P2F 1st Concert Review.

WARNING: Personal opinions included, I do apologise if you find offence in this post.

The second season of Brunei’s very own reality singing competition kicked off last night with a splendid and successful first appearance.

Regardless of the successful outcome of the first season, I was rather sceptical regarding this season’s display of “talents”. By “talents” I mean; a number of people commercially picked to perform songs that are beyond their vocal capabilities. A typical scenario in Malaysia’s Akademi Fantasia; wannabe celebrities (with and without talent) are pulled from the shadows of nowhere and placed into the limelight; intensely trained to perform week by week. An approach very impressive yet hardly successful; I mean really, how many seasons have Akademi Fantasia been? And exactly how many successful celebrities has it given birth to? It just comes to show that popularity (as seem to be of high priority in reality shows as such) is ephemeral and could not exactly compete with pure and raw talent.


THAT was what I was expecting as I stood there by the side watching the first P2F concert, and I have never been proven wrong my whole life. The participants in this year’s Paspot To Fame reality show sends a huge majority of AF’s students into absolute ridicule with their amazing vocal talents. This year’s P2F aim is to search for a star as opposed to creating one.

Like American Idol, the concerts every week comes with different themes. The first concert’s theme is duets. I came about 20 minutes late and missed the first couple, but given the strings of amazing performances made me stay until the end. I will not be assessing each and every participant (there’re 22 of ‘em for crying out loud!), but I shall point out to you those who caught my attention; either positively or negatively.

Let’s starts with the Pros;



Fau; she performed with Ziez, singing 24 Hours (originally sung by Hans Anwar and Puteri Norizah). Her vocals blew me away; she probably has one of the strongest vocals ever to echo the stage in local performances here in Brunei. I’ve set my sight of this girl and by the sounds of things; she could go far with that voice.

Qeez; a relative of mine (no, I’m not being bias) who I never thought could sing the way she did that night. Her simple performance worked, belting out Lionel Richie and Diana Ross’s Endless Love, she poured her hearts out into the song and created magic.

Dayat; another simple performance that worked, this guy has such a rich voice that goes perfectly well with the song that he was given; Rindu Bayangan. However, that I feel that the song is not challenging enough for him, it didn’t really measure up to what I feel he could do.




Aming. Belting out Ziana Zain’s part in Senja Nan Merah, this guy’s talent is extremely promising. For a guy to be able to handle such high notes and sang it amazingly, this guy should be seriously noted.

Now, a lil’ bit of the negative;

Hill; Great voice, wonderful range and good rendition of the song – that is without a doubt. But what in the world is with that outfit?. He proved to me that layering does not work great all the time. Get rid of the pashmina (what’s the point of wearing skinny pants when you’re not flaunting it?) and the whole outfit could look tons better. Another criticism that I would say about him is that he was slightly over the top, which funnily enough; overshadows him and inevitably made his partner more prominent. Plus point for him: his singing capabilities seem promising and their performance was indeed one of the most entertaining.

Ina; similar to Hill, her great vocal skills are undeniable but the dress is everything that is wrong on a dress and should be listed in this particular site. I took the liberty of redesigning her horror provoking gown into something less severe. (mind the lazy editing and the fact that I took a pic of it instead of scanning)

Reyd; Again, the outfit... really, which hotel did you loan that from? Strong voice nevertheless. I feel that he could sing better than how he did, the song that was chosen for him (Hati ini telah dilukai by Krisdayanti and Ajai) didn’t do him much justice; it didn't provide a good display of his potential, which probably contributed to his elimination.

Those are some of my reviews of the participants that got my attention. Oh, 5 were eliminated btw.

The show in general; it was indeed successful, Zayn was a great choice of host. His personality adds colours to the concert. I especially loved the fact that he spoke English, Standard Malay AND Brunei Malay. That is how shows in Brunei SHOULD be held, if Aznil in AF could use varieties of Malaysian dialects (loghats) during the concert, why couldn’t we? Don’t let the concept of “formality” stop us. Forget formality, it’s entertainment, keep formality in other aspects, but do not stop promoting our native dialects.

However, I do feel that he lacks connection with the audience a bit. I think it takes the typical Bruneian audience a while to have a certain connection or rapport with the host; just cultural I guess.

Lastly, given the extremely limited number of seats available and the huge amount of supporters coming to support, many had to resort to standing by the side or sitting on the floor or steps. The management might want to seriously think in overcoming this particular problem; what’s a show without its audience ey?

Till next concert.

Muaz Rashid – I wish all of you great success.