| Genki |
Asia has paid tribute to its home-grown talent at the inaugural MTV Asia Awards 2002, which brought together a glittering array of stars from East and West.
Pop stars, boy bands, wrestlers, circus performers and just a few meters of red carpet were all part of the first pan-Asian music awards show, broadcast to over 150 million homes across Asia.
Sexy all-girl London-based pop string quartet Bond kicked off the awards at Singapore's Indoor Stadium on Saturday night with a upbeat, pumping set.
The crowd of around 7,000 fans then lapped up live performances from Irish boyband Westlife, Latin hearthrob Enrique Iglesias, Norwegian duo M2M and R&B artist Pink.
Japanese pop starlet Ayumi Hamasaki, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" actress Zhang Ziyi, and fashion designer Donatella Versace also ratcheted up the show's star factor.
The star-studded event was hosted by ex-Boyzone front man Ronan Keating and American pop princess Mandy Moore.
Organizers gave out "favorite act" awards to 11 Asian countries, and handed out several trophies for international performers.
Music artists say they hope the Asian awards -- compiled from 13 million paper and e-mail ballots -- will not only showcase the region's "hot pop acts," but also "cross-pollinate" musical taste.
Winners
Thailand picked local rock band Pru while Singapore's choice was gamine Stefanie Sun.
But even the winners felt it was not always easy being Asian musicians.
Thai singer Tata Young is all smiles before the ceremony
"Asian artists try to emulate the West. When they try to do it, they don't do it as well as the Western artists," Pru band member Suki told Reuters reporters.
Hong Kong female singer Sammi Cheng beat a host of well-known nominees such as Andy Lau and Jackie Cheung to clinch the trophy. But the flamboyant canto-pop star had to give the ceremony a miss because of a cold.
Taiwan picked pop singer Chang Hui Mei, popularly known as A-Mei, to win the prize while singer Kang Ta from South Korea bounced on stage to grab his cube-like trophy.
Hong Kong martial arts star Jacky Chan, well-loved for his dare-devil stunts, won the Inspiration Award but had a stand-in receive his trophy.
MTV is a round-the clock music television network owned by U.S. media giant Viacom.
Global music sales in 2000 were worth $37 billion, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.
Industry sources have told Reuters that Asia's music sales, excluding Japan, have been steady at $2.2 billion per year in the last two years.
That leaves plenty of room for growth as music lovers switch from cassette tapes to higher-value CDs and rampant piracy is put under increasing pressure, analysts have said.
Some of the international awards showed that young people's musical tastes are universal -- Britney Spears and Ricky Martin clinched the favorite female and male artist awards.
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| Doesn't sound too Asian to me. Ricky MArtin??? <!--emo&:angry:--><img src="http://asianet.ca/images/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':angry:'><!--endemo--> |
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| masterv |
ditto.....it's like having metallica at soultrain awards?
at least it's west music but i dunno....asian award shows for asian artist....dat wut i fink |
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