SINGAPORE – Halfway by way of the interview, Rahimah Rahim declares matter-of-factly: “I am not a implausible singer.”
Followers of the 66-year-old, who has recorded greater than a dozen hit albums, would beg to vary. However the Cultural Medallion recipient explains that she sees herself extra as an entertainer than a singer. “I like to entertain as a result of I really feel nearer to folks. I really feel prefer it’s a customer support.”
She acquired the Cultural Medallion on Wednesday (Nov 24). The award is conferred by the President on people who’ve contributed considerably to the humanities and tradition of Singapore. Administered by the Nationwide Arts Council and thought to be the very best arts honour within the nation, it comes with a trophy and entry to the Cultural Medallion Fund for funding of as much as $80,000.
Rahimah was born into leisure. Her father Rahim Hamid was nicknamed the Nat King Cole of Singapore and was a well-liked membership act within the Nineteen Fifties and Nineteen Sixties. Her mom was award-winning actress Mariam Baharum, who starred in motion pictures in the course of the Malay Movie Productions studio’s heyday within the Nineteen Fifties.
On the age of six, Rahimah was solid alongside her father within the movie Korban Kasih. She remembers being fed strains by the adults since she couldn’t learn the script.
The affable entertainer, whose speech is peppered simply with Hokkien and Mandarin phrases, says: “I do not bear in mind my childhood, taking part in like different youngsters play goli (Hokkien for marbles). My schedule was college, then straight after college, studio.”
Followers who watched her develop up in movies and the early days of Singapore tv, together with the hit Nineteen Sixties Malay sitcom Pak Awang Temberang (Mr Awang’s Antics), gave her the affectionate nickname of Kak Gerl.
Present enterprise is simply one other commerce for Rahimah, who lives in a Housing Board flat in Bishan and is completely satisfied to take public transport. Requested what she thinks is her signature as an entertainer, she chortles: “My turbans, my spectacles, my humour, my nonsense.”
Her love of leisure is obvious when she talks about her early profession. As an adolescent, she accompanied her father to his gigs at Orchard Street’s finest resorts like Ming Courtroom and sang with him.
Later, when she started performing solo, she would sprint from her units to catch different performers at venues such because the Pink Pussycat and Barbarella. “You may see Halil Chik, the Tom Jones of Singapore, you possibly can see the life in Orchard Street. We had actually good reside singers.”
She remembers laughingly that everybody within the enterprise knew she was Rahim Hamid’s daughter, so they might inform her mother and father if she was noticed in locations aside from the nightspots she was alleged to be working at.
She perks up when speaking about live shows she has seen, fondly recalling how she drove to Las Vegas with buddies to observe Diana Ross – “easy lah, that lady, lovely” – and marvelling on the reminiscence of the flamboyant Roman Tam in live performance in Hong Kong – “bought one huge fan, so drama”.
These days, she enjoys going to Esplanade’s Concourse to see new performers.
She provides wistfully: “I miss reside reveals.”
She doesn’t appear to overlook working in leisure, nonetheless. On the peak of her profession in 1989, she give up present enterprise. Her 11-year marriage to nationwide soccer hero Mohamed Noh Hussein had led to divorce and he or she went on the haj pilgrimage.
“I used to be soul-searching and caring for my daughter as a result of she wasn’t doing very effectively. I believed there was one thing I did flawed. I do not wish to blame folks,” she says.
Her religion helped settle her and he or she discovered a method to steadiness her private beliefs together with her public persona. As an alternative of the hijab, she wore turbans. She is unapologetic about who she is. “I am non secular. I am a Muslim. That is me.”
She remarried in 1994 to Mr Remy Taib, who labored in securities, and has one other daughter with him. Of stepping away from the highlight, she says firmly: “I’ve no regrets.”
She is completely satisfied to be a retiree, including mischievously: “My CPF sufficient already.”
She sees a lot of her work now as a method of giving again to society. She has taken on tasks reminiscent of producing senior-friendly content material for VintageRadio.SG and dealing on public service bulletins just like the Vaccinate Already? tune and video.
She says of the Cultural Medallion honour: “I really feel proud. It is an achievement and I am being recognised for all my years on this line.”
She provides, trying skywards in a second of seriousness: “That is for my mother and father. I get it from you.”
