Sudirman: Asia's Best Performer

Before this, we have discuss about P Ramlee, one of the Malaysia’s finest music icon. This time, I will present about one of the Malaysia’s music icon but in different era. As we know, P Ramlee reached his fame around 1950 to 1960s. Our next star is someone who reach his fame during 1980s. Once, he was labelled as Asia’s Best Performer around his years as a performer defeating Leslie Cheung and Kuh Ledesma and other Asia’s performers. Graduated as a lawyer and had his own business, he is the one and only Sudirman, the man who won Malaysians’ heart until now, even though he is no longer with us.

For me, Sudirman can be described as a talented performer. He can attract many people to watch him on stage with his approaching method. Now, let’s study a little bit about Sudirman. Born in 25th May 1954 in Temerloh, Pahang, he is the son on Hajah Romlah binti Dahalan and Haji Arshad bin Haji Hassan and he is the youngest among his siblings. Spending his school years in Pahang, he finally pursued his study in law in University of Malaya in 1976 and managed to divide his time with his career and studies. He received his Bachelor in Law in 1980 and became a lawyer. He ended up being full time artist in 1984.

ASIA BEST PERFORMER...He managed to captivate the judges with his ability and won the title Asia Best Performer defeating other contestants. Photo taken from https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7GQZbBnj1aw9DgheAw7U7hfVx8fYeVP9GzzGa8bpRzKgheG0qNDyzzP_kqCKQ07e8kYn6xzndaaQLAYhJnezHHMXjwU5rfe_Lp9mM5W2E8xOLL8YlaBFMEBLCQ1zISjQbKrBGUl3nOlxz/s1600/sudirman.jpg

His path in the world of music became brighter when he won the 1st place in the 1976’s Bintang RTM. Starting from there, he starts to record songs and albums and having a lot of fans. Sudirman can be described as ‘Citizens’ Entertainer’ because his songs mainly about society life and culture. Even until now, his songs such as ‘Apa Khabar Orang Kampung’ and ‘Balik Kampung’ still being listened by various people because both of these songs described the society’s culture. His credibility can be seen when he won the title ‘Asia’s Best Performer’ defeating Leslie Cheung, Kuh Ledesma and other Asian performers. Also, he managed to organize a free concert in Chow Kit Road which was attended by 100000 people thus deserved to be included in Malaysian Book of Records.

In 22nd February 1992, he passed away in his sister’s house in Bangsar due to pneumonia. His funeral in Temerloh was attended by thousands of his fans, including Dato Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad (now received Tun), who is Malaysia Prime Minister during that time. He is truly an icon for Malaysia’s music industry. Although he left us long time ago, his legacy such as his songs and his one time only movie are still being enjoyed by us.