Amirah Ali

Growing up in Kuala Lumpur, the densely-populated capital city of Malaysia, Amirah Ali was constantly exposed to the juxtapositions of different cultures and different viewpoints. In Kuala Lumpur, several languages are commonly spoken; and timeless traditions stand side by side with modern personal styles and values. Its populace subscribes to several different religious backgrounds, and traditional music, played on instruments unheard of in Western countries. It is this exposure to diversity that has framed who Amirah Ali is today: both as an artist and as a human being.

Starting to learn the piano at the age of 6 and writing songs at the age of 11, Amirah completed her Grade 8 in Piano with Honours at the age of 15 and went to study the cello in New Zealand completing her Grade 5 with Distinction within a year. After getting her Bachelor’s Degree in Multimedia Film and Animation, she worked in the theatre industry under The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Center and later went to pursue her masters at Northern Illinois University, USA. There, Amirah embarked on her songwriting career by joining The Nashville Songwriting International Association, Grammy U Chicago and Houston, West Coast Songwriting LA and TAXI. Musically, Amirah enjoys exploring ways to fuse aspects of traditional music with modern Western pop. She uses traditional Malaysian instruments and elements to lend her songs a unique feel, blending them together with Western pop instruments and rhythms. She hopes this style will make traditional music more appealing and relevant to the youth while showing older, more traditional communities that pop music is not "just noise."

Amirah's debut single "Katakanlah," has been awarded two international songwriting awards including second place in the world wide ISC International Songwriting Competition 2011 beating 15,000 entries from 115 countries with judges such as Timbaland, Peter Gabriel, Rihanna and Kelly Clarkson, and finalist in The John Lennon Songwriting Competition 2010. Recently Amirah took home two awards from VIMA 2012 for the “Best Female Award” category and the “Best Music Video” award. “Katakanlah” delves lyrically into difficult and heartfelt topics referencing to the desecration of houses of worship within Malaysia, and was featured on Bernama TV news after a strong following was gained by renowned Malaysian bloggers including Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir, the daughter of Malaysia’s ex-Prime Minister, Tun Mahathir. The "Katakanlah" Club Remix version was also featured in a compilation album by Clorets Music with 30,000 copies distributed at Virgin Megastore in The Middle East.

Amirah was also awarded Marie Claire’s Women of Style and Substance 2011 Award in July 2011, nominated for Anugerah Bintang Popular in Malaysia November 2010, Anugrah Industri Muzik (the Malaysian Grammys) 2011 under Pop Ethnic Category and nominated for SEYTA Selangor Talent Youth 2011 under Best Song. Her self-written song “There We Go” was recorded by Alif Satar, Sony Music’s Artiste, for his album “Lelaki Seperti Aku” which was released in September 2011. Amirah’s Aidilfitri Album, “Syawal: Koleksi Lagu Aidilfitri”, released in August 2010, sold 7,000 copies in 1 month, showcasing traditional Malay, Indian, Chinese and modern pop music used together including in a bonus track in the album entitled “Malaysia”. Amirah Ali is also the producer for the theme song of a telemovie called ‘Bayangan Rindu’, directed by Erma Fatima which was aired on ASTRO.

By doing this, Amirah Ali accomplishes in a truly unique way the ultimate goal of pop music - to bring people together. Amirah's music is available at Cdbaby, iTunes, and Amazon.