Anugerah Planet Muzik, or more affectionately known as APM, is considered to be one of the region's most prestigious events of the Malay-speaking music industry as it honours and celebrates the best talents from Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Theoretically, artistes nominated in the APM awards, or simply invited to perform, may deem it as a valuable privilege because it is an excellent means of showcasing their new songs or other works while gaining wider recognition in the region. So it's like a two-pronged marketing monster machine. Sort of...
Into it's sixth year, APM is once again held in Singapore (no surprise here), at the Singapore Expo. As the Expo is normally a place to hold exhibitions, trade fairs and the like, I was therefore aghast that the APM's organizers had picked such an unseemly place to hold a major event such as this. However, the impressive line-up of stars kept me placated and I was actually looking forward to the event (although not foolish enough to have bought tickets to see it live! LOL ).
Unfortunately, I was disappointed with APM 2006 as a whole and here are some of my gripes...
1. I think having four comperes is an overkill when three (one to represent each participating country) would have been enough. Although I can never get sick of Aznil's wacky sense of humor, seeing Adi Rahman make a comeback as an emcee, complete with his ceaseless obsession with Siti Nurhaliza, is surely a test of my human endurance. While Fizah O came across as pleasantly vivacious (and looks disturbingly like a young Ziana Zain), my main concern about her is that she is virtually unheard of in M'sia and Indon. It'll be a welcome change if the organizers picked a more well-known face as Singapore's compere next year...
2. The set, stage-props and lighting were pretty snazzy but the sound system, unfortunately, was sorely lacking. There were times when the voices of the performers were drowned by the music accompaniment. The ultimate straw came when the live telecast was disrupted by a technical glitch during Dayang Nurfaizah's performance. By the time the show came back on air (a good five-minutes later), we had missed her entirely! What a shame!!
3. For such a prestigious awards ceremony, the trophies were visually unimpressive and quite dull. Not only that, the "globe" part of Ello's trophy literally fell off shortly after he received it on stage, and I think the same thing happened to another award recipient later. That APM trophy is a joke, I tell you...
4. Whatever happened to Eka Mairina's vocals?? She seemed quite lost during the opening bars of Cinta Abadi and her signature high-notes didn't sound too good last night. Although I know Salma to be quite an accomplished performer in her own right, pairing her up with Sharifah Zarina on Awan Ke Tujuh is a big mistake; the former's gravelly and moody vocals could reach the upper ranges of the song only with much difficulty, thus giving a rather less-than-stellar first impression on M'sian/Indon viewers. I would have liked to see Khairul Anuar, our talent show champ, instead of runner-up Syed Azmir performing onstage alongside Jac and Ferhad not only because it would have been more appropriate, but Khairul is the more competent singer. In my opinion, Azmir's performance was an absolute debacle; however, he partly redeemed himself with that last note on Kris & Melly's Cinta. Still, it was pretty much a lackluster evening for our Singaporean performers...(Thank heavens for Taufik!)
5. I can never understand why there must be a separate awards category for Singapore. Eg. Lagu Terbaik Singapura, Artis Terbaik Singapura.. so on and so forth. Since this ceremony has the involvement of M'sia and Indon as well, I think they should get their own exclusive awards section too. Otherwise, it is just a marketing stunt for Singapore artistes. Abit selfish on our part, dunchathink??
6. I used to think that having radio deejays as award presenters was quite lame unless 'said deejay is already a household name. NOW, someone even Singaporeans themselves hardly recognize (i.e. that what's-his-name who presented alongside Siti) got some screen-time. Can someone please enlighten me on why this was necessary???
7. APM 2006, into its sixth year now, is supposed to be a huge, prestigious event that brings together the best from the music industry of the region, right? Then perhaps it's time the organizers did something about the official website...
Ok ok.. all is not lost. Here are amongst the show's highlights which deserve a mention;
1. Aznil's flashy neon-sign belt. Are batteries included with that thing?? LOL
2. Taufik Batisah's show-stopping performance. New song, new funky wardrobe, new moves. He certainly gave Adam AF2 a run for his money, didn't he? ;p
3. Linda Onn's impromptu (or scripted??) acapella version of Angguk-angguk Geleng-geleng.
4. Eka needing two dress-changes; Nikki's dog-whistling ala mariah carey on Caramu; and Jac's truncated Gemilang... Definitely DIVAS in the making...
5. M Nasir doing what he does best -- emoting his song minus distracting back-up dancers or giddy lighting.
However, the most sizzling performance of the night is a tie between --
6. Siti Nurhaliza's debut performance of her new single. One word -- HOT!
and
7. Mawi and Taufik's duet on Gadis Melayu; totally unexpected but very entertaining. Actually, they make a pretty good pair. Do I sense a future duet coming up to cash in on the popularity of these two stars?? We shall see...
Artis Lelaki Baru Terbaik - Ello
Duo/Kumpulan Baru Terbaik - Maliq & D'Essentials
Lagu Terbaik Singapura - Cinta Abadi, Eka Mairina feat. Eiss
Artis Terbaik Singapura - Ahli Fiqir
Artis Wanita Baru Terbaik - Nikki
Lagu Paling Popular - Aduh Saliha, Mawi (how predictable.. )
Kumpulan Paling Popular - Peterpan
Artis Lelaki Paling Popular - Taufik Batisah (I'm sure Mawi's fans are outraged!!)
Artis Wanita Paling Popular - Siti Nurhaliza
Duo/Kumpulan Terbaik - Peterpan
Artis Lelaki Terbaik - Marcell
Album Terbaik Singapura - Hari Ini Dalam Sejarah, Ahli Fiqir
Lagu Terbaik - Dealova, Once (huh??)
Artis Wanita Terbaik - Jaclyn Viktor
Album Terbaik - Senyawa, Chriseye (huh??)
