KUCHING: The CATS Xposed Awards (CXA) Vol 1 will take place at Borneo 744 here on April 6 (Saturday).
Five finalists will be competing in the Malay and English Division. They are In-Tra (band) with its song “Rasa”, Sayu Ateng (band) with “Lagenda Bujang Senang”, Sulaiman Usop with “Tentang Dia”, Lasykar Seni (band) with “Sayang” and Edan Kesmaran (band) with “Kau Hadir”.
Meanwhile, another five finalists will be competing in the Ethnic Division. They are NK Yongai with his song titled “Malam Tu Empu Tua”, Sam Anthony with “Simpang Tua Bebagi”, Four4th Ace (band) with “Peraja Mata”, Postcode 97K with “Pengerindu Tengah Cerita” and Austin Santinez with “Ensera Ba Dada”.
The ten finalists will compete to win seven awards, namely Nang Antap Song Awards for each category (Malay/English Division and Ethnic Division), Antap Vocal Award, Antap Performance Award, Antap Popular Music Award, Antap Music Video Award and Antap Single/Album Art Award.
According to Cats FM chief executive officer Mohamad Iskandar Mohamad Nawawi, CXA Vol 1 was initiated to recognise local music talents.
“The local music talents are obviously talented but they do not have a platform to promote their talents,” he stated.
“That is why we want to do our part to prove to the public that Cats FM is serious in uplifting Sarawakian music.
“If we are going to depend on the West Malaysia platforms, the local artistes would have to go through a long way to shine,” he told a press conference at the UCSI Urban Resort Hotel and Convention here today.
Back in 2009, Cats Xposed started as an ordinary programme to showcase local artistes. Not long after that, the Cats Xposed Chart was initiated. Since then, it has been getting a lot of support from the listeners.
Iskandar added, “We were very discrete in making this award show a success. Any artiste who wants to partake in our show would have to come up with good production in terms of the demos for us to play on air.”
“Quality and professionalism are very important to us because anyone can record music so we have stringent measures to ensure that the songs we play on air are of good qualities,” he continued.
“Through the Cats Xposed Char every Sunday, we have found a lot of local talented artistes throughout the region.
“We need the support of the local community because who else would want to help uplift our local music industry if it does not start with ourselves?” he said.
Iskandar said professional judges had been invited for the award show, namely music producer and 6ixth Sense band vocalist Adi Priyo Sambodo as well as local musicians Gabriel Fairuz Louis and Sharnaz Sabri.
CXA Vol 1 will go down in history as the first digital radio awards in Sarawak.
The event is organised by Cats FM in collaboration with Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre (MaGIC), UCSI Urban Resort Hotel and Convention and TV Sarawak.
Other events which will be held at the same venue are the Xposed market, available from 4-11pm, and a Zumba session from 5-6pm.
The award show will also be livestreamed through Cats FM Facebook page at www.facebook.com/catsfm/.
MaGIC community coordinator Zulfadli Abang and UCSI Urban Resort Hotel resident manager David Liew were also present at the press conference alongside the five of the ten finalists, namely Sayu Ateng, In-Tra, Edan Kesmaran, Lasykar Seni and Austin Santinez.
