Friday June 12, 2009
Success stories ...
By N. RAMA LOHAN
WORKING in the studio with Roslan Aziz can be a pleasant, and sometimes harrowing experience, but if there’s one thing almost all his artistes agree on is his command of the recording studio.
“Roslan has a strong doctrine of self; he knows what he wants, he knows what he likes and he believes in himself and his skills. With that intrinsic self-belief, his production style is one which not only works at bringing out the best in the artistes he produces, but also imbues the music with much of his own musical expression,” Prema Lucas (who has a new album, in Fusion – check out www.prema.net) reveals through e-mail from her current base in the United States.
The 48-year-old producer has his own speciality, too. According to Amir Yussof, that lies in his ability to work with people.
“He has his own approach and is thoroughly involved with the musicians. At times, he has the ability to intimidate certain people to get results, but this is not personal and he has the bigger picture in mind. Unlike many other producers, time and money are not his driving factors. Although this may have been detrimental to the sales of albums, it is also the reason the products were what they were,” reveals Yussof.
Self-belief: ‘Roslan Aziz knows what he wants, he knows what he likes and he believes in himself and his skills,’ says Prema Lucas. – 1991 filepic Perhaps his biggest gift to the nation is quality music. “Roslan opened the industry’s ears to different music genres created and performed by local talents. In an industry saturated with rock ballads and cultural melodies, he modernised the industry and showed that in music, Malaysia boleh,” Yussof expresses.
“He is a visionary and this character trait is his greatest contribution to the Malaysian music industry. It takes courage to dream big and then a lot of faith and work to make that into a reality,” adds Lucas.
Unfortunately, rock n’ roll-like scandals abound, and one of the label’s greatest success stories has some bad blood to share.
“He is a very talented producer, he knows what to do and where to put the instruments in the mix of a song, but it’s strange that he can’t seem to reach the same heights as before. Is it because he needs artistes like Sheila and me?” questions Zainal Abidin.
Zainal feels that a lot of the credit for RAP’s success ought to be distributed equally to the arrangers, musicians and artistes involved.
“In the studio, he was always focused, but he relied on his network of friends ... his support group.”
And what of RAP’s relevance today? “It’s just there, isn’t it? What’s he producing these days? There are no surprises any more. Had the artistes and funds been managed better, RAP could have been a real global name today,” Zainal argues.
The former Headwind man does concede that Roslan was instrumental in altering perceptions of Malaysian music.
“He changed the attitude of the listeners from listening to cinta-cinta (love) songs. He created music even non-Malays could appreciate ... but he certainly needed quality artistes to achieve this.”
The air of sophistication Roslan brought to the industry remains something unrivalled to this day. The question that begs to be asked is, why haven’t there been repeat performances, or better still, one that tops the watershed period of the early/mid 1990s?
Simply put, the music-making and business worlds are eons away from what they used to be. Listening habits have changed, musical styles are constantly evolving, and lulls in talent do exist.
But there are others besides artists who sing the gospel of RAP’s head honcho.
“Without a doubt in my mind, he is the most talented man I have met in Asia, in terms of musical ability and production. No one can outdo his style or quality. I am proud to be associated with him,” contributes Datuk Tony Fernandes, CEO of AirAsia.
Fernandes, who was Warner Music Malaysia managing director in the early 1990s, experienced the mid-period RAP wave of success first-hand.
Despite the internal RAP politics back then, the label kept true to the music and was a unifying force.
“Even though Malaysia is racially polarised, you would see all manner of races at concerts by Sheila Majid and Zainal Abidin, and that’s credit to Roslan ... he brought Malaysians together,” he adds.
As renowned producer Fauzi Marzuki shares poignantly, “If we talk about quality in music production, I can only think of RAP or Roslan Aziz. He is the benchmark of Malaysian music!”
Sheila Majid, when contacted, declined to comment.
Related Story:
Talkin’ about a revolution
Starting out
RSS
