Jamal...Kembara Seniman

Dates : 5 - 9 August 2009

Time : 8 pm

Venue : Istana Budaya

(I have been quite tight up this last few days/weeks, so I apologise for this late entry.)

Sypnosis:
The show was divided into two segments. The first segment was a theatre musical depicting Jamal's life from childhood to his present days. Whilst the second segment was him singing all of his hit songs ie mini concert. I did not count how many songs he sang but from what I read in the papers (Utusan Malaysia - which happened to be one of the sponsors), it was about 33 POWERFUL songs.

The show started by showing 4 persons who seemed to just trying their bestest to quiten a 'baby Jamal' from crying helplessly including his late father. It was here that it was explained that the name Jamal Ubaidillah means that he would be someone famous one day (if my memory serves me right).

Then it was his teenage days in Teluk Anson or now known as Teluk Intan in Perak. Singing by the roadside with his guitar and friends. There was also a scene where Jamal had to pay the musicians (at a fun fair, was it?) to allow him to sing a song to impress a girl.

The nostalgic part was when he re-lived the time when he sang and won Bintang RTM 1979 with 'Senandung Semalam' which was the beginning of his stardom. His 'argument' with Ahmad Nawab (Datuk) in the studio for not being able to deliver a song with enough 'feel' and 'emotion'. There was also the part where he 'argued' with himself in front of the mirror..which showed how confused and lonely he actually was..or still is (despite just being surrounded with fans cheering him on)? It was here he revealed that the reason he uses ABDIllah instead of UBAIDIllah as his stage name was because he wanted to devote ('mengABDIkan') himself to the music industry.

Then came the second segment..the concert.
Here, he sang and sang and sang nearly all of his famous and well-known songs. On the night that I watched his show, his duet partner was Fatin Nabila Noor Sazley, one of the recent Bintang RTM 2009 winners. They sang 'Kehebatan Cinta' (original partner was Francesca Peters) and 'Sandarkan Pada Kenangan' (original partner was Fauziah Ahmad Daud aka Ogy in the boxoffice film 'Azura'). - Fatin did well and should be proud of herself.

My personal comments:
As compared to my earlier entry on Merchants of Bollywood on the difference of theatre musicals and concerts..in Jamal...Kembara Seniman, I have no complaints about that. Simply beacuse..I knew from the start what I was paying for. It was already publicised that the show WOULD BE DIVIDED into a theatre musical AND concert.

Oh well..with that aside, let me start with the first segment..the theatre musical.

i. Even though I am a strong believer that everyone regardless who they are, have a right to their private lives and do not agree with the saying 'when one becomes an artist, he/she belongs to the public'...I got to admit that the main reason I bought a ticket to watch Jamal's show was to see...his private life. Did I get what I paid for? My answer is....YES. Sure..he did not potray his troubled married life, his problem with drug addiction (which he had seeked help to put it in his past) etc..but...that was not what I wanted to see. The 'private life' that I was interested in was his upbringing, his struggle to be a star etc...and THAT WAS EXACTLY what Jamal...Kembara Seniman showed! I am happy...I am satisfied..:)

ii. I got to admit, his acting skills in Azura was much better than what he showed here but hey...I don't blame him..as far as I am concerned, Jamal is a singer..not an actor. Yet, I applaude his attempt.

iii. Okay...this is one part which irritated and annoyed me the most!! TOO MUCH and TOO LONG video/interview clips !!! It definitely KILLED the mood and the momentum of the show during the first segment. I think, the interview clips was better off not shown at all and it would be much nicer if the movie scenes he did was acted out instead of being shown on the white screen. For an example, if it were a scene from the film 'Azura', the spotlight can focus on an actor and actress acting it out ad-lib with Jamal's and Ogy's voice from the film, then the spotlight would focus on another actor and actress acting out Jamal's and Sofea Jane's scene in 'Kekasih Awal dan Akhir' ad-lib again and so on and so forth..just like how he did it at the beginning of the show when the elders were trying to quiten 'baby Jamal' as I stated above. - Just giving my two penny's worth of idea/comment/thought.

(Hmm...can't help but wonder if the theatre musical above would be orchestrated differently if Ogy were a part of it...hmm...)

Now..let's carry on to the second segment..the concert:

Oh wow....what can I say? Jamal's vocal was (and still is) totally...SUPERB !! I just have no words to describe it..definitely no comments from me on this issue. Just INCREDIBLY AWESOME !! One thing for sure....if you think hearing Jamal sing on cassettes/cds/radio/television is great....you should try hearing him sing LIVE !!! I sure am glad I did!!

As for the songs...he most definitely chose them well. All were very entertaining and his hits. Again....I am happy....I am satisfied !

Oh....I am also thrilled to be able to get his autograph..hehehe..as you can see in the picture above!

-Nena-