By Massita Ahmad
SINGAPORE, April 4 (NNN-BERNAMA) — A Malaysian female group, NAMA, who made through to the grand finals of Asia’s Got Talent, is set to be a trendsetter in the region’s entertainment industry, say the judges.
“This (group) I think is so important for the world to see … four young hip girls (who) happened to be Muslims,” said David Foster, one of the three judges, in an interview with Bernama and two Singapore media outlets prior to the grand finals.
The group of four comprising Fazrina, Syamimi, Fazira and Farah, was one of three acts selected via Judges’ Pick, thus skipping the online votes to the grand finals.
Foster, a Canadian producer and musician, was impressed by the concept brought by NAMA who are all hijabsters but did not limit themselves to performing on stage.
“I recommended to somebody in LA (Los Angeles). I stole the idea little bit.. they are working on a TV pilot about a girl girl (programme). I said, you know we should make one of the girls in the group Muslim. That will be fascinating for American TV. She is normal.. she is cool.. she still can have fun ..she is a great singer,” he said.
“I think this group (NAMA) is very, very important. Sort of making a nice, soft political statement,” said Foster.
Commenting on Yaashwin Sarawanan, another Malaysian who made it to the grand finals, Jay Park, a renowned Korean American rapper said that the 15-year-old boy was “pretty unique.”
“He is talented and very unique. I would have never imagined that in a 1,000 years a guy does Math very well and gets to the finals. It is pretty crazy,” he said.
Yaashwin, who considers himself a performer, not a “human calculator” as described by many, will perform his last act for the talent show at the Marina Bay Sands here with NAMA and seven other finalists on Wednesday night.
Winners will be voted via online and the final results will be announced on April 11.
Other finalists are Siti Saniyah (Indonesia), Maniac Family (Taiwan), Shadow Ace (the Philippines), Junior Good Vibes (the Philippines), and Eric Chien (Taiwan).
Asked on what would be the next step for the winner after winning the cash prize of US$100,000, judge Anggun Cipta Sasmi, an international singer, said ‘Asia’s Got Talent’ offers “a world-class platform.”
“For me, the world is getting really, really small. That is why when you use this platform well, you can go viral and go to any part of the world that you want, and it all depends on what you want to do.”
“The US$100,000 can be so much or so little, depending who you talk to,” she said.
On the judges’ wish list for the next season of Asia’s Got Talent, Jay Park said that “I want a good rapper.”
“There has not been a rapper who passed the judges audition yet. One would be nice. There are a lot of very, very talented (rappers) in Asia.. I mean, even in Malaysia.. Singapore.. Thailand. I don’t know why there has not been one.”
Asia’s Got Talent grand finals airs on Thursday at 8:30 pm on AXN (Astro Ch701) and AXN HD (Astro Ch721).
–NNN-BERNAMA
