AL-ANDALUS Retains Championship Title In The UniMAP Interdepartmental Nasyid Festival

Arau, 21 June – The Al-Andalus group from the Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP) Faculty of Engineering Technology (FTK) retained their championship for the fourth year running at the UniMAP Interdepartmental Nasyid Festival that was held recently.

They succeeded in surmounting their closest competitor the Ar-Raeez group from the Chancellery for the top spot and consequently taking home the Vice Chancellor Trophy, a RM1,000 cash prize and a certificate of participation.

The Al-Andalus group was also anointed winners in the best costume category and awarded a RM200 cash prize.

The Ar-Raeez group at second place took home a cash prize of RM700 and a participation certificate.

At third place was the Ar-Rijal group from the Bursary Department who also won best performance was bestowed gifts, a cash prize of RM500 and RM200 respectively and a participation certificate.

In his conclusion, Head Jury Mohd. Fitri Alawee Mohamad said that the performance displayed by the participants this year has been the finest yet.

However, he commented that some groups had chosen songs that did not complement the vocal range of the soloists or ones that were unsuited for the contest.

“To get high marks, the selected song must challenge the vocal ability of the singer. But if the song isn't challenging, using fresh vocal modulation and musical arrangement could provide an edge to obtain high marks,” he said.

He added, “I would also like to suggest to the Vice Chancellor to send a UniMAP Nasyid group to a National Nasyid Competition as Perlis representatives and to prove UniMAP's ability at the highest level in Malaysia.

“This is because the quality of the nasyid groups today is on par at national level and to sum up, the contest winners today are some of the best among the festivals in recent years.”

UniMAP Vice Chancellor Dato’ Prof Dr Zul Azhar Zahid Jamal is certain that the annual Nasyid Festival could be made a platform to train UniMAP staff members.

“The training would ensure team cooperation, creativity, harmony and confidence in public while strengthening relations between UniMAP Departments and Responsibility Centres,” he said while officiating the Interdepartmental Nasyid Festival closing ceremony.

The Festival which is jointly organised by the UniMAP Registrar and Bursary was joined by 14 departments and was held in conjunction with the Ihya’ Ramadhan Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP) 2017.