An Evening With Anuar Zain

Last Saturday night, lelaki ini...

 

Got to meet Lelaki Ini...

 

 (promotional poster courtesy of playpause)

Yup, finally found the perfect belated birthday gift for The Hasbern. The Krups Espresso Maker was too expensive, he said; my humble Nescafe-tarik would taste much better :P

Yes, so anyway, we spent An Evening With Anuar Zain. You see, The Hasbern is a HEEYUUGEE fan. Our car is our private karaoke box where the driving gets to sing and try out vocal acrobats, and of course, the oft-playes CDs would be Anuar Zain’s. From the first album to the latest, The Hasbern has it all covered, and I must state here for the record – he’s got an amazing voice. The Hasbern, that is. Even Ilhan loves crooning “Mencinta ibuuuu tak mengenal waktuuuu…” (notice the honest mistake; it should be mencintaimu, not mencinta ibu, but a lovable mistake nonetheless J ) and warbling “Lelaki ini yang selalu mencintaaamuuu…selaaaaaluuu….tanpa raguuu..”

So that night, with the kids at their nenek’s place, we dressed all spiffy and made our way to The Esplanade. Did some nonchalant celebrity-spotting “oh that’s so-and-so”, entered the hall, and waited for the night to begin.

 

And what a night it was. Aku tak rasa ada orang berani kata suara Anuar Zain tak sedap; “jiwang lah” is as far as they’d go, but let them listen to him live and it’d bring them to their knees. His rich and impeccable voice almost made me weep. He didn’t have to resort to dancing (he’s a self-confessed kaki bangku) or costume changes or anything. It was all about his charm and The Voice.

 

To me, the most memorable pieces were Jangan Bersedih Lagi – my favourite, and the most difficult to sing, according to him – and Mungkin. Goodness...he scaled the notes effortlessly and the soulfulness gave me goosebumps. He ended with my current favourite Teman Terulung, and teased the audience by pretending to end the concert, only to return with the wajib Ketulusan Hati and Lelaki Ini. Simply brilliant! I feel apart from The Voice, the lyrics of his songs are what makes them really special. Sure, they are about love as all songs are, but somehow the words are more so beautifully and thoughtfully picked and woven into sentences. When sung with The Voice, cair beb!

 

                                     My Lelaki Ini with Lelaki Itu

 

We enjoyed the concert, had a great date in a long while and topped it off with a grossly overpriced Brownie Explosion at Haagen Dazs. A measly brownie with 3 scoops of ice-cream is grossly overpriced i tell you.

 

My main grouse were Suria-worthy kakak-kakak and makcik-makcik who heckled shamelessly at the most inappropriate times. Behave lah kakak…save your heckling for your tkc karaoke idol or something, not at the Esplanade Concert Hall with Anuar Zain, who, so politely laughed it off.

Check out pujanggamalam for a more complete and proper review. In the meantime, I shall pop in the CD and melayang-layang di awang-awangan……