Najip Ali’s immense influence on Singapore’s entertainment and cultural underground, through over 40 years of commitment, remains largely unknown.
“I agreed to your interview because you called me an ‘elder statesman’ in your email.” It’s the first thing Najip Ali says to me when we meet.
“People don’t usually call me an ‘elder’,” he laughs.
Najip is irrefutably an elder, but in a good way. The 57-year-old wields an enthusiasm for life that makes millennials see him as a peer, surprising for someone who’s been forging a road for Singapore’s cultural and entertainment scene for over 40 years.
In the local entertainment industry, we are not short of flashes in the pan. When I consume content these days, I often find myself thinking, ‘Wow, that entertainer is destined for stardom’. Only for said entertainer to fade into obscurity as fast as they appear.
And then there’s Najip Ali, who has been adored since the early ‘90s and remains a pillar of the Malay entertainment scene. Ever since he was scouted from the dancefloors of old Zouk to co-host the regional star-search television programme Asia Bagus, Najip has never stopped championing and nurturing young talents.
Unbeknownst to many, however, Najip is the secret godfather behind Singapore’s thriving arts and culture underground. For decades, this man has been a silently influential force of nature, tirelessly supporting emerging musicians, artists, and creatives. His contributions have been pushing forward Singapore’s brand of avant-garde expressions that might otherwise have been stifled in the mainstream.
As the impact of his efforts becomes more evident today, it’s high time for Singaporeans to acknowledge and celebrate the pivotal role Najip has played in shaping the city’s cultural landscape.
They say don’t meet your heroes. But I’m glad I did.
A core memory from my childhood is watching an inexhaustibly animated and deafeningly dressed man host an eclectic variety show on Saturday afternoons.
That variety show was Asia Bagus, which ran from 1992 to 2000. It was a talent competition that spotlighted a mishmash of musical artists from across Asia, from Indonesian ballad singers to Malay rappers.
If the confusing diversity of these genres didn’t alienate viewers, the greenness of these non-professional musicians did. However, viewers couldn’t look away from a presenter named Najip Ali, who would flail and dance like an inflatable tube man while introducing the musical acts.
Asia Bagus was broadcast across Asia for almost a decade, which made Najip an unmistakable regional star.
It was impossible to look away as Najip mustered every ounce of his lifeforce to get audiences excited about artists they didn’t know. It was only after I grew up and started hosting live shows that I came to understand the tenet of live entertainment Najip was channelling every fibre of his being into: You must look excited so your audience will feel excited too.
I couldn’t put my finger on where Najip got his fashion cues from. Jamiroquai? Teriyaki Boyz? But Najip was rocking these oversized, head-turning outfits a decade before these bands even came into prominence.
During our tête-à-tête—interspersed with his signature disarming belly laughs—Najip reveals to me that his stylistic inspirations came from Deee-Lite, a pop band from New York City that is best known for its international chart-topping hit “Groove Is in the Heart.”
If you know Groove Is in the Heart, congratulations! You’re probably collecting your CPF soon.
I’ve also wondered which comedian Najip based his vivacious and unabashed hosting style off. I run my top guesses by Najip: Perhaps it was that era’s most popular comedians like Eddie Murphy or Benny Hill? He corrects me that it was, in fact, a style he improvised off outrageous Japanese TV programming.
“I learned from Japanese television the importance of energy. I couldn’t understand much of what these hosts were saying, but the vibe was killer. These hosts would appear naked in one scene, and get pushed into a well in the next scene’s prank. In Japan, entertainment is entertainment, where there are no etiquette rules.”
“Asia Bagus was actually Japan’s soft power diplomacy. It was backed by Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs because Southeast Asia was on the rise,” Najip explains when I ask him about how it all started.
“Japan always wants to be a part of growth. Japan wanted to be part of this Asian renaissance, if you will, and Asia Bagus definitely captured the imagination of people across Asia.”
Among the many things people might not know: Najip reveals that he was plucked from obscurity—out of all places, while he was partying in Zouk.
Television execs noticed this cool kid in the popular nightclub who did not look Chinese, Indian, or Malay but “more like someone from the kawaii subculture”. They asked him to host this upcoming TV show.
A massive fan of Japanese culture who was still cutting his teeth as a host, Najip felt like his prayers to be able to visit Japan were finally answered. He accepted the offer.
Language, however, was an initial barrier. Najip did not understand Japanese, and in 1992 on Asia Bagus, he did not understand his co-host Tomoko Kadowaki either.
Throughout his time training in London and working as a producer for Fuji Television in Japan, Najip had been bringing music magazines, CDs, and vinyl records back with him whenever he returned home to Singapore.
“I love magazines. My main reading material when I was growing up was magazines like Blitz, GQ, Mixmag and The Face. Back when the world wasn’t this connected through the Internet, I had the privilege of seeing the world, so I asked myself what changes I could make in my local scene. Music wasn’t my main thing, but I came up with the idea of starting a thinking culture in the music scene.”
Najip cites his role model as promoter Malcolm McLaren, who was a fervent proponent of future cultural icons like Vivienne Westwood and the Sex Pistols.
“I like how people like Malcolm could move a group of people to do something. And these people whom you inspire will, in turn, keep you doing it.”
The globetrotter hosted small parties in his garage along Portsdown Road—a garage that had no car but was overflowing with music memorabilia.
“The friends I invited over would open a magazine and go, ‘What the hell is that?’ They became very interested and very curious. ‘What is that party about?’ ‘What is a rave?’ This sparked their desire to find out more, and I think desire in an artist is very important.”
These days, Najip continues to nurture young talents. Together with his creative collaborators, he’s introducing new talent competition formats for local TV and social media. He’s almost 60, but his vitality suggests he has many more shows to champion, just as he did with Asia Bagus.
He tells me that his long-term objective has been to help Singaporean Malay entertainment come into its own. It evidently has, with entertainers like Aaron Aziz, Fakkah Fuzz, Fariz Jabba, Nurul Aini, and Taufik Batisah garnering international fanbases in recent years.
Having witnessed the evolution of Singaporean media over four decades, he feels that it is his responsibility to share with young celebrities what it takes to craft an impactful and sustainable entertainment career.
As much as we who remember Najip’s glory days in the ‘90s like to reminisce about the past, he emphasises that we should not romanticise any era of the arts and entertainment.
“Let’s not be sentimental. After we define an era, let it go and move forward. I am grateful that I am seen as a point of reference of my era. Every generation creates its own traditions, but there is no revolution without personal evolution.”
Besides Dua M productions, Najip has also been working on music-themed programmes with Suria like *Berani Ny
