malay cinema | SALOMA
Puan Sri Datin Amar Salmah binti Ismail, better known as Saloma (22 January 1935 – 25 April 1983) was a Singaporean-Malaysian film actress and singer. She was the third wife of the film actor, director, singer, and songwriter Tan Sri P. Ramlee. Apart from her artistry, Saloma was also famous as a screen beauty: her hourglass figure, magnificent hairdos and iconic kebaya dresses were copied by young ladies of the 60’s.
Saloma’s voice is best described by the Malay adage lemak merdu (literally meaning fat-melodious), a term connotating a sensuous honey-thick flow of sound with a lot of overtones.
The beauty of her voice was such that P. Ramlee once remarked he could not envision his songs sung by singers any other than Saloma. Their creative partnership in film and music was still unmatched in Malaysia today. Her contributions to Malaysian art was such that she was credited as Biduanita in the credits of her films, the term being equivalent to Italian prima donna assoluta. (x)
