~MKI 2009~ from the eyes of a free thinker =)

Last week, MKI was held in IPGM-KBA. For those who don't know it, MKI = Minggu Kesenian Islam (roughly translated into Islamic Culture/Arts Week). Among the activities held were Jejak Kembara (Treasure Hunt), Female and Male Naysid Competition (where Moslems sing songs dedicated to their God), all kinds of other competitions related to the religion and its interpretation, as well as the highlight of the week, a concert by the No.1 naysid group in Malaysia - Rabbani.

Among the activities I went to were the Treasure Hunt (I just helped Alif to take care of his station at the surau), the naysid competition for guys, and the Rabbani concert. Now, to share my thoughts on these activities:

Treasure Hunt: The race was supposed to start at 5.15 pm...but we kept waiting until around 5.40 before the whistle was blown. It was quite funny to watch the participants running around and doing the tasks assigned to them though. Some even mixed up the clues and ran to the wrong station..Pity them xD

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Male Nasyid Competition: Honestly, I enjoyed it very much - the participants exhibited their talents that I wasn't aware of :D Out of the six groups participating, I was impressed by three groups in particular - the 2nd group (PISMP Cohort 3 - Faruq, Pejal as the leads, and 8 more as the backup), the 5th group (Uncle Ijat, Uncle Aqmal and some others from the same batch) and the last group (Eizhar, Azrul and 4 more juniors).

PISMP Cohort 3: The lead singers: Faruq (left) and Pejal (right)...backup from left: fazril, hengget, rahman, acap, awie, akmal, uzair, khifzan

My comments on the PISMP C3 group: the 1st song was quite boring - firstly, it had no background music to backup their voices, the song was too long and repetitive and they all sang in unison throughout the song. Besides, the lead actually forgot his lyrics halfway in the song. However, I was captivated by the 2nd song, which had a minus one. The arrangement was great - the blending of the lead and backup singers was done well, and Pejal's voice was earnest enough to portray the emotion of the song. Besides, the melody was good too, and Faruq has a nice voice to suit the song. The 4 on the left (from the audience's point of view) seems to be more confident, and hence did a better job as backup singers in my opinion =^-^= I don't know what went wrong in the judging process, as this group didn't manage to get into the top 3 =/

From left: Aqmal, Badi, Ijat, (idunnohisname), Acap and Eahsan

My 'uncles' group: They rock the whole show! Seriously! I had no idea that uncle Ijat has such a lovely voice - so do the other 5 in the group~ I couldn't tear my eyes off the stage for even one second - I was concentrating so hard on their performance, unwilling to miss a single detail of their show. Somewhere in the middle, there was a spoken message by Aqmal (I forgot the content), but it sure added a nice touch to their performance :D They deserved to be the champions, simply because all 6 of them are just that awesome~

Juniors (July 2009 intake): Leads - Eizhar (left) and Azrul (right)..I don't know the rest :D

The juniors' group: The two lead singers (Eizhar and Azrul) are really good - in fact, I consider them one of the best vocals in this competition. However, as a team, they are not really that outstanding, because the four backup at the back do not really contribute to the show - the limelight is on the two leads, and the two leads only ^_^" (i.e. I only heard the melody mostly from the two in front). They came in second...I think :p

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As for the Rabbani concert, I attended it together with my room mate, Samantha :D We enjoyed the songs, especially the 3rd one "Inti Fana". Still, I expected something more interesting from the concert -- I was probably disappointed because the concert was interweaved with some kind of preaching from our own Ustaz Asri, talking about being a teacher, being a filial child and something else >_< Sorry to say this, but it really interrupted my enjoyment of the show :( As for Rabbani, their voices are really good, but I think they should use some live percussion together with their performance instead of just depending on the minus one of their songs ^_^

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Some of you might ask, why do I attend these events even though I'm not a Muslim and not aiming to become one? The answer is pretty simple - I'm a free thinker (i.e. I don't have any religion, though I don't thoroughly deny the existence of God), and hence, I don't have any limitations imposed on me from my own religion. In case you are wondering, I'm listed as a Buddhist whenever I have to fill in forms ^^

Besides, these events are not limited to Muslims alone, and I just feel like supporting my friends who either organised or took part in these events, like the Treasure Hunt and male nasyid competition. So, I don't care what people might say :D

Third, I attend the nasyid and Rabbani concert, because I strongly and sincerely believe that music is universal and has no boundaries, and indeed, I picked up some new ideas for my own music playing after hearing those songs ^_^

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And if you ask, where did I get these photos? The answer is: I'm the sub-editor for Voice of IPBA...I'm supposed to choose the photos to be included in the magazine, and my trustworthy cameraman, Daud, was the one who gave me these photos =p

Until then, see ya all~