By Saiful Bahri Kamaruddin
Pix Ikhwan Hashim, Izwan Azman and Shahiddan Saidi

BANGI, 30 January 2015 – A right royal concert was held by the National University of Malaysia (UKM) to celebrate the 67^thbirthday of the Yang Di Pertuan Besar Negeri Sembilan Tuanku Muhriz Ibni Almarhum Tuanku Munawir, the Chancellor of UKM here tonight.

The gala night brought together 66 performers consisting of singers, musicians and dancers from among students and staff of UKM as well as its alumni.

The songs were selected and adapted by Dato’ Dr Johari Salleh, the nation’s leading musician and conductor who is also Senior Fellow of the UKM Centre For Learning and Accreditation.

The concert was graced by the ARTISUKMA dance troupe, the UKM PERMATApintar performers and vocal renditions by artistes Noryn Aziz and Nassier Wahab.

Noryn performed ‘Lagenda’, ‘Hey Jude’ and ‘Greatest Love of All’, while Nassier presented ‘Memory Cinta Luka’, ‘Spanish Eyes’ and ‘Gadis Kota ‘.

Just before the concert, Tuanku Muhriz was presented with a birthday cake which he cut and a special gift.

Vice-Chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Noor Azlan Ghazali, in his opening remarks, congratulated Tuanku Muhriz on his birthday and expressed hope for many more to come.

Prof Noor Azlan said staff and students of UKM offered the concert as a token of appreciation to His Highness and consort Tunku Ampuan Tengku Aishah Rohani Binti Tengku Besar Mahmud.

Among the performers was Tuanku Muhriz’s son, Tunku Zain Al-‘Abidin who played a medley of P. Ramlee songs on the piano.

The evening also saw performances by two UKM students Nurul Shafiq Hambali and Mohd Rais Ariffin.

UKM’s dance troupe ARTISUKMA and a quartet from the PERMATApintar academy who also performed gave their rendition of Putera Puteri and Setia Malaysia.

The concert concluded with a cover and medley of Beatles songs by the orchestra and the dancers, who were quick on their feet with a stylized hip-hop dance.

Also present at the gala night were members of UKM board of director, deans and lecturers of faculties and heads and senior officers of the administrative departments.