The 7th annual ‘express’ composers’ workshop gathered 20 promising and established composers and lyricists at the Port Dickson. The composers were divided into 8 groups with an established composer paired with a promising/young composer. Each group will collaborate with their team member to compose a new song which is “fast & radio friendly”. 4 lyricists were invited to pen the lyrics to the new melodies. The challenge amongst the participants is to work with their partner to come up with a new composition which meets the theme.

The 4 days/3 nites event saw participation of S Atan, Azmeer, Tam Spider, Awang BPR, Anuar Dahalan, Ruslan Mamat, Is Wow, Hanafi Spider, Amirah Ali, Anas Hamdan, Rudy Halim, Amir Crush, Dali Ahli Fiqir, Iswandy, Rithan Deeja Voodoo Spells, Zack Budak Kacamata, Siti Zaleha, Ad Samad, Adeep Fabulous Cats and Abie Abdullah. 2 arrangers, Greg Henderson & Firdaus Mahmud were there to arrange some of the songs.

On the last night of the workshop, all the new songs were showcased before guests from the media, recording companies and music publishers. The “Favourite Cipta Ekspres” song, “Kebas” selected by 6 members of the guests was composed by Azmeer and Amir Crush with lyrics by Abie Abdullah. They shared the cash prize of RM1,000.00 and all participants received a certificate presented by Pn Habsah Hassan, Chairman MACP.

Last year’s Cipta Ekspres saw the debut of “Kalau Berpacaran” by Sohaimi Mior Hassan, Ana Raffali & Altimet which became a great hit. We hope this year’s workshop will produce similar successful songs!

MACP members who wish to participate in future Cipta Ekspres can write to MACP at macp@streamyx.com.