‘Idols’ mania grips Asia

SINGAPORE – Emylia Abdul Rahman braved a tropical rain storm, the risk of public humiliation and a 12-hour wait for a shot at fame and fortune.

As Singapore’s version of American Idol enters a third round of auditions, Rahman is one of thousands whose passion for the American reality-TV show and nervous self-confidence underline the budding Asian phenomenon of “Idol-mania”. “We were all standing in the rain for one hour and everyone refused to budge till there was a storm,” said the 23-year-old, who likes to be known as “Axl”.In Singapore, the first Asian nation to start the competition, about 3 000 people registered for the first round of auditions in June – or about one of every 1 400 people in the wealthy island-state of four million.Some, like Rahman, take inspiration from American Idol’s most famous castoff – William Hung, whose hatchet job of Ricky Martin’s “She Bangs” catapulted the ethnic Chinese engineering student to fame and even a tour date in Singapore in September.”I find him interesting,” says Rahman.”From his example, you can see you don’t have to be at the top to be famous as long as you have something special that people can relate to.”Indonesia, Malaysia and India will follow with Idol competitions of their own.”I’ve been singing every day since young for an opportunity like this,” said 20-year-old Ratillahwati Sumathi, sitting on the floor of a sprawling convention centre with hundreds of others waiting for a turn with a panel of judges.”I’m prepared to do anything,” said Sumathi, a bespectacled civil servant, her long black hair wound in a pony-tail, as she summoned confidence to face judges in the first round.- Nampa-Reuters”We were all standing in the rain for one hour and everyone refused to budge till there was a storm,” said the 23-year-old, who likes to be known as “Axl”.In Singapore, the first Asian nation to start the competition, about 3 000 people registered for the first round of auditions in June – or about one of every 1 400 people in the wealthy island-state of four million.Some, like Rahman, take inspiration from American Idol’s most famous castoff – William Hung, whose hatchet job of Ricky Martin’s “She Bangs” catapulted the ethnic Chinese engineering student to fame and even a tour date in Singapore in September.”I find him interesting,” says Rahman.”From his example, you can see you don’t have to be at the top to be famous as long as you have something special that people can relate to.”Indonesia, Malaysia and India will follow with Idol competitions of their own.”I’ve been singing every day since young for an opportunity like this,” said 20-year-old Ratillahwati Sumathi, sitting on the floor of a sprawling convention centre with hundreds of others waiting for a turn with a panel of judges.”I’m prepared to do anything,” said Sumathi, a bespectacled civil servant, her long black hair wound in a pony-tail, as she summoned confidence to face judges in the first round.- Nampa-Reuters