Mikeru On Chinese Music Today

The large crowd at the event

THE first MY Astro Music Award 2009 saw a bevy of singers and bands from Hongkong, Taiwan and Malaysia gathered under one roof at the Arena of Stars, Genting Highlands, last Saturday night. Jointly presented by MY FM and Astro, the event was telecast live on AEC (Astro ­Channel 301) while some 5,000 people went up the hill to cheer on their favourite artistes.

Among the stars who turned up for the event were Eason Chan, Khalil Fong, Kay Tse and Fama from Hongkong; Lala Hsu, Jeremy Ji, Rachel Liang, Sodagreen and Chang ­Yun-jing from Taiwan; and local artistes Nicholas Teo, Z-Chen, Thomas and Jack, Andrew Tan, Suki Low, Lan Kah Fai and Chen Keat Yoke.

The award show, hosted by MY FM deejays Jack Lim, Wan Wai Fun, Royce Tan and Bernard Hiew, was held to honour those who had made their mark in music and songs last year.

Eason Chan, who is considered the God of Song in the music industry, was in his ­element as an award presenter, mercilessly teasing the already nervous nominees in the best national male and female singers categories.

He even made a joke about newlywed Fish Leong, who was absent from the show. “She is always smiling and seems so blissful all the time. Whenever I see her, I have an urge to pinch her cheeks! But now that she’s ­married, I don’t think I should do that,” he said, prompting laughter from the crowd.

Leong’s Love Song won one of the 20 Golden Melody awards given out that night. The singer was also named best national female singer. Her cousin, Z-Chen, accepted her awards on her behalf.

One of the biggest winners of the night, ­local boy Teo happily received the best ­national male award from Chan. Teo also won two Golden Melody awards for his songs – The Moment of Silence and Low Profile – as well as the most popular singer award.


Lan Kah Fai Thanking his fans

Hot favourites Khalil Fong and Kay Tse were also not far behind with four and two awards respectively. Tse sprang an upset by taking the best international female singer award from heavyweights Chang Hui Mei (A-Mei) and Jolin Tsai.

But she proved she deserved the win when she serenaded the crowd with Song of the Year in her pitch-perfect voice.

Another surprise winner that night was Suki Low, 8TV’s 2006 One in a Million champion, who walked away with the best national female newcomer award. While she is not exactly new to the ­music industry, the fact that she is new to the ­Chinese music industry somehow qualified her as a newcomer for this award.

First-time in Malaysia Lala Hsu and ­Sodagreen from Taiwan were surprised to learn that they have quite a big fan base here.


The nominees for the various awards

“I’m very happy to receive an award here. It feels that all my hard work from all these years has finally paid off,” Hsu said on ­receiving the best international female ­newcomer award. She also won a Golden Melody for her song, Lost Sandback.

It was great to see the crowd giving many of our local singers and artistes the same ­support and encouragement they gave to ­artistes from abroad. And because the ­winners were voted by the public, it showed that local artistes were not ­forgotten.

Among them were boyband Thomas and Jack who took home four awards, and last year’s Astro Star Quest (­formerly known as Astro Talent Quest) first ­runner-up Lan Kah Fai who won two.

The concept of winners singing their winning songs each time they receive an award gave ­everyone a chance to listen to the songs and helped give exposure to new ­artistes and their songs.

Chan himself ­collected two Golden Melody awards for his Guilty Conscience and After 700 Years.

He was also declared the best ­international male singer and took home the best song of the year for Guilty Conscience.

That ended the award show on a high note and fans can only hope that next year, the show will be equally if not more exciting with even more artistes