WHERE ART THOU?

My usually mundane morning drive today was jolted by a particular Malay song which I haven't heard for a long, long time.

Nunu was mystified by my sudden burst of chirpyness while I was warbling the mawkish lyrics and totally messing up the song.


I'm sure I'm on the right pitch, Nunu.

The reason why I'm feeling all giddy like a love-struck schoolgirl today is NOT that the song reminded me of my previous love lives (or the lack of them, to be exact) but the singer was actually a friend of mine way back from my matric days in KMK.

A quick search for the song mp3 led me to here, where I discovered there's a Malay version of Wikipedia and here, and no mp3 downloads :(

This is my friend, Fasillah Sabry. Va-va-voom, huh?

OKlah, if your definition of a friend is someone you once shared a bowl of Maggi Mee with at your hostel room, then she is my friend. We were not that close, but I'm sure if we were to bump into each other she would still remember me because we share a common best-friend, Amy. Amy and I were classmates during 2nd year matric in USM, while Illa and Amy got close when they enrolled in the Management Faculty the year after.

I suddenly find myself working my brain in slowly malfunctioning flashbacks, though there are not many mental images of Illa in my recollection database (which is shrinking by the minute) I remember chatting with her in the library and she talked me into singing the one-hit wonder song "All Cried Out" by Allure (anybody remember that song?) because she said my voice suited the song very well (entah dia pembohong kat aku, tak tau la...)

One image I can never erase from my memory is the one where we stood side by side in the communal bathroom, compared our pimples, swapped our facewash and giggled together at our predicament.

The next thing I knew, this songbird, who has been singing all her life in functions and competitions (which she always won) recorded an album and set fireworks in the music scene with her hit song 'Keranamu Kekasih'/'Because of You My Love' (can we use this translation..? Macam pelik, ah) thanks to Mr. Yusof Haslam (eh error, Datuk Yusof Haslam) who got that song for the main soundtrack for the first Gerak Khas The Movie, which did quite well in the box-office.

Her popularity geared her on the right track, as she was nominated in the Best New Artiste category for ABP2001 (only to lose to oh-so-exquisite Maya Karin) and even qualified to the quarter-finals of TV3's Juara Lagu. The song was a hot favourite and even Siti Nurhaliza was caught on camera singing along to the tune while Illa was performing onstage. A very sweet public display of good sport.

You bet I told everyone I knew her.

Alas, her existence in the music industry was such a brief one, as her career is back into obscurity. It's been almost 4 or 5 years since we last heard news of her, and I'm afraid that she would be one of those artistes who's easily forgotten as fast as they shot to stardom.

I'm wondering what happened to her. Maybe her record company folded, maybe she's maried with kids now, or she might still be actively performing in private functions circuit or is working on an album.

Please, you reporters go find her and feed us with some news other than Siti's to-be-or-not-to-be-wedding or Mawi's on-or-off engagement.