Malay music icon M. Nasir’s upcoming Singapore gigs will be a nostalgic affair
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Singapore-born Malay music icon M. Nasir will perform at Lion Studios on July 21 and The Star Theatre on July 22.
PHOTO: MUSE PLUS
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SINGAPORE – Malay music icon M. Nasir will be back in Singapore to do two shows: a full concert at The Star Theatre on Saturday and an intimate, stripped-down performance at Lion Studios the day before.
The latter will be a sentimental show for the Singapore-born, Malaysia-based singer, songwriter and actor.
He spent much time at the studio in Commonwealth Drive in the 1980s, composing and producing albums for popular Malay music acts such as rock band Search and pop group Alleycats.
The Lion Studios performance on Friday is open only to fans who bought VIP tickets for The Star Theatre concert, which cost $398. All VIP tickets are sold out, but tickets for other categories are still available.
“It will be nostalgic because that was the place where I was ‘born’,” the 66-year-old tells The Straits Times in a Zoom interview from his home in Selangor, Malaysia.
“That was where I made my name as M. Nasir the producer, the songwriter. I started composing songs before that in other places, but it was at Lion Studios where I learnt about the world of recording and my career really took off.”
Compared with the Lion Studios set, the concert at The Star Theatre will be a much grander affair, with multiple musicians and traditional Malay dancers.
“We want to put on a show that is lively and entertaining,” says Nasir, whose last major performance in Singapore was as one of the artistes in Projek Kasih, a charity concert held in January.
His last solo concert here was held in 2018 at The Theatre at Mediacorp.
One of the most acclaimed composers and producers in the Malay music industry today, Nasir originally wanted to be a painter.
In the 1970s, he graduated from Singapore’s Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts with a diploma in Western painting.
It was his friend, Wan Ibrahim, then the executive producer of record company Polygram Singapore, who roped him into the music industry by asking him to write lyrics for Alleycats.
One of the most acclaimed composers and producers in the Malay music industry today, M. Nasir originally wanted to be a painter.
PHOTO: MUSE PLUS
The song he wrote, Senandung Semalam (Yesterday’s Serenade), became a hit for the group in 1979, the same year Nasir released his debut solo album Untuk Pencinta Seni (For Art Lovers).
He then became the frontman for folk-rock band Kembara. Their self-titled debut album, released in the later part of 1981, became a hit.
In 1984, he moved to Kuala Lumpur with his family to be at the heart of the Malay music industry and became a Malaysian citizen in 1989. He now holds the honorary title of Datuk there.
He returns to Singapore occasionally for work or to visit family, and likes to go out for meals in Bukit Timah and Bukit Panjang, where he grew up.
The July 21 Lion Studios performance is open only to fans who bought VIP tickets for the Star Theatre concert.
PHOTO: MUSE PLUS
While the Malay music market is much bigger in Malaysia than in Singapore, he says that Singaporean Malay musicians and composers these days do not have to follow his footsteps and uproot themselves. “You can do anything over the Internet today, you don’t even have to leave your house.”
In recent years, he has been taking on more acting roles and starred in films such as religious drama Imam (2023), as well as television series such as police drama Special Force: Anarchy (2023).
He started acting in the mid-1980s, beginning with Malaysian film Kembara Seniman Jalanan (A Street Artist’s Adventures, 1986), for which he wrote the script and played the lead role as a folk singer.
But music will always be his main focus.
“I’m writing and composing songs every day,” he says, adding that he hopes to record new material in 2023 and release an album. He released a new single, Munajat, a soundtrack from Imam, in February, and his last album of new songs, Sang Pencinta, was released in 2006.
Like many of his signature songs, the music will blend elements of traditional Malay music, as well as other genres such as rock, folk and even hip-hop and electronic dance music.
The entertainment industry has changed a lot since he started out, and Nasir is very much aware of how technology such as social media and artificial intelligence has influenced the way music is made these days.
“It’s not good, it’s not bad, it is what it is, and it is something that songwriters have to think about if they want their music to reach the masses.”
Book it/Dato M. Nasir – Satu Malam Di Singapura – Gendang Pati
Where: The Star Theatre, 04-01 The Star Performing Arts Centre, 1 Vista Exchange Green startix.sg
When: Saturday, 8pm
Admission: From $88 via Startix (go to
