Malaysian vocal groups or whats left of em anyway.

1- Malaysian urban vocal groups started way back, as early as the early 90s if you count Pancha Sitara out. I have to admit that I lacked the knowledge to write a proper thesis on the history of Malaysian vocal groups so I would not waste my time doing that.

2- As we all know, back in the states, the mighty goliath of a music called Rock was killed by Kurt Cobain and his seattle cohorts with a new music called grunge. In Malaysia, rock was killed by rap music. MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice wannabes were all over the place while the purists would resort to the more obscure NWA and Public Enemy.

3- Malaysian mainstream music scene was swarmed with rap groups from all over the place led by a trio of siblings calling themselves KRU. Then you got 4U2C, NICO, MSteen, Res2, Feminin and of course the more obscure Krash Kozz with their debut, New Jack The Street Beat which was released in 1993. While most of the acts concentrated with writing cheesy rhymes in malay, some of the above mentioned groups did produced songs centred around vocals and minimal harmony vocals. KRU for example produced an acappella song called Untukmu which was made famous by Feminin, most probably the first urban girl group from Malaysia.

4- Then enter Shades, the first mainstream vocal group to achieve success after years of honing their talent at the stairs of Central Market. Their acappella rendition of the classic, Malam, introduced acappella to a lot of new listeners in the 90s. Then there was KOOL. Remember them? A lot of people would associate them with dance music due to their hit song, Bebas, but if you would listen carefully to each of their songs in the debut, you would be surprised to learn that there were elements of new jack swing and RnB all over the place with complete 3 lines of harmonies on all of the songs. The group even added a fifth member to adhere to the discipline of harmony singing.

5- I believe it was during this time that more underground vocal groups started to emerge with Innuendo spearheading the movement. Vibe, Euphonious, SoulStreet, Surreal, Foreplay, Cest La Vie, Deep, Emberz of Soul, Quevox, Touchess and Signature just to name a few, swarmed the underground stages alongside other hiphop acts from Klang Valley.

6- The release of RuffEdge (formerly known as Vibe) and Voices of Ephonious (formerly known as Euphonious) split EP, Extreme Pleasure, reignited the interest in RnB vocal groups amongst the newer faces. The stage was swarmed once again with groups in the likes of Hearts of Mean, Soul Dinero, Flowwidus, First Edition, Quizziclez, Infinatez, Crescendo, Muzieclez, Quadrose, Siarra, Quest and Luscious, again just to name a few.

7- Then there was the death. I dont know how and I dont know why. The scene died.  

Benign 

Where have all the RnB groups gone?

1- Wow, it has been a while indeed since I last took interest in updating this blog. I was quite astounded to learn that this blog is still getting daily visitations. Well, to be honest, this blog was ignored. Why wouldnt it? The strong love and passion for RnB has long gone along with the vocal groups that came with it.  

2- It was only with my recent and you might say, rekindled fascination with vocal groups from the past that I thought about this blog. I have been browsing Youtube recently and stumbled with 112's hot sexy track, Peaches N Cream. Who could ever forget that bumpy bouncy track? The fat bass track with that fiesty opening riff brought me back to that one time when baggy pants, air force ones and sports gears roamed the scene. Damn, I missed those days.

3- Back in the days and that was like 5-6 years ago, I despised the type of RnB championed by groups like 112 and B2K. I dont know why but most probably due to the reason that the type of RnB beats that them cats were singing to, represented the next evolution of RnB when I was still stuck with the quiet storm, new jack swing style of the early 90s. It was a change that I was unwilling to accept. For me, Boyz II Men and AzYet (among others) were the true voice of RnB.

4- As times fly, I had to embrace the change and seeing the latest trend of modern music nowadays, I found myself desparately crooning for music from the likes of 112 and B2K to have been able to survive. 

5- As for the older RnB groups in the instance of Boyz II Men, AzYet and Silk, it is a fact that their days were long gone over. I guess, it is difficult to adapt to the changes in music. Most of their original fans were now in their late 30s and 40s. The younger fans were more fascinated with Justin Bieber, Mindless Behaviour and those type of bubble gum sound. Boyz II Men tried to modernize their sound with their last all original studio album, The Remedy but how many of us could even remember that album.

6- The talks of new albums by reunited acts like AzYet, Jodeci, Silk, Next, New Edition and BlackStreet ends with nothing. The only vocal group that managed to come out with a decent album was Dru Hill. Even Sisqo and crew found it hard to capture the market that they once conquered with classic tracks like 5 Step and We're Not Makin Love No More.

Benign

Gig Review - Resurrection:

Gig: Resurrection RnB Hip Hop

Tarikh: 20.2.2010
Tempat: Maison, Kuala Lumpur

Sebenarnya gig ini sudah lama dirancang, dan ura-ura untuk gig ni diadakan memang telah bermain ditelinga-telinga dan bibir-bibir mulus peminat-peminat RnB tempat sejak daripada tahun 2009 lagi. Pada tanggal 20.2.2010 bertempat di Maison Kuala Lumpur, ianya telah diadakan dengan jayanya. Saya pada saat-saat akhir telah mengambil keputusan untuk menyaksikan persembahan ini dan ianya satu keputusan yang tidak saya kesalkan.

Saya bersama Fazley Crescendo dan Mr.Roy telah bertolak dari ampang pada sekitar 4 petang dan bernasib baik kerana mendapat kekosongan tempat letak kereta di hadapan Maison. Dalam pukul 5, keadaan masih lagi tenang namun kelibat sahabat sahabat dari Hearts of Men, First Edition dan beberapa kumpulan lain sudah kelibat mundar mandir di venue gig. Saya mengambil peluang untuk bertegur sapa dengan sahabat-sahabat lama yang sememangnya sudah lama tidak bertemu mata dan suara.

Dalam pukul 6.30 petang, kebanyakan kawan-kawan lama sudah mula berkumpul dihadapan venue bertanya khabar dan bergambar dengan ceria dan hyperactive. Namun terdapat sedikit masalah yang mungkin akan menyebabkan gig tersebut tidak dapat dilansungkan. Semua menanti dengan sabar sambil mengambil gambar barang sekeping dua. Syai Infinatez dari SR Photography kelihatan sibuk kesana kemari dengan cornrow hodohnya (haha chill dude). Amir Infinatez juga turut kelihatan memberikan sokongan.

Infinatez ketika ditemuramah. Gambar ihsan SRPhotography & MESR Resources.

Pihak pengurusan akhirnya dapat menyelesaikan masalah yang dihadapi dengan pihak venue lalu gig pun bakal dimulakan walaupun agak terlalu lambat. Saya sendiri agak risau kerana melihatkan masa agak suntuk, adakah sempat untuk kumpulan yang bakal mengadakan persembahan yang terlalu banyak sempat mengadakan persembahan. Saya pasti, mungkin ada yang akan terkecewa.

Saya tidak mengingati kesemua kumpulan-kumpulan yang mengadakan persembahan jadi saya hanya akan mention kumpulan-kumpulan yang saya kenal sahaja. Teruja saya melihat sahabat-sahabat lama mengadakan persembahan bersama setelah sekian lama tidak berkongsi pentas. Hearts of Men, Soul, First Edition, Crescendo, Flowwiduz, Infinatez, Ruffedge dan VE sememangnya nama-nama yang tidak asing lagi untuk peminat-peminat RnB bawah tanah khususnya bagi saya sendiri sejak tahun 2004.

Infinatez mengadakan persembahan. Gambar ihsan SRPhotography & MESR Resources.

Infinatez hanya sempat menyanyikan sebuah lagu sahaja iaitu lagu Have I Never daripada kumpulan A Few Good Men. Persembahan mereka mendapat sokongan dan tepukan serta sorakan yang sangat gemuruh. Alvin telah terbang daripada Sabah untuk persembahan ini serta beberapa urusan beliau di Kuala Lumpur. Rafik Taib, Shah Aziz, Daniel Hashim dan Alvin Mahathir memberikan persembahan yang terbaik mereka pada malam itu. Saya dapat merasakan bahawa mereka benar benar melepaskan gian diatas pentas. Mungkin kerana agak lama tidak perform bersama dan mengadakan persembahan bersama rakan-rakan lama yang lain.

Saya masih mengingati ketika saya masih lagi bersama Infinatez sekitar 2004 hingga awal 2007, persembahan-persembahan begini boleh dikatakan kerap berlaku. Yang masih bermain difikiran adalah persembahan Infinatez, Soul Dinero, Hearts of Men dan Quizzicles untuk Fete De La Musique yang dianjurkan oleh HELP Institute serta persembahan oleh kumpulan-kumpulan yang sama di sebuah sekolah gadis gadis di kuala lumpur yang saya lupa nama sekolahnya. Yang paling meninggalkan kenangan adalah RnB Party yang diadakan di Planet Hollywood yang mengumpulkan hampir 10 kumpulan vokal RnB anjuran Mamal Flowwiduz.

Namun selepas tahun 2008, scene bawah tanah Rnb seolah-olah mati. Saya tidak tahu dimana silapnya. We were so strong back then. Entah lah, tetapi gig ini memang mengembalikan memori-memori lama bersama dengan these fellas. Saya berharap, gig seperti ini diperbanyakkan dan juga turut berharap agar muka-muka baru RnB boleh keluar dari sarang anda dan meriahkan kembali scene ini.

Walaupun banyak masalah yang berlaku, gig tersebut ditamatkan on a high note. Kudos.

Nor Hafeez Benign Nurul Hadi.