Malaysian Ariff Ab, A Rising Star Shining In UK

By Kisho Kumari Sucedaram KUALA LUMPUR, April 8 (Bernama) -- Ariff Abu Bakar had never thought that being an independent artiste in the United Kingdom (UK), far away from his homeland, could be a great platform to excel in the music industry. Beginning with no musical background, Ariff AB, his stage name, said the decision to venture into the music industry came after realising his ambition to be a sportsman was unsuitable for his personality. With his indomitable spirit, the 27-year-old man from Subang Jaya, in Selangor state, won the singer-songwriter competition held in Kuala Lumpur in 2009, and this provided him an opportunity to perform at the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai. "Having a bit of exposure to go international, I started to go out and see the world," he said and added that, after Shanghai, he went to perform in Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and in 2013 made a big leap to the UK. "I was more exposed in the UK when I created a community follower via SoundCloud (an online audio distribution platform based in Berlin, Germany, that enables users to upload, record, promote, and share their originally-created sounds). That is where I started to pick up music as my career," he told Bernama in an exclusive interview here. He then joined Navigator Records, an independent record label in the UK, which provided him the platform to perform. "That was when BBC producers approached and selected me to be on the top 40 talent show called The Voice in 2014. Unfortunately I was unable to accept the offer due to the visa problem. "So, I came back to Malaysia and re-strategised. Subsequently, I was offered a two-month tour around England where I played at different venues almost every day and my songs were played on BBC Radio 1 and 2," said Ariff, who is currently back in Malaysia for a holiday. Last year, his promotional tracks, Crazy Love and The Wolf from his new upcoming second album "Blue Skeleton" were featured on BBC Music Introducing programme. The album Blue Skeleton with 11 tracks is expected to be released in Malaysia and UK after Eid Fitri in June, this year. Meanwhile, 3,000 copies of his first debut album titled Transmission Vol.1 launched in 2014 have been sold. "I always wrote my songs based on life experience and observation on people around me, and with a mixture of pain and inspiration," he said. Ariff, who plays alternative Indie Freak Folk genre, was the first Malaysian male singer-songwriter invited to perform at Youtube-Google headquarters in London, last year. Sharing his experiences and challenges in the UK, the diploma graduate in business and music from International College of Music (ICOM) and a degree in broadcasting from International Advertising, Communication and Technology (IACT) College said that it was not an easy journey to seek fame as an independent artiste. "It’s not like when you are in the UK, you can feel relaxed and take it easy. The demand is always higher as a foreigner since priorities are given to the locals. So as a foreigner I needed to prove that I was better than them," he said. Despite having performed in the international arena, Ariff still had stage fright and to overcome it, he always wore shades when performing and now it had become his trademark. On his next move, Ariff said that with the help of independent management and Decca Records UK, he hoped to collaborate with two singer-songwriters Aurora Aksnes from Norway and Charlotte OC from the UK by the end of the year. -- BERNAMA