By Karen Bong and Nur Ashikin Louis
KUCHING, Aug 13: “A star is born” — this is the hashtag Malaysian actor and comedian Harith Iskander used to describe popular Dayak singer Winnie Albert’s passionate and beautiful rendition of Datuk Siti Nurhaliza’s ‘Percayalah’.
Winnie has taken the Internet by storm with her impromptu performance at Rumah Asap Tabuan Dayak after a TikTok user @dinozonefc shared the video clip, which went viral and was picked up by Harith.
“It gave me goosebumps. I did not know you before I saw this WINNIE ALBERT, but you deserve to be a star!” he exclaimed in a post on his social media today.
And now, Harith, dubbed as the ‘Godfather of Stand-Up Comedy’ in Malaysia, wants to get in touch with Winnie as he intends to feature her on a big show he’s coming up with.
“Her control, tone, and raw talent are outstanding. Her power reminds me of arwah (the late) Adibah Noor Mohamed Omar,” he added.
As of the time of writing, the TikTok video clip of Winnie singing has garnered over 530,900 views and 41,500 likes, and 4,994 comments since it was posted yesterday. It has also been shared on multiple social media platforms, including Facebook and Instagram.
But Winnie is no stranger to the entertainment scene in Sarawak. She has even shocked and floored the patrons also at Rumah Asap Tabuan Dayak with her powerful rendition of a popular Cantonese song ‘海阔天空’ (‘Hoi Fut Tin Hung’ or ‘Boundless Oceans, Vast Skies’ in English) by Beyond, a legendary rock band from Hong Kong.
On TikTok, many users are singing praises to Winnie’s performance in the comment section.
“(This is) a combination of the voices of Dayang Nurfaizah, the late Siti Sarah, and Misha Omar. Superb,” said user Chacha Rayyan.
Another user, Williams, commented, “Gosh… I had goosebumps listening to Winnie’s voice. You are a winner. It is confirmed that I am one of your new fans (now).”
User ChiechieAhmad said, “First time listening to an individual singing Tokti (Datuk Siti Nurhaliza) without sounding like Tokti. But it sounds like Dayang Nurfaizah. Nevertheless, this is really (good), sis.”
Apart from that, many users started calling out national TV and radio stations to invite Winnie as a guest.
Some even tagged Siti and the composer of the song, Ajai.
Following this, Ajai wrote on his Facebook earlier today that besides having a good voice and being pitch perfect, the ‘feel’ of the performance is also important to make the song great.
“What I have just said… all of it is in this cover singer’s song. It is wonderful to listen to,” he added.
Winnie Albert is a Sarawakian Iban singer. Among her songs are ‘Nadai Ganti Nuan’, ‘Beperang Dalam Petang’, ‘Nuan Beduan Aku’, and ‘Mulan’. — DayakDaily
