Mawi

Asmawi bin Ani, better known as Mawi is a Malaysian singer and the winner of Akademi Fantasia 3 in Malaysia. He came to Akademi Fantasia as a raw talent who found it awkward to even take a few dance steps. Within three months, however, he became the nation's hottest celebrity. Since winning Akademi Fantasia, he has become such a phenomenon in Malaysia. His phenomenon has often been compared to another Malaysia's famous singer and icon, Siti Nurhaliza. Many predict that Mawi will just be a "one hit wonder", just like the previous Akademi Fantasia's winners. He is also the face of the noodle company, Mamee.

Biography

This lad was born on August 25, 1981 and raised in Felda Taib Andak, Kulai, Johor. Before joining Akademi Fantasia 3, he did several works and part time jobs such as fardu ain teacher, restaurant DJ and many more.

His first album entitled "Mawi...Yang Tercinta" was released on November 16, 2005 and has been sold for more than 85,000 copies in just 2 days.

His famous phrase is "World!"

Akademi Fantasia 3

Mawi entered Akademi Fantasia where the contestants were put together in a secluded location for vocal, singing, dance, appearance training for about 3 months. Every week the contestants had to perform in front of professional jury, live audience and telecast live to the Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and East of Indonesia. One contestant would be voted out by audience via Short Messaging Services (SMS) each week until the finale where the contestant with highest number of SMS votes would be declared the winner. Mawi came to the scene in an uneventful way. In the Prelude week, he sang a religious musical genre and eventually was not selected by the professional jury. He was the first ever singer out of three Akademi Fantasia series who had sung this musical genre. However due to overwhelming pressures from the public, he was re-selected in the first week concert with another contestant Marsha via a second round of selection.

Soon after, week after week he overtook all the other contestants in term of votes until the final concert when he was declared the champion as well as best performance and vocal. He had to sing all musical genre along the way. His bald haircut become the trend to his fans. Songs that he performed during Akademi Fantasia 3:

Prelude: Intifada (Rabbani)
Week 1: None
Week 2: Dari Kekasih Untuk Kekasih (Hattan)
Week 3: Gadis Melayu (Jamal Abdillah)
Week 4: Nou'r El Ain (Amr Diab)
Week 5: Beautiful Maria (Los Lobos)
Week 6: Memori Cinta Luka (Nassier Wahab)
Week 7: Oh Fatimah (A.Ramlie)
Week 8: Pupus (Dewa)
Week 9: Pergi Tak Kembali (Rabbani)
Week 10 (Final): Seroja (S.Effendi/Jamal Abdillah) & Aduh Saliha (new song composed for him by M. Nasir)

Note: Mawi only joined Akademi Fantasia after the end of week 1 when he was voted back in by the trainer of Akademi Fantasia along with Marsha, a Sabahan. His supporters were almost submitting a petition in order to get him back to study at the Akademi Fantasia.

Personal life

Mawi is no longer engaged to Nor Diana binti Mohd Naim. His father passed away on July 1st 2006 due to complications after undergoing a heart surgery at Institut Jantung Negara (IJN). Recently there has been rumours circling around his engagement to Nor Diana, as she claimed that Mawi is going to break off their engagement. Mawi has not yet confirmed or denied this rumours as he is currently in mourning of his father's death. The latest info revealed that Mawi already said "Good Bye" to his ex-fiancee.

Albums

Best of Mawi World (2005)
Mawi...Yang Tercinta (2005)
Doa, Berzanji & Qasidah Berlagu (2006)

Awards Won

Most Popular Malaysian Artist (MTV Asia Music Award 2006)
Most Popular Celebrity (Anugerah Bintang Popular 2005)
Popular Breakthrough (Anugerah Bintang Popular 2005)
Popular Male Singer (Anugerah Bintang Popular 2005)
Best Performance (Anugerah Juara Lagu 2005)
Best Song Ethnic Creative Category-Aduh Saleha (Anugerah Juara Lagu 2005)

To date, all awards that he won are either through SMS or popular vote casted by his fans and this includes the Best Performance award from Anugerah Juara Lagu 2005 which was determined through SMS votes for the first time. He is popularly known as Raja SMS (SMS King) in Malaysia due to the fact stated above. Inspite of his various awards, Mawi's singing capability especially in genres other than nasyid is very much debatable.

Best Song Ethnic Creative Category-Aduh Saleha (Anugerah Juara Lagu 2005) was awarded to the composer of the song, M Nasir.

External links

www.mawifc.com- Official Mawi Friends Club website
klubbkidd's rave - An Akademi Fantasia fan site
mawi.sangat.fakap.net - Mawi Hate Website

Malaysian singers