LOC12:10
09:10 GMT
Islamic songs in Malaysia witness great success
By Mohammad Moheeb (with photos)
KUALA LUMPUR, March 16 (KUNA) -- Islamic songs have been greatly popular in
the last few years, and become a strong competitor in the music industry,
receiving praise from all Malaysians.
Islamic songs, known as "nasheed", have a long history in Malaysia as the
people there loved writing poems and singing.
Bands of Islamic songs appeared in the 1980s and quickly became very
popular because of the religious values they presented in their interesting,
entertaining songs.
Children found it easy to learn the morals and Islamic teachings though the
nasheeds, which also helped many Malaysians learn Arabic because many songs
where derived from old Arabic songs.
In the early 1990s, Islamic songs started a new phase with the
establishment of Raihan band that succeeded in becoming widely popular in a
very short time through introducing the use of simple musical instruments,
without losing the purity of the nasheeds.
Although Raihan only sang old songs after enhancing them with new rhythms
or introducing instruments, their first album "Puji Pujian" witnessed
outstanding success and made unexpected profits. The album made Raihan hold
the best album in sales to date with 700,000 albums sold in Malaysia alone.
Raihan also became the most awarded artist after collecting 16 awards,
including Best Nasyid Album, Best Group Vocal in an Album, and Most Traveled
Artist.
The establishment of Raihan was also coincided with the launching of
Rabbani band that became famous for its songs that were easy to sing and
memorize, competing with the most popular music bands in the country.
Head of Rabbani, Mohammad Asri bin Ibrahim, told KUNA here Friday that the
band was founded in 1996 as a new group of a former popular band that was
established in 1988 and headed by him also.
Although Rabanni members were 13 upon its start and became eight, the band
is becoming more popular everyday, he said.
Our songs became very popular, among children especially, and schools and
kindergartens started using them in teaching the kids, he added.
Ibrahim stressed that nasheeds became very famous and were no longer songs
for religious occasions and weddings only, pointing out the Malaysian
government invited nasheed bands to participate in activities and parties to
spread awareness and morals among youth and emphasizing that the band is very
proud of that.
Rabbani is not only famous in Malaysia, but in other countries too like
Brunei, Singapore, Indonesia, Britain, and Kuwait, he said.
He spoke about his participation in a three-day nasheed festival in Kuwait
in 2005, saying the band received a full-paid trip from the Kuwaiti government
to participate in the event.
The band was among other famous nasheed singers, like the Kuwaiti Mohammad
Al-Hosaiyan, Adel Al-Kandiri, and Mishari Al-Afasi, he added.
Ibrahim pointed out that Rabbani's songs, which were translated to Arabic,
witnessed great acceptance from the Kuwaiti audience and were recorded and now
sold in "Mawlai" album that was sold through out the Gulf states.
Nasheed in Kuwait has special attracting characteristics as a result to
having creative singers, meaningful words, and special rhythms, he
highlighted. (end)
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KUNA 161210 Mar 07NNNN