A virtually unknown singer in the State, Jusie Sikin is over the moon nowadays as her song, Iningaan, has been nominated in the Murut Song Chart on 2 November 2008, exactly one week back from the time this article is written. The song chart program airs over the radio every Sunday at 8 p.m. What astounds her is that just after one week, her song shot to spot no.3! Jusie wishes to express her heart-filled gratitude to all the people who have voted her via sms.
“I couldn’t have gotten to that high spot so quickly if people had not kindly voted for me. For that, I’m indefinitely grateful,” Jusie said in an inter-South China Sea and Kota Kinabalu telephone interview as presently, Jusie resides in Kuala Lumpur. “I hope my voters will stay with me week after week. Who knows I will eventually hit the no.1 spot.”
Jusie, 19, composed the Iningaan song herself. The song can be found in the newly released cassette album “Rimbai Nu Murut - Tampusis-On” produced by Greenland Entertainment. The album features a group of artistes comprising of her siblings and a cousin (please refer to the category “Album Release“ of this site for detail write-up). She has been actively composing songs for several years now and her past creation has once clinched the champion trophy which was sung by a fellow Murut singer.
Jusie is happy and satisfied with the compilation album and hopes to be able to come up with another compilation album in year 2009. When asked if she would like to go solo, she says: “Yes, I’m interested. In fact, I’m now in the process of writing more songs. But maybe not too soon because I still want to combine effort with my siblings and cousin. However, as soon as I’m ready, I’ll give the solo album a go.”
To vote her song through sms, type CRK JUS (then send to 32776). The Song Chart program is called Carta Rimbai-Rimbai Kasihaan, starts at 8.pm. every Sunday and the channel is Siaran Murut Sabah Vfm.
The ethnic group of the Sungei people, literally translated as people of the river, are concentrated in certain districts in the Sandakan area such as Paitan, Beluran and Sugud. Their numbers are not as great as the Kadazan Dusuns that are dispersed throughout the state particularly around the west-coast region; hence, being smaller in numbers means higher risk in their ethnic tongue being slowly eroded by the ravage of time.
Butod never considers himself a singer but it was the thing called love that leads his feet to the studio of Greenland Entertainment to record two singles, namely, Imelda and Tupus Auh Milo Sansagan (Love Cannot Be Forced). These two songs were personally penned by Butod himself and they were pure inspiration coming from the heart of Julius Ebin, the real person behind Butod.
Butod has always been a great fan of local songs and know most of the hits that came out over the years. In contrast, Butod’s line of work has nothing to do with entertainment. He has always been the man behind the scene in the field of computer programming. Singing is his number two passion, he claims. Keeping up with the latest computer technology and know-how is his main interest and bread and butter.
The unmistaken resemblance between father and son is so strong that people’s yearnings for the presence of John Gaisah are somewhat filled and healed by a look at Aldro John Gaisah, 27, the only son of the legendary late singer. Aldro stays true to his singing root, and today Aldro is a household name in Sabah. His first solo album was a huge success and his vcd mtv-karaoke based on the same album that followed shared the same plateau of achievement.
Everywhere he goes people warms up quickly to his friendly and humble mannerism. Jounar Motuya, a famous name among the Dusun music followers, is a rare breed of individual. No one seems to say a bad thing about him except praises and what a fun-loving man he is. Jounar is easy to work with and he is an expert at the keyboard that he could easily accompany a singer who sings a song that he has not heard of but his fingers catches up very quickly. “Ya, no problem, I can do it,” is his typical response when someone comes up with a never-heard-of song to him. His laughter and jovialness certainly eases up one’s tension and that helps a lot when a singer seems all nerves and jittery.
Speaking in a raspy voice due to over-singing (he gets invited a lot to perform), Jounar lets out what has been in his heart and mind all these while, that is, to talk a bit of what he has accomplished in the past. He’s not one to talk much about himself, but he looks at this time as a way to take stock of what has happened and recap some things for future endeavours.
Julia Moduli entered the world of Sabah’s entertainment as a bopping teenager a good fifteen years ago. Powered by a burning ambition and a strong, energetic vocal, she burst into the scene ready to take the world by storm. Her Dusun single “Langadku Sogigisom” became an instant hit and some still remember her today because of that one song. She stayed on the scene a few more years while spinning more hits from her two compilation albums, Mega Dusun and Mega Sumazau, and then she faded away…
Elvis Saladan, an up-and-coming singer from Kg. Talantang, Kota Marudu, continues to nurture his dream of becoming the owner of a Dusun album someday and hopes that that day would not be too far off. Elvis has been brushing his talents in public notably during festivals, weddings and various stage shows organised locally. On a private scale, he finds time to practice with other more established singers from the State. Blessed with a high vocal range, Elvis tackles the tricky high parts with little discomfort. But Elvis admits humbly that he is far from being excellent and says that competition is stiff. “There are a great numbers of fellow Sabahans who are great singers so there would always be someone better than you, for sure,” he said.
Kudat – at the northern most part of Sabah – has given birth to this raw, undiscovered talent whose singing flair was spotted through a one-on-one audition with Greenland Entertainment Studio way back in 2006. Jeff’s sound exudes a soothing effect but at the same time holds enough power to engage the listeners. Smooth and strong, to describe it in a nutshell. These features were unique enough to path the emergence of his first solo album entitled “Jeff Maridala – Isai Koh Id Koposionnu” in July 2006.
Jeff has, over the years, been secretly keeping a wish to someday come up with his own Dusun album but had no idea how to approach a studio until a friend introduced him to Greenland Entertainment without him knowing what the meeting was all about. There were signs of promise in his singing ability as he received one too many bookings as the entertainer in his workplace during staff functions and colleagues had been commenting how good he sounded. An avid songwriter, Jeff composed most of the songs in his album with a bit of rearrangement done by the Studio. The results pleased Jeff and most importantly, the larger audience at a later stage.
