one curious catch: you must be able to sing in Mandarin.

    “There is no restriction on race as long as you have a good voice, are fluent in Mandarin, and are able to perform Mandarin songs,” they state on the FAQ page on their official website.

    It appears that this version of The Voice is primarily targeted towards Mandarin-speaking audiences. This differs from the Singaporean adaptation of American Idol, where contestants sang in English.

    Social media users are understandably angry over this rule, raising questions over the show’s language exclusivity.

    It’s likely that this show is aiming to reach the level of success of Sing! China, which was formally known as The Voice of China and mainly featured singers, which included finalist Nathan Hartono last year, performing in Mandarin. mm2 will not be allowing entrants to sing in Hokkien or Cantonese.

    While some are crying foul over the show’s discrimination against non-Mandarin speakers, B-Quartet frontman Bani Haykal threw in a slightly different perspective on the matter on Twitter: speculating that the rule is likely a strategic move for the show to appeal to audiences in China, the same way Sing! China became popular with audiences in Southeast Asia.

    He explains more in an entire Twitter thread, and it is an interesting argument: Sing! China‘s finals broke viewership records in China, and the country remains an extremely attractive prospect for foreign media to target (*cough* The Great Wall).

    The Voice for Singapore and Malaysia could simply be an attempt at replicating the success of Sing! China, but with the emphasis on multi-racial growth in both countries, could this be simply a tone-deaf strategic move by mm2?

    Registration

    StarHub announced on Friday (May 5) that those aged 16 and up can begin to apply for a spot on the show as of 6pm.

    Again, although participants can be of any race or nationality, “talents have to be fluent in Mandarin and able to perform songs in Mandarin”, according to a press release from StarHub.

    They must also submit a clip of themselves singing. Clips must be no longer than 90 seconds, and dialect songs such as those in Cantonese or Hokkien are not allowed. Other than that, there is no restriction to the language or genre of the song selected, and applicants may choose between singing a cappella or with an instrument, said the press release. Singing with accompanying music tracks is not allowed.

    The auditions close on May 31. Visit www.thevoicesgmy.com

     

    Rilek1Corner

    Source: https://www.bandwagon.asia and http://www.todayonline.com