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.
