(ANN/STRAITS TIMES) – Nona Asiah, a distinguished figure in Singaporean music and film, passed away early on 30 July. Celebrated as one of the most popular singers during the golden era of the silver screen in the 1950s and 1960s, she left an indelible mark on the cultural landscape.
Her son, Indra Shahrir, confirmed that the Cultural Medallion recipient succumbed to old age at Changi General Hospital. Without official birth records, her age is estimated to have been between 92 and 94.
Indra, a music producer and director, shared with The Straits Times, “She had been in the hospital for two months. She had a lot of complications. She had a very weak kidney, water in the lungs, and had shingles lately.”
Nona Asiah’s body has been returned to her residence at 77 Lorong Melayu, where she lived with her younger sister and a domestic helper. She will be laid to rest at the Muslim cemetery in Lim Chu Kang on the morning of 31 July.
She is survived by her five children, including her eldest son, Iskandar Ismail, an award-winning composer and Cultural Medallion recipient, who passed away at 58 in 2014 due to lung and brain cancer.
Nona, whose real name was Asiah Aman, began her singing career during World War II while Singapore was under the Japanese Occupation.
After the war, she worked closely with Singapore national anthem composer Zubir Said and sang on Radio Malaya with her late husband Ismail Kassim.
Her work in the film industry started when Zubir got her to sing for the film Chinta (1948) with P. Ramlee, the late Malaysian singer-actor who went on to become a Malay entertainment industry icon.
Her popular songs include Zubir’s compositions such as Cempaka Biru (Blue Cempaka) and Gelora Chinta (Love Surge).
In 1975, she retired from live performances, and later conducted singing and performance workshops for children in the 1980s and 1990s.
She was conferred the Cultural Medallion in 2016 and was inducted into the Singapore Women’s Hall of Fame in 2022.
Her proteges include local television and music industry stalwart Najip Ali. In the early 1980s, when he was still a teenager, Nona recognised his talent and set him off on a path as a solo singer.
In 2015, Najip was the director of a tribute concert for Nona held at Esplanade Concert Hall. He tells ST: “Mak Nona was there at the beginning of my journey in the entertainment world.
Directing that concert was one of my proudest moments, and it was like I had come full circle.”
