WHISTLING A DIFFERENT TUNE
Singer Idayu’s rendition of ‘Ya Maulai’ at the AF Megastar concert on Sunday took an interesting twist when she included whistling in her performance. SYAHIRAH MOKHTAZAR has the story
NOT many can whistle like Mariah Carey, except for a few talented ones like Idayu Yaakob, 32, a former contestant of Akademi Fantasia Season 3, whose vocals have been compared by her fans to that of Carey.
At the AF Megastar concert at Shah Alam’s Royale Theatre last Sunday, Idayu sang Datuk Siti Nurhaliza’s tune Ya Maulai, and spiced up her performance by whistling towards the end of the song, impressing the audience and judges.
Whistling is when a singer hits a range of extremely high notes while performing a song.
Many praised her performance, including Siti, who tweeted about Idayu’s performance after the concert ended.
“TQ Idayu di atas nyanyian yang cukup baik. Happynya saya dengar. (Thank you Idayu for such a great performance. I’m so happy to hear it)”
When contacted by the New Straits Times yesterday, Idayu, whose full name is Nur Farah Idayu Yaakob, said that her decision to include the whistle was spontaneous.
“I did not think of doing the whistle for this Irama Malaysia tune during rehearsals. But when I was performing on stage, I had a rush of adrenaline, and I went ahead and did it.
“Thankfully, it worked out well and I’m glad everyone enjoyed it,” she said.
“The song isn’t an easy one to carry. Furthermore, my vocals are a bit on the husky side, so to capture the traditional feel of the song, I had to work extra hard to soften my voice a little.
“Since this was a tune made popular by Siti, I knew I had to deliver it well.
“It was also important for me to ensure that my version wasn’t similar to the original.”
Idayu hopes to stay on top of her game for the rest of the competition, and prove to the audience and judges that she is a versatile singer who can sing any genre of music.
The third AF Megastar concert saw Adira Suhaimi (AF8) and Azhar Osman (AF10) booted out from the show.
The remaining AF stars who will continue to compete in the competition, besides Idayu, are Bob, Marsha, Shahir, Amir Jahari, Indah Ruhaila, Ewal Sufi Rashid, Syamel and Amir.