Sarawak talents to shine over new reality TV programme

LOCAL TALENTS: (From left) Alex Ang, Leslie and Ummi are heading to KL for the next leg of the competition.

Posted on January 6, 2011, Thursday

KUCHING: Ummi Junaidah Morshidi is a seasoned performer at age 20 but her biggest task after getting the judges’ nod was breaking the news to her parents.

“They don’t know. I’ll have to tell them later that I’m going to Kuala Lumpur!” said the petite singer who impressed the three celebrity judges at the M1 (Malaysians Want) audition yesterday.
M1 is a new reality TV programme that is scouting the nation for talented young musicians that will ultimately form the band that Malaysians can proudly call their own.
The show will be judged by seasoned professionals like Fauzi Marzuki, Helen Yap and Cat Farish.
Did the heavy gaze of music industry veterans worry Ummi at all? Not at all, she said: “I was excited, but not nervous,” said Ummi, who had auditioned for Mentor, Akademi Fantasia and was an RTM Bintang Kecil participant. “I’m used to being in front of the audience.”
Leslie Fabian Joseph, 28, probably didn’t have time for any performance jitters.
“My friends called me, told me to drop everything and come to the audition,” the guitarist told The Borneo Post.
Getting his passport to KL was a particularly good end to a rather bad day, he added.
Leslie currently plays in a band called Tribus, having previously been in stints with bands like Dyerbreed and Dream Machine, and played for local singer Karen Chin.
As for how he feels about this success, Leslie admitted that it hasn’t sunk in yet.
“It’s all so unexpected, and I don’t know how it really feels! I’ll just go with the flow.”
According to M1 organisers, six out of the 25 people who came for auditions are heading to KL for a 10-day workshop that could hone them into better performers.

Helen Yap

“The workshop will improve their chances to shine in the programme,” said Helen Yap, one of the three judges of M1.
“We’ve seen some really good drummers and guitar players but they still have the potential to learn more,” she added.

Cat Farish

Cat Farish, another judge, believed that there is a great deal of talent in Sarawak.
“There’s a great music scene here that the people stay in Sarawak for,” he said. “We could have auditioned more people if we had held this on the weekend.”
He added that the judges have seen many remarkable drummers and guitarists from both Kuching and KL.
“But the show has a standard that we need to adhere to, and because of that we must choose our winners wisely,” he said.
M1 will be broadcasted over Astro Ria and Hitz TV every Saturday from 3pm to 4pm, beginning Jan 8.