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Slam | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | FIX ( 1993 - 1994) SLAM Reunion (2015 - 2019) |
| Origin | Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia |
| Genres | Rock kapak Pop |
| Years active | 1993—present |
| Labels | BMG Music (1993—1999) |
| Members | Zamani Shah Ajak Lili Man Eddie |
| Past members | John Ronnie Hussein |
Slam is a Malaysian rock kapak band that was formed in the 1990s.
According to The Malaysian Reserve, Slam, along with the 1990s Malaysian band, Exists are well known in Malaysia. There is an early connection between the two bands. Musician Shah was a guitarist in Exists. He left the band in 1991, and later went on to form Slam with musicians, Lili, Man, Eddie and Zamani.
Slam's hits include, "Gerimis Mengundang" and "Mentari Muncul Lagi". [1]
The band was formed in 1993 [2] in Johor Bharu.[ citation needed ] Slam is one of the music groups that rose to popularity in the local music scene. [ citation needed ] Musicians, Zamani, Shah, Ajak, Lili, Man & Eddie became well-known, after the success of their second album Kesan Terbukti. This album featured hit songs, with five tracks reaching the top of the music charts in Malaysia and Indonesia, such as "Kembali Terjalin", "Tak Mungkin Berpaling", "Nur Kasih", "Manisnya Rindu" and "Bukan Niat Membalas Derita". They then continued to make strides with other hit songs such as "Jika Kau Rasa Getarnya, Rindiani" and their evergreen track, "Gerimis Mengundang". [ citation needed ]
Slam was formed in Johor Bahru by Shah Nizam bin Abdul Halim (Shah) , a former guitarist for the band Exists in the early 1990s. [3] Shah, who served as the group's leader, said that his failure with Exist and the full support from the late Rahim Othman , a famous composer in the country, as well as Johan Aziz, Exist's former manager at Jojo's Production, had been the inspiration for the formation of Slam. In Johor Bahru, Shah managed to gather 3 musicians, namely Abdul Razak Bajuri (Ajak - Guitar), Othman Khalid (Man - Drum) and Noor Azli Masrani (Lili - Bass) to together fight for rock music according to their taste without being influenced by any party. Currently, they use the name FIX as the group's name. They then conducted auditions to find singers, although at that time FIX first got four singers who had their own vocal strengths. However, FIX's relationship with the singers did not last long because they were still looking for compatibility. They have exciting plans in the music industry and because of that, they want a singer who is suitable and has a good vision to support their vision.
During the recording process of their first album in 1993, Shah had to remove his vocalist because his voice did not reach the desired level when singing the song Nina created by Rahim Othman. They had to postpone the production of the first album by opening up opportunities for new vocalists who wanted to try their luck with Slam. The audition was jointly managed by the management of Johan Sound Production (now known as Johan Music). At the suggestion of Acong Sweet Child , they were finally found with a young man named Zamani Ibrahim who was originally from Ampang, Selangor. At that time, Zamani was only 22 years old and worked as a clerk at one of the leading banks in his area. The uniqueness and melodiousness of his voice clearly amazed the management and other members of the group. However, he himself was still divided on making singing his career, let alone moving in a group at that time. However, in the end, he decided to continue with Slam because he felt that he suited the musical identity that Slam wanted to bring. Zamani, who is blessed with natural talent and a childlike face, is expected to make fans dissatisfied with her.
Zamani is also a singer who has never been arrogant even though he is now one of the best vocalists in the country. In fact, the singer has a shy nature that is quite thick that he had to learn to perform on stage with Shah. According to him, he learned a lot about how to sing with good and high appreciation. He also respects Shah quite a lot because for him, Shah has extraordinary abilities that are rarely possessed by some other musicians. This is probably because Shah has quite extensive experience in music and is also very principled. That criterion is also what caused all the members of Slam to agree to choose him as the leader of the group even though Shah is younger than them.
Zamani managed to sing again the songs that were 70% recorded by the original vocalist. After successfully completing the recording process which took almost 60 hours, they were once again shocked by the bad news from the management desk when the name FIX could not be used because it could cause errors in pronunciation. Even so, the professionalism shown by the Johan Sound Production management managed to calm every member of the group who was hanging on to their name. They once again had to open the line to fans of Malaysian music who were willing to give a name to this newly born group of young people. From 3,000 entries, Johan Sound Production and these young people who are quite strong in their music have chosen Slam as the new name to replace the original name. Even so, they can be proud that they do not need to use guest musicians. While in the studio, each member of Slam knows and understands their respective duties. As long as they are not satisfied with the music or vocals, they will continue to play non-stop. Sometimes the time in the studio is longer than other times.
But dreams don't always come true, Slam had to comply with the wishes of local music fans. The concept of Creative Pop, which is championed as a group, is something new in this country. Although their first album is quite good and has high artistic value and sales value, the popularity factor also needs to be taken into account. Their first album only reached sales of 40,000 units due to competition with existing music groups such as Spring , Mega , Fotograf and their closest competitor Ukays . Songs such as Malam Dan Semalam , Buat Seorang Kekasih and Nina are still not strong enough to elevate the status of Slam's music. However, Slam was not quick to give up so they did a post-mortem on Slam. As a result of the post-mortem, they decided to invite a famous keyboard player named Eddie Ahmad who is a native of Kota Tinggi, Johor to help them produce Slam's second studio album. Eddie had previously started his career as a keyboard player for the group Ekamatra , which is famous for the songs Sentuhan Cecundang , Pusara Di Lebuhraya and Hanya Satu Persinggahan . Eddie's selection as a guest musician for Slam's second album was not in vain because the extensive experience possessed by this bespectacled musician has successfully strengthened Slam's musical arrangements, in addition to his ideas that never tire of being accepted by the other Slam members.
In every album production, Slam is not too picky in choosing guest composers, let alone they are able to compose songs themselves. Names like Johan Aziz (also Slam's manager), Rahim Othman and Saari Amri are never far from the lips of this group's loyal fans. For Slam fans, these big names have succeeded in shaping the rhythm of Slam music from various dimensions because they have their own way, taste, identity and musical arrangement. [ citation needed ]
The luck of a chicken is visible on the feet, the luck of a human being is who knows. Their second album, titled Kesan Terbuhi, turned out to change the fate of the Slam group when this album managed to put them in line with the giant music groups of the country in terms of sales, quality and popularity. This album exploded in the market and the name Slam suddenly became a name among local music fans while in Indonesia, this album was marketed with the title Tak Mungkin Berbaling . It was even more proud when the 5 singles in this album managed to dominate the radio charts throughout the archipelago . The songs Kembali Terjalin , Tak Mungkin Berbaling , Nur Kasih and Bukan Niat Membalas Derita are a series of number one hits from this album. Another of their songs, Manisnya Rindu also made its own impact. This album became one of the albums with the most number 1 singles in Malaysia and Indonesia. Many described the song Tak Mungkin Berbaling as a song that truly reflects the musical identity that Slam has wanted to bring all this time. It was all worth it when the album Kesan Terbuhi reached 300,000 units in the Malaysian & Singaporean markets and sold over 2 million units in Indonesia. This earned Slam a double platinum award from their recording company. The success of this album also led to an increase in members where Eddie, who was previously a guest musician, was finally absorbed as a permanent member of Slam.
Slam then released the compilation album Terbaik Slam at the end of 1995 as a supply while waiting for the recording process of their third album to be completed. It turned out that all three bonus songs from the compilation album topped the charts, especially the song Gerimis Mengundang which became the most popular song in 1996 to the point that it was recorded in 24 cover versions by singers from various countries and languages and qualified for the final stage of AJL and AIM . This song, created by Saari Amri, became one of the most famous Malay songs in the history of Nusantara music. There were parodies and films produced based on this song. Two other hits from this album, which sold over 200,000 units, were Kurnia and Jalan Keindahan .
Their third album, titled Kembali Merindu, was released in mid-1996. In this album, Slam made drastic changes to further strengthen their music. They began to realize that Slam's target of reaching the highest level in the music industry was getting closer to being achieved. As a result, they achieved success again through popular singles such as Jika Kau Rasa Getarnya , Kita Terpaksa Bermusuhan and Kembali Merindu . This album also sold over 250,000 units in Malaysia and 700,000 units in Indonesia. Following this success was a mega-scale concert by Slam, Slam Live Concert Unplugged on 3 August 1996 accompanied by an orchestra under the direction of Dato' Ramli MS at the National Stadium, which brought great success when Slam was recognized with the Kembara Award and Zamani was recognized as the winner of the Vocal Performance in an Album (Male) category through the album Slam Live Concert Unplugged (1996) at the 4th Music Industry Awards in 1997. In 1996, Slam also received the Most Popular Artist Award at the Indonesian Music Awards.
In 1998, Slam came out with the album Dalam Harapan with a few updates to ensure that the quality standards were maintained. This album featured the single Mentari Muncul Lagi which exploded that year. At this time, Slam had begun to dabble in the film world with the invitation of film millionaire Yusof Haslam to act in Bara as well as another unfinished film titled Cindai Asmara . Because it was a bit out of focus, this album did not really excite fans with additional competition from new groups such as Spoon and Def Gab C. Even so, AIM recognized this album when it was nominated in the Best Pop Album category at the 6th Music Industry Awards in 1999.
In 1999, their lead singer was linked to disciplinary and health problems. Zamani hinted at leaving Slam, which made many fans unhappy. Slam made his last appearance with Zamani on the compilation album Best of Slam in 1999 and was popular with the single Rindiani . At the end of 1999, Slam was officially put on hiatus when Zamani left and Shah, as the band leader, joined the legendary group Search for the album Selepas Banjir . [ citation needed ]
After a long hiatus and Zamani having launched a successful solo career in 2002, Shah who was already a professional musician at that time decided to make a comeback even without Zamani. The album titled Slamanja was released in 2003 however it failed to raise the name of this group again due to the popularity of Zamani's songs which were often played on the radio. The song Cintuni is one of the Slam songs that does not use Zamani's voice that gained some popularity.
In 2006, Shah announced the presence of Ronnie Hussein as a new singer in this group. The comeback album titled Menggapai Langit was finally successfully released in 2007. It produced hit songs such as Rayuan Di Puncak Genting and Sesat Di Jalan Mu . However, the music market is no longer the same as before, this group has to compete with more new generation musicians who mostly emerged from the underground scene. Until now, Slam remains one of the most influential music groups in Malaysia with total album sales worldwide reaching 2 million units. This group has managed to make a name for itself in Indonesia and stands in line with great Malaysian groups of all time such as Orkes Nirwana , The Zurah II , Alleycats , Kembara , Carefree , Sweet Charity , Search , Gersang , Wings , Iklim , Spring , KRU and Ukays .[ citation needed ]
In 2015, there was good news for Slam fans when the group's leader, Shah, announced that Slam would be reuniting with Zamani, Ajak, Eddie, Lili and Man. They held large-scale concerts, especially the Slam Nur Kasih concert held in Johor Bahru in 2016. Now, they are working hard to make the Slam Revival concert a success which is expected to be held at the end of 2019.[ citation needed ]
The band was booked to appear at the Petronas Philharmonic Hall on 8 June 2024. Lead singer Zamani who had spinal surgery was optimistic that the show would take place without any problems. He had successfully performed twice at two major events after the surgery. According to Shah, Zamani had recently done a three-hour performance and everything was fine. [4]
It was reported by the New Straits Times on 15 January 2025 that well-known veteran Malaysian and Singaporean vocalists from popular bands were to appear for the first time together in a concert. The artists were Datuk Nash of Lefthanded, Zamani of Slam, Ameng of Spring, and Jatt Ali of Black Dog Bone were to appear in concert at The Star Theatre in Singapore. [5]