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SINGAPORE : Sean Ghazi is astonished people still remember him, even though he left the local entertainment scene more than a decade ago.
The actor and singer won Channel 5’s Fame Awards talent show on what was then the Television Corporation of Singapore in 1995.
“I was just at Tangs yesterday and more than a few people came up to me. They said they remembered the Fame Awards,” laughed the 38-year-old during an interview at M Hotel on Monday.
Now based in Kuala Lumpur, Ghazi was in town to promote his debut album, Semalam (Last Night), which was released in Singapore this month.
“People would ask me what I’ve been up to. It’s really flattering to be remembered, I tell you!” he added.
Since the Fame Awards, he has been keeping busy acting: He had a supporting role in the 1999 movie Anna and the King which starred Jodie Foster and Chow Yun Fat, as well as stints in the German production of Rent (as transvestite Angel Dumott Schunard) in 2000.
Semalam, however, is new territory for Ghazi. Recorded in Sydney, most of the 12 tracks are in Malay and made up of his personal favourites and cover versions of songs from the 1950s to the 1970s — the Golden Age of Malay cinema.
“In my opinion, these old songs are so gorgeous and right up there with standards like Frank Sinatra’s My Way. Language should never be a barrier to how timeless these songs are, they are classics and the fact they aren’t always found in the popular music songbook is a shame.”
Also included are his versions of I Have Dreamed (from Oscar and Hammerstein’s The King And I) and Ku Impikan Bintang, a Malay take on jazz outfit Pink Martini’s Let’s Never Stop Falling in Love from 2004.
In an interesting reversal, title track Semalam has already attracted interest from film-makers eager to turn the bigband influenced number into a basis for a film.
“I’m excited by this development. It’s still early to tell if it’s going to happen but I’m definitely going to make it my next project,” he beamed.
Released in November in Malaysia, Semalam has sold over 10,000 copies and picked up Anugerah Industry Muzik Malaysia gongs for Best New Artist and Best Music Arrangement In A Song for the Ghazi-penned title track last month. - TODAY/fa
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