Name: Datuk Siti Nurhaliza binti Tarudin
Date of Birth: 11 January 1979 (currently 30 years old) – born in Kampung Awah, Pahang
Family: 5th child in the family of 8 siblings and comes from a musically inclined family (her grandfather was a famous violinist and her mother was a famous local traditional singer)
Occupations: Singer, songwriter, record producer, businesswoman, actress.
Genres of music that she covers: Irama Malaysia, Pop, Soft Rock, Pop Rock, R&B, Dance-pop
Instrument she uses: Voice
Achievements: She is a multiple-award winning Malaysian pop singer-songwriter who has garnered more than 200 local awards as well as international awards. (For full list of awards she achieved, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Siti_Nurhaliza_awards)
Field of Work
· Competed in 1995 RTM Juara Bintang competition where she met Adnan Abu Hassan (famous Malaysian music composer) who tutored her and helped her with her vocal performance, leading to her winning of the contest. She was then granted a contract with Suria Records and in 1996, she released her first self-titled album, Siti Nurhaliza, which was a great success and which paved the way for successful subsequent albums. Her 1st album also made her a well-known figure in Malay pop culture.
· Her voice and lyrics proved to be very popular among teenagers as well as adults throughout Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and Indonesia.
· She set up her own company, Siti Nurhaliza Productions (M) Sdn. Bhd. The activities the company is involved in generally are in the entertainment scene.
· She also has 2 subsidiary companies, Siti Nurhaliza Collections Sdn. Bhd. And Siti Nurhaliza Marketing Sdn. Bhd.
· She sells her own Ctea (get the pun?) which is a brand of Malaysian tea, from tea leaves cultivated on foothills of Mt Kinabalu, Sabah. Ctea brand comes in 2 flavours, Geranium Special and Pandan.
· She receives substantial income through commissions and royalties for her endorsements and as ambassador for products, such as Maybelline, Pepsi, Pantene, Maxis, TM Net, Jusco, Konica Minolta, Olay Skin Care and Samsung.
· She also plans to branch out into the cosmetics business.
· She is known to be a formidable, successful and well-known businesswoman in Malaysia.
· In March 2009, she revealed that she would begin work on her next album later in the year. It would also be her 1st attempt at spiritual songs and plans to release it for Ramadan. Siti and Indonesian singer Kris Dayanti will feature in 8 duets of which 4 will be Malaysian compositions she chose while the other 4 will be from Indonesia.
· There will also be a concert in Dubai after SATU, a local TV cooking show where she will host 1 episode and more TV appearances for Hari Raya Aidilfitri.
Achievements in her field of work
· She was the 1st non-Chinese to be invited to perform at the 15th Golden Melody Awards, Taiwan in 2004 where she sang solo and a duet with Wang Lee-Hom with the song月亮代表我的心.
· Her songs have also been covered by other artistes. Including a famous song Cindai which was re-recorded in Chinese by Chien Bai Hui, and her first hit song Aku Cinta Padamu which was covered by North, an Australian boy band.
· She held a successful solo concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London on 1 April 2005 and the majority of the audience was Malaysians living in UK and Malaysians who had travelled just to see the concert.
· The British press called her “Asia’s Celine Dion” due to her powerful vocal and outstanding performances.
· To date, she has the most number 1 singles than any other artistes in Malaysia.
· In 2002, she was invited to perform a tribute concert for the late Sudirman Hj Arshad held at Istana Budaya, KL.
· She was bestowed the “Darjah Indera Mahkota Pahang” award by the Sultan of Pahang which carries the title of “Datuk” in Oct 24, 2006.
· She currently tops the list of the “Richest Artistes” in Malaysia.
· She is worth more than RM 65 million and was named one of the millionaires in entertainment within SEA.
· Her 11th studio album which was released in 2006 called Transkripsi contained contributions from producers such as Aubrey Suwito, Jenny Chin, Mac Chew, Yasin, Cat Farish, Firdaus, Mahmud and Damian VE. It became the year’s best album after winning the Best Album award in the Anugerah Industri Muzik, equivalent to the Grammy Award. This is also the first album released under her own production company.
· She made her 1st appearance at the Grammy Awards for the red carpet session on 11 February 2007 and was the 1st Malaysian to walk the red carpet.
· On 20 and 21 April 2007, she performed at the successful Konsert Istana Cinta Nostalgia which was a tribute concert for the late Tan Sri P. Ramlee & Puan Sri Saloma at the Istana Budaya, KL. This concert featured popular songs composed by Ramlee himself which were performed by Siti and other invited artistes.
· On 30 April 2007, she garnered 4 nominations in the Anugerah Industri Muzik including Best Pop Album (Transkripsi), Best Vocal Female Performance In An Album, (Transkripsi), Best Music Video (Bisakah) and Best Cover for an Album (Transkripsi) . Out of the 4, she won 2: Best Pop Album and Best Album for Transkripsi.
· She also bagged 2 fan-based-vote nominations for Most Popular Female Artiste and Most Popular Song (Biarlah Rahsia) and 3 nominations for Best Female Artiste, Best Song and Best Album at 2006 Anugerah Planet Muzik, a regional award ceremony for artistes in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. She won Most Popular Female Artiste, Best Female Artiste and Best Song (Biarlah Rahsia)
· Menanti Pasti was the 1st single to be released to the Indonesian market.
· She performed in the musical “Remy … Kisah P. Ramlee” as Azizah, P. Ramlee’s mysterious lover as a tribute to the late P. Ramlee. It was staged at Istana Budaya from 17 October 2007 to 3 November 2007. The musical also saw a debut of her 3rd single, Mulanya Cinta, which was created by Dick Lee. It was the 1st collaboration with the renowned Singaporean composer although she had known him for years.
· She released the Latin-influenced pop song Ku Mahu as the 1st single of her 12th studio album Hadiah Daripada Hati, which was featured in the opening theme song for a drama called Spa-Q. It was well received and topped most of the Malay charts for weeks.
· Melewan Kesepian was her second single and was the 1st track of this album to have a video clip. The song was a remake of a hit that was once popularized by an Indonesian band called Jikustik.
· She recently became the most frequently searched person on Google by Malaysian Google users, according to Google’s 2007 Malaysia Year-End Zeitgeist, beating celebrities like Paris Hilton and Britney Spears.
· On 21 March 2008, she held a successful solo acoustic concert at the Esplanade Theatre, which was called “Diari Hat” (A Diary of Her Heart). It received good reviews from the local press saying that “she rules hearts in Singapore as well as in Malaysia” and that “her reign as the queen of Malay pop songs is still going strong”.
· Her 12th studio album Hadiah Daripada Hati came under criticism from the press during its release as critics complained that it was only a moderate performance from her and that it was not on the same par as her previous album, Transkripsi (which was touted as the best album she had ever made), but these criticisms were rebutted when it received 5 nominations in the 15th edition of AIM which eventually earned her 3 awards for Best Pop Album, Best Musical Arrangement in a Song (Malay) for the song Cintamu as well as her 9th Best Vocal Performance in an Album (Female) in which she had lost to Jaclyn Victor the previous year.
· On 26 December 2008 her 13th released album called Lentera Timur will have modern and contemporary songs unlike her usual traditional genre. She also worked with renowned composers like M. Nasir and Indonesia’s Katon Bagaskara for the album. It was said that the initial development of her album was in 2006, but due to lack of materials she had to postpone it for 2 years. Although there was a poor sale due to lack of promotions, the quality of the album has never been denied. Afterall, it grabbed top awards, Best Pop Ethnic and Album Of The Year.
· She took home the Best Female Vocal trophy for the song “Di Taman Teman”.
· She wrote the songs Ketika Cinta and Batasku Asaku which were recorded for the soundtrack to Perempuan Berkalong Sorban film.
· In 2009, she launched her 8th concert tour to promote her Lentera Timur album called SATU Konsert Eksklusif Dato’ Siti Nurhaliza. It began its run on 26 June 2009 in KL, Malaysia where tickets were sold out weeks before tour. On this tour, she was accompanied by husband.
· Popularity means that she is constantly in demand for endorsements. She has sung themes for movies (eg. Puteri Gunung Ledang) and corporate jingles (eg. the Malaysian wireless communications firm Maxis). She has also been featured in various advertisements and has been spokeswoman for many well-established brands, such as Maybelline, Pepsi, Jusco, TMnet, Konica Minolta, Nippon Wiper Blade, Olay, Pantene and Samsung.
Romance
· She had been previously romantically linked to quite a number of fellow artistes including Zamani, Anuar Zain and Dr Fazley Yaakob.
· During her acceptance speech at the “Anugerah Bintang Popular 2006” awards ceremony she thanked “her special one”, whom she had never mentioned before.
· On 17 July 2006, Siti and Datuk Khalid Muhammad Jiwa (a businessman) made a press conference announcing their plans to wed on 21 August 2006. There was much controversy over the romance as there was a 20 year age gap between them and also, rumours were flying that Siti had an affair with Datuk K while he was still married and had asked him to leave his wife for her. The 2 had apparently met through Datuk K’s former wife Tengku Zawyaah Tengku Izham who used to invite Siti to perform at the charity functions that she hosted.
· On the same day of the press conference, a local TV SMS poll showed that 49% of the viewers did not approve of their wedding.
· Her wedding was also charted as the top celebrity wedding on Yahoo Buzz.
· Her engagement and akad nikah ceremony were held at Masjid Wilayah Persekutuan (Federal Territory Mosque) on 21 August 2006. The ceremony was televised live and gathered more than 2 million viewers. Their 1st wedding reception was held on 28 August 2006 at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre which was televised to 6.3 million viewers nationwide. It was a star studded affair with guests including royal families, VIPs, celebrities, close friends and family. Their 2nd reception held on 3 September 2006 in Siti’s hometown of Kuala Lipis, Pahang.
Information above take from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siti_Nurhaliza
hello! (: yes im back!:D
so, last thurs (2 july) during USEA lesson we were given a pop quiz on Malaysia related facts..and i failed terribly. ): basically there were 2 rounds, 16 questions for round 1 with 10 seconds for each question. as for the 2nd round, there were 8 questions, with 15 seconds for each question as the difficulty level was supposedly higher (sadly, both were equally challenging for me)
round 1 was on the states of Malaysia. Mr Miza would show us pictures of a particular state's flag and then we would have to write down which state it was. i never knew that each state had a state flag so it was pretty interesting, especially when there were special features in some of them which represented the states.
round 2 was on famous Malaysians, which included Tunku Abdul Rahman (no no it's not Tengku Abdul Rahman or the Temenggong, that was in 1819), Siti Nurhaliza and P.Ramlee (the "cobaan" guy as my class fondly remembers him by). haha i failed pathetically for this round, only 1.5 out of 8. ):
after the quiz, mr miza wanted us to do a write-up for 1 of the famous Malaysians mentioned in the second round as homework, and then upload whatever research that we had done onto this blog (: i chose siti nurhaliza and found out loads about her from wiki!:D it'll be a long post so i shall use another post to post about the research (:
stay tune!:D
Hello again :D
Ok so I was reading newspapers this morning when I came across this article titled “Rubber demand threatens wildlife” in the Home section of The Straits Time dated Thursday, June 11 2009 (It was on page 10, if you would like more details xD)
Although I hardly take much interest in reading such articles (oops) the picture of this woman (I think the person is female, but it does sort of look like a male from another angle too ><) extracting the latex caught my attention so I decided to read the article! (: (and I am glad I read it too, because the information was rather useful for our Regional Studies Programme)
It talked about how “the rapid expansion of rubber plantations in SEA in the last decade could have a devastating effect on the environment”. Apparently, more than 500 000 hectares of regional mountainous forests (about 8 times the size of Singapore) have already been converted to rubber plantations. By 2050, the expansion of plantations in the highlands of SW China, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar is expected to double or triple.
What used to be a landscape consisting of patches of forest, irrigated rice and a variety of other crops is now just uniformly rubber and this can lead to devastating environmental effects. (By the way, it was noted that there was an unrestricted expansion of rubber in mountainous regions in Mainland SEA)With fewer trees, there are far fewer plants to absorb excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and this will result in an acceleration of the effects of global warming. Deforestation also causes landslides and soil erosion, while growing only rubber also destabilizes regional water systems as these plants tend to suck up excess water. There is also a threat to biodiversity as it would mean the decline of numerous species of native plants and animals (many of them are already on the brink of extinction) should the trend of growing only rubber trees continue. Roughly a quarter of the world’s species of animals and plants lives in this region (this region is a biodiversity hot spot, home to 7000 endemic
Experts have attributed this trend to rising crude oil princes a burgeoning (growing/expanding rapidly) demand for rubber products, particularly in China. Thus, rubber seems to be the most valuable crop in the region.
One of the professors has also called for more areas to be designated as forest reserves as “a substantial increase in natural reserve areas could help to reduce the threats to biodiversity and carbon stocks”. He also called for the adoption of diversified agroforestry systems, where cash crops such as rubber and oil palm play important roles, but are not planted as monocultures. Instead, these cash crops will co-exist alongside native species of plants, thus reducing the threat to ecosystems.
After reading the article right, I realise that this area involves countries in SEA, making it even more “related” to me, for after all, I am a RSP student. I think this issue needs immediate attention, for if this trend continues, not only will the plant and animal species be affected but we humans, who were the cause of all these problems, would be affected too. Many of these tree species may actually have medical properties that may be unknown to us yet, and when all these species are extinct, our hopes of getting cures for diseases like cancer will be gone too. Also, should animal and plant species be extinct, it would be impossible for our future generations to get the chance to view them, just like how we did not get to view the Dodo before it became extinct. The continuation of the trend would result in further worsening of global warming, and to be truthful, we are already suffering from some of the effects already. These few weeks, the temperature in Singapore has been really hot, with temperatures reaching up to as high as 34°C. If this continues, we would be likely to experience another ice age, and we humans might not even be able to endure the extreme weather that we caused in the first place. Although this is not the only cause of global warming and the threat to biodiversity, we should still do our best to prevent this trend from continuing. After all, if all of us have the mindset that all these problems are actually very minor and they don’t really make an impact on our lives, we would all be extinct sooner or later due to our selfish nature.
Ok yep, that’s all for this post. Bye!
hello again :D
ok so today's post shall be about Cambodia.
the information below are all taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodia.
im sorry that there will be no pictures for this post as there is an error when i try to upload pictures, but you can find the pictures (eg. of the national flag) on the above website (:
ok, so here goes:
General information
· Kingdom of Cambodia was formerly known as Kampuchea.
· Population is over 14 million people
· Capital & largest city is Phnom Penh.
· Agriculture has long been the most important sector of the Cambodian economy, with around 59% of the population relying on agriculture for their livelihood (with rice the principal crop)
Geography
· Area of 181, 035 km₂ and lies entirely within the tropic
· It borders Thailand to the north and west, Laos to the northeast and Vietnam to the east and southeast.
· Has a 443 km coastline along the Gulf of Thailand
Climate
· Range from 21° to 35°
· Experiences tropical monsoons – SW monsoons blow inland from May – October, NE monsoon lasts from November – March
· Experiences the heaviest precipitation from September to October
· Experiences the driest period from January – February
· 2 distinct seasons – rainy seasons (high humidity)= May-October, dry season = November – April
· Best months to visit Cambodia are November – January as the temperatures and humidity are lower.
Wildlife of Cambodia
· Has a wide variety of plants and animals – 212 mammal species, 536 bird species, 240 reptile species, 850 freshwater fish species and 435 marine fish species
· Has one of the highest deforestation rates in the world
Transport
· Has 4 commercial airports – largest airport = Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport, 2nd largest airport = Phnom Penh International Airport (Pochentong), other 2 airports = Sihanoukville and Battambang
Culture
· Various factors contribute to the Cambodia culture including Theravada Buddhism, French Colonialism, Hinduism, Angkor era culture, and modern globalization. The Cambodian Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts is responsible for promoting and developing Cambodian culture.
· Cambodia culture not only includes the culture of the lowland ethnic majority, the Khmer but also of some 20 culturally distinct hill tribes.
· Rural Cambodians wear a karma scarf which is a unique aspect of Cambodian clothing.
· Khmer culture, as developed and spread by the Khmer empire, has distinctive styles of dance, architecture and sculpture, which have been exchanged with neighbouring Laos and Thailand through the history. Angkor Wat (Angkor means "city" and Wat "temple") is the best preserved example of Khmer architecture from the Angkorian era.
· Bonn Om Teuk (Festival of Boat Racing), the annual boat rowing contest, is the most attended Cambodian national festival and is held at the end of the rainy season when the Mekong River begins to sink back to its normal levels allowing the Tonle Sap River to reverse flow.
· Popular games include cockfighting, soccer and kicking a sey (similar to a footbag).
· Cambodian New Year is a major holiday that takes place in April.
Food
· Rice is the staple grain while fish from the Mekong and Tonle Sap also form an important part of the diet.
· Cuisine of Cambodia contains tropical fruits, soups and noodles.
· Key ingredients in Cambodian cuisine are kaffir lime, lemon grass, garlic, fish sauce, soy sauce, curry, tamarind, ginger, oyster sauce, coconut milk and black pepper.
Politics and Government
· Prime Minister of Cambodia is the head of the government, while the king is the head of state.
· The PM is appointed by the King.
Armed Forces
· Royal Cambodian Armed Forces consists of the Royal Cambodian Army, then Royal Cambodian Navy and the Royal Cambodian Air Force.
· The king is the Supreme Commander of the RCAF and the PM is the commander-in-chief.
yep that's about it. if you would like more information on Cambodia, please do visit the link provided above as I only "sieved out" the more important ones. :D
ok, i shall end here. so long!
hey! (: have not been here for a really long time so here i am :D
alright, so this post shall be talking about a rice dish that is famous in a SEA country. and as for me, i chose cambodia to be the country and learn about these things about rice dishes:
1. rice is amongst the most popularly eaten food items in cambodia.
2. traditionally, the cambodians produce 2 different kinds of rice dishes - onei s the classic aromatic rice which is consumed with seafood items while the second is the glutinous sticky rice which is more of a desert item.
3. every cambodian chef must know how to work wonders with rice if he is to be truly considered a cambodian chef, as rice is part of every meal in cambodia.
also here are some facts that mr miza shared with us in class last week (21 may):
1. rice is grown in every SEA country except for singapore and it's a staple food
alright! so with all these information i went to the web and spent quite some time researching and finally i settled for a dish: BI PONG MOUN!:D
some facts about Bi Pong Moun!
1. it is a typical dish eaten in cambodia
2. usually composed of nothing more than fried eggs and white rice.
3. salt and soy sauce are used to flavour the eggs and soy sauce can be applied to the rice.
4. it is usually to fill the stomach than the taste
5. it is considered cheap and it's an easy dish that nearly anyone can make
source of information (and the place where more information can be found) :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bi_pong_moun
so after all these descriptions, aren't you hungry for a picture!xD so here's one to satisfy your appetite!:D
haha the egg looks so pretty but a bit uncooked :/
yay that's all for now. as for the research on cambodia, its already done but then i still need to edit it somemore so that it is neater and all (:
hey everyone im back!:D
rsp lessons for this year started last thursday and our teacher this year is Mr Miza (?). That lesson was our first so it was pretty slack, he told us what to expect for this year and also taught us where the 10 SEA countries were located on the world map.
This year's activities that are lined up for us seemed quite exciting and interesting!:D saya gemar!(: but then due to the 10-day Malaysia Immersion, we would have to miss netcarn, drama nite and FAREWELL ASSEMBLY!OOO:
the picture below is part of my worksheet. (: It shows the location of the 10 SEA countries on the world map (as mentioned above) and also includes some notes that I took. enjoy!:D
selamat petang semua! apa khabar?
esok ialah reporting day dan saya sangat terengah (excited) walau pun saya akan sangat sibuk (busy). (:
tadi minggu saya sibuk. saya pergi ke sekolah empat kali tadi minggu kerana saya ada aktiviti palang merah <3> dan aktiviti reporting day.
sekarang, saya akan mengakhiri (end) ini dan pergi ke buat lain aktiviti (:
selamat jalan!