Believe it or not, YES I do have the experience! The feel of seeing someone you idolise in front of you and supporting that person with all that you have... :D It was an AWESOME experience!

No, I didn't meet with TVXQ yet. But I'm sure if I did, I might pass out even before I could scream out their name to get them to notice me, since, considering how I was meeting with Maher Zain!! Okay... Maybe I was exaggerating a bit, but you get the picture right?


Yeah I met him here. ^_^ This is the Sounds of Light 'concert' (as what I like to call it in short but it somehow doesn't sound right since this is a very Islamic event). It is actually held to raise funds to support orphans all around the world. A really noble work I must say...

The event was supposed to start at 6.30pm last Friday. But we were about an hour late because:
1. We didn't know where the Brisbane Exhibition and Convention Centre was.
2. We took the wrong bus-stop and end up walking around South Bank for half an hour trying to find this place, which we soon find out that it was only 3 minutes walk from the first bus-stop (we took the second).

So when we finally arrived at the Convention Centre feeling very sweaty (its winter and people don't sweat that much even with all the layers of clothing but still, oh please don't imagine it) after all those FAST walking, we walked straight to Door 9 of the room where the event took place. We presented our $30 worth of ticket and was ushered inside. YES. We were USHERED right to our seat, which I didn't expect at all. I thought we would only need to find our seats like in the cinema. The attendant were dressed very formally and brought torch lights to light up the way, since the event has started by then and it was dark, except for the stage lights.

We totally missed one performer, which is a solo nasyid singer and I didn't remember from where. When we arrived, it was already the second performer and it was already his last song. But it doesn't matter, because we came here mainly for Maher Zain and Raihan. :D The next up was Gulf-Echo from Saudi Arabia. I'm telling you, they're not bad at all! Their harmonisation is much better than TVXQ! No offence, but that's how much I was mesmerized. There were 6 people in that group and they used a keyboard to assist them. God, was I shocked or what, our typical mind-set of nasyeed songs being accompanied by percussion and those traditional drums does not apply AT ALL. Seriously! It was really modern music.


Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that this Sounds of Light is organised by Human Appeal International Australia. I really admire what they've done so far, as presented by them in a presentation during the middle of the event. I'll tell you a about it in a bit.

So let's move on. The next one up was MAHER ZAIN! *SQUEAL!!!* Okay, we didn't actually squeal like those crazy fan-girls who stalks TVXQ, but we screamed his name really loudly to attract his attention to where we were seated. Oh, I didn't mention it yet. We went there in a group of about 20 people, all Malaysia girls, usrah people. C= Just imagine those good girls getting VERY VERY excited! It was EXCITING!!! XD We screamed louder than others but Maher Zain didn't notice us, which made us a tiny bit disappointed, but that's okay. At least we got our dreams come true, which is to meet Maher Zain in person. ^_^ He sang about 5 songs that night (Gulf Echo only sang two but backed up some other singers for the later performances). OMG, just as he finished the second song, we nearly freaked out. We were screaming things like 'One more! PLEASE!', 'No! Don't go yet! You haven't sing InsyaAllah!', 'MAHER ZAIN YOU'RE THE BEST! SING SOME MORE!!' Which I think might've annoyed other performers who already performed even just slightly since they didn't get as much LOVE from the audience~ haha! And I must say, our group were the loudest!

When he started singing the third song, the person in front of me which is also one of us began waving at the stage, hoping to get Maher Zain's attention. No response. We tried again. No response. Then instead of waving, we started to put our arms up in the arms and waved it from left to right along with the music. We did it together and the most amazing thing happened after that! It took some time, but Maher Zain eventually responsed! :D He didn't waved back at first but he LOOKED at our group's direction and smiled and slightly nodded. You can't imagine the effects of that simple act had on us! We SQUEALED even louder and our faces started getting hot and we cheered for him even louder. We were SOOOOO HAPPY! We continued doing the wave and soon some other groups started doing the same! \^0^/ AWESOME! With all the beat claps from the audience, the sing-alongs for those who memorised the song and the waves and cheers, the event was BEYOND AWESOME! By the fourth song, he started to acknowledge the audiences even more! Maher Zain is such a great guy. He slightly waved at us a few more times, and if he's not waving he'll definitely look at us and smiled and even went to stand at the end of the stage nearest to us and looked at us! *squeal!* All the while cheering for him while watching him perform, we were constantly waiting for him to look at us again and to make him notice how we really REALLY support his music. We weren't disappointed at all. He was trying to give equal attention to all his audiences and I admit we were starting to distract him and make him feel guilty for not able to connect with us better. But that's okayyyy~ All the attention that he was able to forward to us was more than enough. Just imagine how many other people out there who would LOVE to meet him yet didn't get the chance too. I feel honoured and blessed. <3


The last song that he sang was InsyaAllah. Before he started singing, he asked the audience what song do we want to hear him sing, and everyone screamed INSYAALLAH! And he grinned! So cute!!! But that was his last song for the night. We cheered with all that we have for that last performance. Everything was just incredible. Then it was time for prayer-break. Everyone was high after that performance and everyone was grinning. The picture above was taken during break time, which explains why it looked a bit empty. Those seats down there were Platinum seats and it costs $60 while ours were Gold seats which costs $30. It was pretty boring during the break because nothing happened. Except for this one person that came to us and wanted to take our picture to put into his article, which may be because we were the most enthusiastic out of all the groups present. haha! It's kind of cool actually.

Then, after the break, there was a short event conducted by the people from Human Appeal. They presented videos and slide-shows of their activities so far, showed us a documentary of a couple of orphans that they have sponsored across the world and such. It was pretty cool too because I can tell you that this organisation is really doing what they're made to do! Because what came next is 4 of the orphans helped by the organisation! These 4 orphans were brought to Australia to fulfill their wishes to meet the person who has sponsored them. (You see, Human Appeal is like a middle person which provides the platform for generous people to help the orphans. It is actually anonymous people who are paying for the orphans and such. You can be one of the sponsors too! Just visit the website!) The kids performed a bit and it was so cute and lovely! Especially when two of the kids that were on stage were actually ON the documentary just a few minutes ago~ :D Isn't it great? They sang some more with the nasyeed performers and after that, one of the orphans gets to meet his sponsor! GOSH! It's like watching long lost family getting reunited!! =') It really touched my heart. Imagine, you're donating through Human Appeal and has absolutely no idea where the money goes after that, only to be told that your money has been used to sponsor this kid, and this kid came to Australia just to meet you! It almost feel like having a foster son/daughter! I wish I have more money and I can sponsor AT LEAST one orphan out there. You know, we can let Human Appeal know orphans from which country we prefer to sponsor.

So after that was over, we went on with another nasyeed performer (this time they came from the United States. It was supposed to be Zain Bikha which I love so much as well, but Zain Bikha's visa wasn't approved and these guys were put in the slot instead. They were supposed to accompany Zain Bikha in singing anyways, just that now the main singer wasn't able to be there). These guys were surprisingly AWESOME as well. His voice is just like those R&B black singers of Hollywood! It feels a great honour to have such great voice to sing nasyeed songs. The one who sang even composed his own songs! Oh! This group consist of three, a black guy who sings and two white guys playing the percussion. The black guy converted to Islam three years ago and found the other two and formed an unofficial group. We were smiling the whole way, and gave equal support to this performer as well, minus the squeals and arm waves somehow. XD

Then, the finale arrives. Guess who performed next. It's none other than Raihan! Our own nasyeed group! You can't imagine how excited we were to see Raihan! When was the last time we heard about them, even in Malaysia~ I think I last heard about them around 8 years ago? Gosh...


We were so proud when they started walking up the stage. Who wouldn't? We're Malaysians!! We started squealing when they took the stage, more than we squealed during Maher Zain's I think, but for a completely different reason~ ;D Basically, about the same thing happened. We did the hand waves and clapped with the beat almost during all of the songs (by the end of the event I can't even feel my hands anymore). Raihan sang almost as much songs as Maher Zain, which concludes that their popularity internationally could almost be the same, which made me feel very proud~ :D And the best part is that they sounded better than 10 years ago! They harmonised much better! But I miss the first Raihan's lead singer. Huuuu~~

And guess what happened... hihii~ The technical team even put their spotlight on us while we were cheering for Raihan!! Seriously! It felt hot! I mean the spotlight is really REALLY hot! No wonder performers ends up sweaty, and that is to have that spotlight shone from 700m away from you. o.O And they kept it on us for a whole song! And another thing, Raihan perfectly noticed us and they SHOWED that they noticed us!! They waved a couple of times between songs and some kept on looking up at us and he smiled!! ^_^ We feel so proud to be able to support people from our own country in a foreign place. Heeee~ And by the end of their performance, after their thank yous, they ALL waved at us TOGETHER for a whole minute! There's actually other Malaysians within the crowd, but we were the MOST obvious. Hahaa it figures~ XD Who won't? We even screamed "RAIHAN BEST!!!" after their third song! And one of them replied 'Thank You' before proceeding to the song Thank You Allah~ =)

After everything was over, we were really HIGH. I can't imagine how high I could be if it was TVXQ I'm meeting~ >.< haha! There was an autograph session outside the hall and we went to line up for Raihan first. YUP, I got to meet them face to face and I have their autograph!! But I don't know what to say to them considering that I haven't heard about them in almost 13 years! We just didn't know what to ask! The first Raihan member asked my name and I told him and he just signed my paper (which is actually a feedback paper for the event, but I have no other place to have them sign some autograph for me). And that's about the only interaction I had with them, except for saying more Thank Yous... XD We took a picture and went on to line up for Maher Zain. And OMG his line is DAMN LONG! And what's even not cool about it is because as we were just lining up, the staffs already called it enough and took Maher Zain away from his fan! =( Darn the staff! >[ hahaha~ Maher Zain was very apologetic about it and I think he tried to negotiate with the staff to stay just a bit longer considering how his line is STILL very long. But 'no can do' and he left... I was like...





Credit: LKR24LOCA

Labels: Maher Zain, Raihan, Sounds of Light, Spazz

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