SINGAPORE, Aug 5 — It’s the eve of their 25th anniversary concert in Singapore, which happens tomorrow (August 6), but Norman Abdul Halim — one-third of what’s arguably Malaysia’s top pop trio — is feeling a little pensive about the musical journey he and his brothers Yusry and Edry began in 1992.
The concert in Singapore is a milestone concert in more ways than one, even if, as Norman will tell you, the real 25th anniversary for KRU is on May 19, 2017.
For starters, this is the first time they’re performing such a show here more than a decade as the band took a hiatus from live shows in 2006 (barring the odd TV or one-off appearances).
But the real clanger is that this is probably the last concert KRU will perform in Singapore.
“This may be it! We’re not retiring, lah, but I don’t think we’ll be performing in Singapore again after this. Unless there is a special reason for us to do a major concert, like our 30th anniversary,” Norman said over the phone from the KRU offices in Kuala Lumpur.
“But I don’t know if we can do a 30th anniversary concert. I’d be 50 by then. I don’t know if I want to do a concert at that age.
“Our music is not really the kind that you can sit down and play the songs on acoustic guitar. That’s why I think, for Singapore fans, this show is one they should not miss.”
Well, not unless they got up to Malaysia next May, when KRU will celebrate their 25th birthday in a big way there, although Norman said no plans have been firmed up as yet.
KRU (which stands for “Kumpulan Rap Utama” or “major rap group” has come a long way since they began in 1992. Back then, the three fresh-faced brothers wanted to be the biggest thing in Malaysia’s pop music history.
Today, they are a major force to be reckoned with in the entertainment industry. The trio not only revolutionised the Malay music scene with their unique blend of pop, R&B and hip hop (with a string of hits along the way, such as Awas, Ooh La La or their most recent song Hingga Ke Jannah); they also successfully established their own “mini empire”, as Norman calls it, via their entertainment company, KRU Studios.
That company has its fingers in many pies in markets all over the world, from feature films and animation, to artiste management to KRU Academy, a vocational college specialising in skills related to the creative industry, which currently has 600 students.
“We were a bunch of hip-hop boys with little cares. We wanted to sing and go crazy onstage,” said Norman of those early years. “Sometimes when I look at the old videos and listen to the old songs, it’s like I’m looking at a totally different person.
“No, I don’t really regret what we did back then — even the haircuts. It worked for that moment.”
Their road to success wasn’t smooth, said Norman. “It’s all patience and hard work. There are no short cuts. You just need to be very determined in order to accomplish success,” he said, although he conceded that the climate in the industry in 1990s made it a little easier for KRU to get their music heard then.
“The first three years, it was easy to impress people because we were new. But after that, it was a different story. The expectations got bigger and we had to compete with others,” he said. “We used to get a lot of non-Malay fans because our songs were played on RTM (Radio TV Malaysia), which everybody listened to. Now, not many listen to RTM and it’s difficult to win those fans over.
“In the good old days, you could get by with one new single a year, but now, you need a couple of singles if you want people to remember you.”
As the band took its hiatus, Norman focused on running the company as its chief executive, with his brothers Yusry and Edry as chief creative officers. Yusry, also established himself is a film director and Edry became one of Malaysia’s top composers.
While they used to get a little disheartened by bad press, it’s a different situation now. “Any mistake you do, people tend to magnify it and make a big deal out of it. They say bad publicity is still publicity, but for us, it’s like, when you do something creative, you put your heart and soul in it … and every single thing we do is important to us,” he said.
“It got to a point sometimes that we thought it was better to have no coverage than bad coverage. Now, we try not to take everything so personally and detach ourselves from all that. The thing is, we know when a product is good or no good. We know how to evaluate all that. We are our worst critics.”
So it’s not surprising that, as performers, Norman thinks it that there’s precious little left that KRU can do — or needs to — do.
“We’ve left our mark in history already. I don’t think we need to prove anything anymore. If KRU didn’t continue as a band tomorrow, I can accept that. But as a company? No. I think there are a lot of new opportunities that will come our way.
“We’d like to still build our brand. I hope that there will be a new generation of leaders who can take this company to greater heights.”
One option Norman is considering is to institutionalise the company. “When we first started, our office was the servant’s room in our rented house. My mum would help out to answer the phone. The company is now too big for me and my brothers to handle alone. We have 200 staff; we have 600 students. (It) has to go beyond being a family-owned company.
“I’m opening up the company to other investors or interested parties; bringing in an independent board of directors; we have to transform into something that befits the size of the company. How we run it must reflect the nature of the company now.”
Through all that they’ve done, Norman said one thing really hoped people will take away from the KRU journey is the “spirit and passion that went behind KRU”. “I hope that we can inspire young people to achieve their dreams. You have to think big, and that spirit and passion is what helped make us who we are.”
But for the immediate future, Norman is focusing his energies on one thing: The Esplanade show.
“When we look back at our catalogue, we have about 60 hits that we can do for the show. But that could be a very long show!” he laughed, adding that the show will include elements that were reminiscent of their concerts in the 1990s, such as video displays and dancing.
“It was an audio-visual show. We used video playback to tell a story on stage. So that’s what we want to do ... but perhaps we won’t be doing as much dancing! We can’t pretend to be like how we were when we first started,” he quipped.
“Songs bring back memories ... and for our concert we want to bring back some memories too. But in a way, the songs are still pretty current. They’re still being played on radio. So it’s retro — but also not.”
KRU perform on August 6. Tickets for the concert from SISTIC. — TODAY
