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Zainalabidin developed his musical roots in the multi cultural villages of Malaysian. He started tapping away on tabletops and beating on card box boxes in the home at the early age of seven. He went on to playing the trombone at the age of twelve to earn a few dollars now and again, mainly with Chinese Choir at funerals. A few years down the road he went on to form the ‘Headwind’, a rock group, which became extremely sought after in the local arena, doing club stints and concerts. This lasted for twelve years, five of which was spent at the Club Med. During this time, Zainalabidin began developing a style of his own, absorbing the diverse cultural and racial characteristics around him. Zainalabidin left the group in 1990, to join Roslan Aziz Productions.Whilst percussion sounds remain an integral part of his style, Zainalabidin’s greatest comes from the breaking down of cultural and stereo-typing barriers for the greater cause of music. Elements of his childhood together with colours of Classical Malaysian Music are carefully blended with International influences to create the distinct sounds of Zainalabidin. This is clearly evident in his debut album where there was an overwhelming response to the flavour of the new sound that hit the music world.In 1992, Zainalabidin’s tour of Japan was supported by internationally reown musicians from the United States and the United Kingdom as well as those from Malaysia and the Asian region. This proved so successful that he has maintain the combination of musicians from the East and West for his recordings and the making of his albums. In 1994, he met up with Paul Simon who introduced his bassist, Armand Sabal-Lecco (reputed to be the best in the world) to Zainalabidin. This meeting led Armand to be bassist featured in ‘Gamal’, where the Zainal is featured as songwriter, lyricist, percussionist and vocalist. This album has been released in Australia, Brazil, Brunei, France, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Sweden and the United States. ‘Gamal’ was awarded Malaysia’a best album in 1995. ‘Terang…..Sang’, is Zainal’s first effort with Warner Music. It was recorded in Kuala Lumpur and mastered at Studio 301 in Sydney in the middle of 1995.Zainalabidin has had a hectic schedule for most part of the year. There has been several minor shows in some of the major towns and several more are in queue. Besides giving performance, he has been giving talks and offering his contributions to several of the higher schools of learning including the performance arts faculty at MARA. Amongs the topics covered are: element of business in the entertainment industry, showmanship and delivery, discipline and the artiste and the encouragement of creativity for the talented. For exposure, he even used one musical student from MARA to perform with him in Japan.The dedication to our ethnic music and interest in our budding talents is an inspiring face of Zainalabidin. Perhaps more of our famous artiste will dedicate some time to nature those who will represent us in international events in the future.Whilst percussion sounds remain an integral part of his style, Zainalabidin’s greatest pleasure comes from the breaking down of cultural and stereotyping barriers for the greater cause of music. At all venues, the fans have been enthralled by the energy and vibrance of the “Afro-Asian” beat that is Zainalabidin.Wherever he has had lives shows, his sterling performances has led to overwhelming responses from the audience, and brought accolades from the media. Zainalabidin is undisputedly the best concert artiste this country has to offer.The entertainment industry in Malaysia has progressed at a tremendous rate in the past few years, and is still growing. The standard of our artistes has improved both in the recording and performing aspects, where the level of some of our better artiste have achieved international standards and thus made their impact felt beyond the shores of our country. In step with this growth, the audience is now more diverse and demanding, expecting higher standards in sound quality, effects and performances.Zainalabidin leads the pack in terms of quality sounds, techno skills and high energy performances. His dynamic vocals and powerful style has made him a household name and the “Afro-Asian” sounds of Zainalabidin puts him foremost in the Malaysian music industry. With all the goings on the focus remain in the arena of making music and giving performances par excellence.