Published on: Monday, December 14, 2009 |
Kota Kinabalu: Hotel operators have been urged to give chances to local performers instead of continuously depending on foreign entertainers.
Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister, Datuk Masidi Manjun, said it is time for the local bands and singers to be given the opportunity to prove themselves.
"Why do we keep employing singers and bands from outside? Our singers are also talented and the only thing they may be lacking is the exposure they get here.
"If we keep denying them chances, they will never prove that they are as good as foreign entertainers, if not better," he said during the Prima Akustika Final Showcase, here, on Saturday.
Local bands, he stressed, are as good as the Filipino bands who are paid well to perform whereas some of our performers are paid as low as RM50 per show.
The Showcase was to show hotels and restaurants the singing and performance skills of the eight Prima Akustika groups (local bands) who had just completed a performance course in two local music schools.
Meanwhile, Masidi also said hotels must take care of their entertainers' welfare and pay them the amount they deserve if they want to see quality.
"What harm is there in providing our local entertainers with meals on their course of contract? It is better than you waste all the buffet food and leaving the singers hungry, isn't it?" he said.
If local entertainers are paid according to what they deserve, no doubt they too can do a good job in entertaining customers, he said.
"However, you singers must also learn a wider range of songs, not only local songs but maybe foreign songs according to the audience," he added.
They must also be disciplined and have a sense of responsibility in keeping their words after signing a contract, dress attractively and decently to convince employers to employ them, Masidi said.
The performers for the Showcase of Prima Akustika were Quadro Forte, Biru, Tea Trapot Melon Tea, Acciaccature, Kayu, Tree S.A, Chren and Sun King.
