KUALA LUMPUR: It’s not every day that dikir barat gets showcased on a contemporary singing competition, let alone one like the popular reality TV show The Voice.
How about on the Thai version of The Voice then? That was what viewers got recently when a pair of Thai contestants, Pathita and Saran, performed a lively rendition of the Noraniza Idris classic Malay hit single, Dikir Puteri.
Pathita was dressed in an elegant emerald kebaya while Saran rocked a green baju Melayu and batik sampin ensemble topped off with a sparkly songkok.
Their energetic performance of the upbeat tune, accompanied by a 10-member South Thailand dikir troupe, elicited a feel good and fun vibe that got the judges grooving to the catchy rhythms and melodies.
The left field approach in presenting something different but equally great sounding and entertaining, was also made more memorable with an original rap segment in Thai midway through the song.
A four-minute video of the performance from Season 6 of the show was uploaded on the official The Voice Thailand channel on YouTube.
Titled ‘Dikir Puteri - Live Show - The Voice Thailand - 11 Feb 2018’, the video has since been viewed over 1.3 million times and has received 8,000 likes.
Although most of the comments were in Thai, one Netizen wrote in English: “Good voice and good job! I love you from Malaysia!”
Dikir Puteri, composed by Pak Ngah with lyrics by Hairul Anuar Harun, is a single from Noraniza’s 1998 album Masyur, which won the Best Ethnic Pop Album award at Anugerah Industri Muzik (AIM) in 1999.