Shahir AF8, or Ahmad Shahir Zawawi, (born September 5, 1988 in Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia), is a Malaysian singer, who rose to fame after winning the eighth season of Akademi Fantasia. Shahir’s winning of the Akademi Fantasia, Season 8 finale concert is the first winning in the history of Akademi Fantasia for a student who formerly was eliminated and then accepted back to Akademi Fantasia by using the method of AFMASUK.

Shahir’s father’s name is Mr. Zawawi Abdullah (54 years-old) and a teacher by profession. His mother’s name is Mrs. Mahanum Othman (45 years-old) and a housewife and baby-sitter as profession. Shahir is the first child from 5 siblings. He is residing in Kampar, Perak, Malaysia and his hometown is in Gopeng, Perak, Malaysia. Shahir formerly studied at Sekolah Kebangsaan Kampar, Kampar, Perak from Year 1 until Year 6 and then he studied at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Agama Slim River, Slim River, Perak from Form 1 until Form 5. Prior of audition in Akademi Fantasia, Season 8, Shahir was an engineering student at Centre of Foundation Studies, International Islamic University Malaysia. He is also former member of Saujana’s nasyid group.

Shahir competed against twelve other contestants to win Season 8 of Akademi Fantasia.
Throughout the competition, Shahir remained safe when the voting session was closed at the end of every concert, but in week 7 concert he was eliminated after received less votes from voters. In week 8 concert, the AFMASUK vote was introduced and in Debaran Week 8 Concert he was accepted after received the highest votes. At the end of the finaleconcert, he was crowned as the eighth winner of the show, beating 4 other students. He took back the winner crown from previous winner seventh season’s Hafiz. Shahir became the first student in the history of Akademi Fantasia to took the crown as champions after being eliminated before and then accepted back as student of Akademi Fantasia by the method of AFMASUK votes.

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Siti Nurhaliza was born in Berek Polis Kg. Awah, Temerloh, Pahang, Malaysia, to father Tarudin bin Ismail, a policeman, and mother, Siti Salmah Bachik, a housewife. Initially, Siti was labeled a tomboy because of her active attitude and her tendency toward boyish appearance. When Siti was young, she wanted to be a policeman like her father. As she began to attend Sekolah Rendah Kebangsaan Clifford, she took on a more feminine appearance; and her mother’s grooming shaped her into a well-behaved and elegant Malay girl. In her school-year, she’s had involved in many various school activity especially sports and speeches, that made her one of the most successful students in her school.

Siti is the fifth child in the family of of eight siblings. She came from a musically inclined family. Her grandfather a famous violinist, her mother a traditional singer famous in Pahang, her brother and almost all in the family can sing. It’s her uncle, a former singer for a local band who influenced her the most. At a tender age of 5, her parents approved of her to follow her uncle to invitational shows like wedding ceremonies and dinner parties to give her exposure performing live and she was well received by the local community in Kuala Lipis and as far as Kuantan. When children her age plays with dolls, she was determined memorizing lyrics and practicing to follow her uncle to shows as long as she could sing.

Siti Nurhaliza’s family performed at many local ceremonies at their hometown, such as weddings. At the age of twelve, Siti began to learn traditional songs from her mother. Later, as she continued to work on her singing, she participated in numerous local singing competitions. She won the Merdeka Day Singing Contest in 1991 and the another contest during the Karnival Lipis. At 16, she competed in the 1995 RTM Juara Bintang competition. While there, she met Adnan Abu Hassan, a locally-famous composer. He tutored her and helped her with her vocal performance, thereby helping her to win the contest. After that, she was granted a contract with Suria Records, where Adnan worked, and in 1996 released her first album, Siti Nurhaliza. Making her first album was a challenge because she had to balance working on her album while preparing for and taking the SPM examination. Despite this, her first album was a great success, and this would pave the way for her extremely successful future albums.

After her first album, Siti Nurhaliza became a well-known figure in Malay pop culture. She continued to have numerous hits, her songs spanning a broad range of genres, such as pop, R & B, and traditional Malay. Her voice and lyrics proved popular with teenagers throughout Malaysia. Thanks to this, she dominated national award shows for years.

In the second ‘self-titled’ album, ‘Aku Cinta Padamu’ shoots her to stardom in the year 1997. This catchy song was so good that it penetrated the demanding Indonesian market for the first time and was well received by the music lovers there. A feat, that only a handful of Malaysian artistes were capable of doing. She was then invited the same year to perform a special one-hour show for a television station there. This move made Siti even more popular in this region.

Siti’s increasing popularity meant that demand for her endorsement is high. She sung themes for movies ( i.e Puteri Gunung Ledang )and corporate jingle for Maxis. She has also been featured in various advertisements and become spokewoman to many well-established brands such as Maxis, Maybelline, PEPSI, Jusco, TMnet,Konica Minolta, Nippon Wiper Blade, Olay skin care, and Samsung. The list of her endorsements keep increasing from year to year. For her successes at her young age, Puteri Umno named her Teen Princess of Malaysia in 2002. bio taken from asiasfinest.com

Official Website | Wikipedia Article | Facebook Fan Page (Bahasa Malaysian) | Last.fm

Hands Percussion Team from Malaysia
Drumming Up a Storm!
Special guests: Kenny Endo Taiko Ensemble

Sat., Sept. 18, 8:00 – 9:30 p.m.
Sun., Sept. 19, 2:00 – 3:30 p.m.

Kennedy Theatre

Combining mesmerizing theatrics with dynamic, multicultural rhythms, the renowned Hands Percussion Team drum ensemble from Malaysia has been creating quite a sensation at performances around the world since it was formed in 1997 out of its founders’ desire to bring new creativity to Chinese-Malaysian drumming traditions. Since then, the troupe has received stellar critical acclaim for its approach combining respect for cultural tradition with innovative, contemporary performances on instruments drawn from a diverse range of percussion cultures.

In recent years, Hands Percussion Team has thrilled audiences at numerous international performances, ranging from Southeast Asia and China to Europe and the Middle East. According to the ensemble’s website, “the sound of a drum is part of a universal human bond, interconnecting cultures and peoples.”

The ensemble’s Kennedy Theatre performances will feature a dozen of the troupe’s energetic young drummers, whose rigorous training includes intense physical and mental discipline in addition to musical development. Also performing will be the acclaimed, Hawai‘i-based Kenny Endo Taiko Ensemble.

To watch Hands Percussion Group Artistic Director Bernard Goh’s lecture on “Creativity & Chinese Drumming in 21st Century Malaysia,” visit the UHM Confucius Institute page. For more information on Hands Percussion Team, visit hands.com.my. This event is co-sponsored by the East-West Center and the University of Hawai`i’s Kennedy Theatre. The performances are part of the EWC’s 50th anniversary year celebrations.

Ticket Prices:
$16 Advance Super Saver until Sept. 5;
$20 Regular; $18 Seniors, Military, UH Faculty/Staff; $12 Students; $5 UHM Students with ID. (All service fees included.)

Tickets are now available online at ETicketsHawaii.com; beginning Sept 13, tickets will be also be available at Kennedy Theatre Box Office (M-F 10 a.m.-1 p.m.; Sept 18 from 5:00 p.m., Sept. 19 from 1:00 p.m.), or by phone, 944-2697.

The Hands Percussion Team will also perform Sept. 23 at Maui Arts & Cultural Center, Sept. 27 at Kahilu Theatre, and Sept. 29 at BYU-Hawaii.

This July, the Center for Southeast Asian Studies remembers Malaysian filmmaker, storyteller, and humanitarian Yasmin Ahmad.

[Source: malaysiana1] Yasmin Ahmad (January 07, 1958 – July 25, 2009) was a critically-acclaimed multi-award winning film director, writer and scriptwriter from Malaysia and was also the executive creative director at Leo Burnett Kuala Lumpur.

Her television commercials and films are well-known in Malaysia for their humour, heart and love that cross cultural barriers, in particular her ads for Petronas, the national oil and gas company.

Her works have won multiple awards both within Malaysia and internationally.

A graduate in arts majoring in psychology from Newcastle University, she worked as a trainee banker in 1982 for two weeks.

She then joined IBM as a marketing representative.

Yasmin began her career in advertising as a copywriter at Ogilvy & Mather in the same period.

In 1993 she moved to Leo Burnett as creative director and eventually became executive creative director.

Her first film was Rabun (Failing Sight) in 2002.

Yasmin’s films have won many international awards and praise from critics and public alike.

Most of her films have been screened at the Berlin, San Francisco, Singapore and Cannes international film festivals.

Her films were featured in a special retrospective at the 19th Tokyo International Film Festival 2006.

They were also featured in a 2007 retrospective by the Centre of Southeast Asian Studies, University of Hawaii, and the Honolulu Academy of Arts.

Yasmin passed away of a stroke at 11.25pm on July 25, 2009.

She fell unconscious in her chair at 3.30pm on July 23 at private television station TV3 in Petaling Jaya.

At that time she was having a meeting with the TV3 management and Malaysian pop queen Datuk Siti Nurhaliza Tarudin for a coming project.

Yasmin was hospitalised at the Damansara Specialist Hospital a short distance from TV3 and underwent neurosurgery on the same day.

She never regained consciousness.

She was buried in Subang Jaya, where she lived.

Yasmin made six films in her short but illustrious career.

They were Rabun (2003), Sepet [Chinese Eyes] (2004), Gubra [Anxiety] (2006), Mukhsin (2007), Muallaf [The Reverter] (2008) and Talentime (2009).

She also acted in the films Rain Dogs and Susuk, among others.

She won several awards for her television commercials that promoted national unity and humanitarian values, in Malaysia and Singapore.

Sepet won best film in the Malaysian Film Festival 2005. Gubra won best film the following year.

Sepet also won the Asian Film Award at the Tokyo International Film Festival 2005.

Mukhsin won Best Feature Film at the Berlin International Film Festival 2007 and Best Asean (Southeast Asian) Film at the Cinemanila International Film Festival 2007.

Muallaf won the Asian Film Award – Special Mention at the Tokyo International Film Festival 2008.

Yasmin was the eldest of three siblings from Muar, Johor. She was of Malay and Japanese ancestry.

She is survived by her parents, a brother and a sister, and her husband Tan Yew Leong, the creative director of Leo Burnett.

flickr | imdb | 2007 UH Yasmin Ahmad Retrospective (twitch)
yasmin blogs project | yasmin the storyteller | yasmin the filmmaker

Thank you for supporting the Southeast Asia Film Series over the past year! Our final film of the spring semester will be a Director’s Choice. We would like to thank everyone for their support, and we look forward to screening more films for you in the fall! Don’t forget to check out our film listings and upcoming screenings at cseashawaii.com.

Even after all this time
The sun never says to the earth,
“You owe me.”
Look what happens
With a love like that,
It lights the whole sky.

-Hafiz of Shiraz, The Gift

The Institute for Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) offers special publication packages for only USD$50 on topics like Ageing, Environment and Gender. For more information or to place your order, please fax to 65 67756259 or pubsunit@iseas.edu.sg. Each book in these themed publication packages ranges from $30 to $40 individually so this special offer provides an excellent bargain on key titles in Southeast Asian scholarship today.

Ageing includes:
- Older Persons in Southeast Asia: An Emerging Asset
- Ageing and Long-term Care: National and Policies in the Asia-Pacific
- Ageing in Southeast and East Asia: Family, Social Protection and Policy Challenges

Environment includes:
- Working with Nature Against Poverty
- Governance, Politics and the Environment: A Singapore Study
- Managing Natural Wealth: Environment and Development in Malaysia
- Clean, Green and Blue: Singapore’s Journey Towards Environmental and Water Sustainability

Gender includes:
- Gender Trends in Southeast Asia: Women Now, Women in the Future
- Muslim/Non-Muslim Marriage: Political and Cultural Contestations in Southeast Asia
- Gender and Natural Resource Management: Livelihoods, Mobility and Interventions

HIFF and AsiaPacificFilms.com present a special opportunity to sample the site for one month totally free. AsiaPacificFilms.com offers a film festival experience by streaming a growing collection of over 250 feature films, documentaries and short films from established and emerging across Asia and the Pacific including Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

Choose to subscribe for a second month, and proceeds directly go to support the Hawaii International Film Festival.

Here’s how to do it:
1. Simply visit AsiaPacificFilms.com and enter this exclusive HIFF coupon code to redeem your free month trial: HIFFohana2010
2. Stay the second month and support HIFF while continuing to watch great movies from Asia and the Pacific Islands. You can cancel at any time.

This offer expires April 15, 2010 so we hope you’ll take some time to visit http://asiapacificfilms.com and take advantage of this opportunity! Mahalo to HIFF for their

sample now

Rickshaw Stop, San Francisco, CA, USA
8:00 pm, Thursday, 25 February 2010

Zee Avi uses very few ingredients to cook her food, but she chooses her flavors carefully. Sometimes it’s ukelele and words. Often, it’s just her guitar and her warm, unaffected voice. For rhythm, it’s brushes on a snare, and that’s about it.

Avi’s is a story of overnight success, and it shows the upside of quick discovery: she made it to our ears before anyone got in the way and encouraged her to sully the stew by adding more instruments. Growing up in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, young Izyan Alirahman listened to music from the 1920s, and the straightforward, unadorned lyricism of those songs appealed to her. At that time, her aspirations were in the fashion world, so she moved to London and pursued a design degree.

Avi passed through listening phases, at times enjoying British indie pop, dance music, and hard rock, but kept returning to that older music’s honesty and simplicity. After falling out of love with the fashion world, she returned to Malaysia and began songwriting. First up was “Poppy,” a beautiful and vivid song about heroin addiction. The night after her first public performance as a singer, she flipped on her webcam and strapped on a call-center headset to record “Poppy,” intending to share it with a writer friend for feedback.

That recording was not intended as a star-making vehicle, but the editors at YouTube found this home recording and featured it on the site’s front page. The next day, admirers and record company reps started flooding her inbox. Soon thereafter, she changed her stage name to Zee Avi and went out on tour opening for Pete Yorn. The 23-year-old played at the Outside Lands Festival this past summer, and her new Bay Area fans have been awaiting her return ever since. (From NoisePop.com)

2010 NoisePop schedule | music | website