Asia Bagus! was a star-search program created by Fuji Television spanning from 1992 until 2000 to promote young up-and-coming performing artists in Asia. The show broadcast once a week for 24 episodes from April to September throughout Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Korea, Japan, Taiwan (from 1994) and Thailand.
The contestants featured in the program were twelve amateur singers between the age of 12 and 25, selected from 300 entries each month from the participating countries. Three singers from each country, selected from the auditions, were encouraged to sing in their native languages. The prevailing champion over three shows went on to compete in a monthly run-off, while grand championships were held once a year. The grand champion of each year will record a solo album while the winners for the monthly run-offs will record an album together.
Former hosts include Tomoko Kadowaki from Japan and Najip Ali from Singapore. Singaporean Moses Lim also once co-hosted Asia Bagus in 1994 while 1993 champion Construction Sight duos Sheikh Haikel and Ashidiq Ghazali became the hosts for 1996. Another Japanese woman was once a co-host of the show.
For the 1996 season, a new segment called Big Asia was added, where Najip Ali interviewed personalities from Asia.
Etymology The name Asia Bagus! was coined by a Malaysian marketing guru, Prof. Abdul Hamid Mohamed. The word "Bagus" in the title means "great".
The winners Year Moment Place The Winner Runner up1992 1st Grand Championship Tokyo, Japan Krisdayanti from Indonesia Score 96 points, song "Learning form Love" Dewi Yuliartiningsih (Dewi Gita) from Indonesia Score 93 points, song "Merenda Kasih"1993 2nd Grand Championship Yoyogi National Stadium, Tokyo, Japan Sheikh Haikel & Ashidiq Ghazali (Construction Sight) from Singapore Score 90 points, song "Tequila" Ninies Dian Ratnasari from Indonesia Score 89 points, song "I Have Nothing"1993 3rd Grand Championship Tokyo, Japan Amy Mastura from Malaysia Score 87 points, song "Fikir Dulu" Erva Yudhisa from Indonesia Score 86 points, song "Save the Best for Last"1994 4th Grand Championship Tokyo, Japan Nisa Lin from Taiwan Score 83 points, (Won via voting) Prilianty Chintya Lamusu from Indonesia Score 83 points, song "I Know Him So Well" Tang Lai Ngor from Malaysia Score 83 points1995 5th Grand Championship Jakarta, Indonesia Tengku Shaharum from Malaysia Score 89 points, song "Now and Forever" (won via voting) Imelda Raggilia from Indonesia Score 89 points, song "Gairah Jiwa"1996 6th Grand Championship Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Miki Low Leang Cheng from Malaysia Score 90 points, song "Pasti" (won via voting) Eka Mairina from Indonesia Score 90 points Akiyo Hoshino from Japan Score 90 points1997 Best Of Asia Bagus Tokyo, Japan Krisdayanti from Indonesia song "Merasa" -1998 7th Grand Championship Jakarta, Indonesia Ida Satrianti (Atiek) from Indonesia Score 92 points, song "Be the Man" (won via voting) Ikema Akane from Japan Score 92 points 1999 8th Grand Championship Bali, Indonesia Rio Febrian from Indonesia Score 94 points, song "I am your Angel" Alyah from Malaysia Score 89 points (won via voting)2000 9th Grand Championship Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Caroline Gunawan (Alena) from Indonesia Score 93 points, song "What a girl want" Gail Satiawaki from Indonesia Score 89 points, song "This things called love" (won via voting) Jirayut Namkong from Thailand Score 89 points
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