Byline: Qadeem Zieman
UNITED KINGDOM – ROZITA Rohaizad, the daughter of late actress Mariani and niece of the legendary National Songstress Puan Sri Saloma, returns to the United Kingdom to fulfil her duties as a ‘Seniwati Negara’.
Known for her highly criticised single ‘Anak Ikan’, Rozita has recorded more than 40 songs across numerous genres, including R&B, jazz, ballads, dangdut, hip hop, and a selection of traditional genres, which have gained prominence in recent years of her career.
She started singing in her teens, discreetly, before telling her aunt about her passion for music. She was later referred to the late maestro, Tan Sri Datuk Dr Ahmad Nawab Khan, who produced her first album, Hari Yang Ku Nantikan, under the EMI label in 1978, which featured a fun, retro remake of Saloma’s rendition of ‘Cik Cik Boom’.
She later terminated in a plea to go on tour in Las Vegas with the guidance of Asia’s superstar, Anita Sarawak.
A choice that many thought was a major mistake, one could’ve possibly made after being signed by a music giant, but Rozita stayed true to herself, who is known amongst the entertainment industry as an adventurous being and loves to discover more knowledge and experience.
Years after the release of her debut album, Rozita was shocked to know that people still remembered her, making her feel motivated to restart her career with a second album, Hingga Ke Akhirnya, an album consisting of ten R&B/Jazz tracks.
Decades after her debut years, Rozita is still known as the melodic songbird who inherited her family’s talented genes – Mariani’s poetic acting, Saloma’s sensual singing, and, recently, her father, H.M. Rohaizad’s songwriting skills.
She surprised her followers on social media with a gift of writing two new songs, ‘A Beautiful Life’ and ‘Choose Me’, an R&B tune that has been dearly missed by her fans.
In years of touring foreign countries to promote traditional Malaysian music, Rozita was awarded earlier this year, honouring her as a ‘Seniwati Negara’ (National Artist), which she dedicated to her beloved mother, Seniwati Mariani. “This is for you, Mak!”
Her classic rendition of traditional music has been known from the first album with the song, Joget Budaya, which has been adapted by many dance associations, followed by Joget Malam Pertama, Zapin Rinduan Kasih, Malaysia Ku Sayang, and Keroncong Anak Ikan.
Today, the glamorous 68-year-old legend is looking as youthful as ever, as she is currently touring the UK to perform traditional anthems with The Melting Pot Collective Fusion Band, wearing a maroon lace kebaya with hair put up in a classic updo, adorned with gold ‘cucuk sanggul’, teaching the youngsters how to ‘joget’.
It feels worth it carrying a heavy bag across the bus, train, and plane through twisted, curvy Glasgow just to dress the Scottish group, The Melting Pot Collective Fusion Band, in their pink Baju Melayu uniforms for the Malaysian Food & Cultural Festival.
“They look handsome like the Pahlawan Melaka.
Said Rozita, who catered 14kg of Malay traditional attire in a big luggage for the band that backed her up.
“It was a challenging trip that I had to take on all alone, as I do not have a manager or additional financial support – there were times that I almost fell over with my feet all cramped up due to the strong wind and cold weather – but it seems that my efforts were all worth the trouble.
“The highlight of the show was when they (TMPC) were singing my uncle, P. Ramlee’s song, Gitar Berbunyi, with full enthusiasm. Unfortunately, I was not supplied with any funds to bring a plus one to assist me, hence there is no clip of that.
I could only rely on the kindness of others to share with me snippets of my performances, but I am glad that Allah has eased my plan to be here. I finally get to help out with the Glasgow community and be backed by the Scottish musicians.
“There were many of our local Malaysian students who favoured living in Scotland by PR because of the free education, and I feel the warmth when they sing and dance with me.
One even jumped on the stage!
The classic diva shared her appreciation with me on WhatsApp. She was moved to be acknowledged and cherished by the UK citizens.
She is set to travel to Ireland, Birmingham, and Istanbul before coming back to Malaysia to record Choose Me.
Before going on the trip, the songstress had prepared another gift for her long-standing fans, a Malay song, Gelak Ketawa Raya, in conjunction with the upcoming Eid celebration next year.
The song was said to have been made to pay tribute to silver screen legends and revive the glamorous golden days of Malay-wood, featuring Malaysian Bollywood singer Nadia Fharshah, dubbed Malaysia’s Lata Mangeshkar, and the clones of P. Ramlee, Ahmad Daud, and S. Samsudin.
Qadeem Zieman (mrshaher.official@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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