ANUGERAH PLANET MUZIK: Siti rules the Planet!

By JOE LEE
SINGAPORE, March 25 2006:

Siti Nurhaliza continued her reign as the region’s queen of song when she bagged the Most Popular Female Artiste award at the Anugerah Planet Muzik (APM) here last night.

Music fans in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Brunei, voted Siti for the award for a record sixth time since the APM’s debut in 2001.

Local pop phenomenon Asmawi Ani or Mawi, however, failed to oust the incumbent, Singapore Idol Taufik Batisah, as the Most Popular Male Artiste.

A consolation came for Mawi when his debut single Aduh, Saliha won the Most Popular Song award.

Of the eight jury-selected categories, Malaysia did not put up much of a challenge as Indonesians took six of the awards.

The three-nation regional jury, however, chose newcomer Nicolette Palikat or Nikki, from the first season of Malaysian Idol, as the Best New Female Artiste.

Also doing Malaysia proud was Jaclyn Victor, who grabbed the main award of Best Female Artiste.

The Malaysian artistes who performed in the event included Vince Chong, Adam, M. Nasir, Sharifah Zarina, Ajai and Nurul, Anuar Zain, Ferhad, as well as Mawi, Jac, Nikki and Siti.

Renowned lyricist Rosli Khamis, better known as Loloq, was awarded the Special Lifetime Achievement Award for his outstanding contributions to the music industry.

As a special tribute to Loloq, singers Dayang Nurfaizah and Tam of Spider performed a medley of his songs.

Indonesian rock group Peterpan had a double win, grabbing the Best Duo or Group and Most Popular Group awards.

Singer Chrisye’s album Senyawa won the Best Album while Dealova, from the original motion picture soundtrack of the same name, won the Best Song.

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