Wani Ardy

Wani Ardy (born 25 October 1984) is a Malaysian independent singer-songwriter. She was born in Kuala Lumpur and raised in Subang Jaya. She describes the genres of her music as acoustic and lyrical poetry.

Background

Wani does not regard herself as growing up in an artistic or a musical environment. Her father came from a religious Javenese-Johorean family while her Javanese-Singaporean mother had always been very strict on their education. Though her father was a multi-instrumentalist and her mother was an English teacher, their occupations changed soon as they had children. Wani did poorly in school, identifying herself as "a slow learner" and "a stubborn child who will not study what she does not like". Her mother finally allowed her to choose her own path after high school. Wani is the first in her large conventional family to pursue arts and literature.

Education and Career

Upon finishing her undergraduate studies in performing arts, screenwriting and screen arts with first-class honors, Wani subsequently functioned as a scriptwriter at Red Communications. Working alongside TV host-writer-actress Rafidah Abdullah, Wani wrote scripts for a few episodes of Gol & Gincu The Series, Goda and Number Squad. She also did captioning for a few episodes of Sadiq & Co., 3R, Breeze Padang Pintar, as well as the film KAMI The Movie under Redfilms. She then became a junior lecturer in Kuala Lumpur Metropolitan University College, teaching film studies and basic English language. Later she moved on to Universiti Teknologi MARA, teaching scriptwriting, songwriting, poetry and fiction writing. Currently residing in Sydney, she is completing her postgraduate studies in creative writing before resuming to her full-time job as a lecturer.

Music

Wani began writing short stories at the age of 7; penning poems, proses and songs at the age of 16. She has been performing her original songs since 2002, both individually and by group within Malaysia and Sydney.

While citing KT Tunstall, Priscilla Ahn, Angus and Julia Stone, Sara Bareilles and The Swell Season as her inspirations, Wani particularly singled out Yusuf Islam as her personal idol.

Her earliest musical companion was Shukor Fuad whom she had a band with named Boneca. Their single Cela grew quite popular that it was aired by various local radio stations without their consent. Today her sessionists are Acap F of the indie pop band The Fridays, Ikmal Ibrahim and her percussionist-cellist husband, Syafiq Zakaria.

Her songs are briefly featured in the drama series Blogger Boy and the upcoming reality drama Gadis Semasa Sunsilk.

Apart from organizing art events around Klang Valley, she now co-manages two companies with her family: Aftertwelve Studio a live sound company and Gravy Baby! a Malaysian cuisine restaurant with live acoustic music.

Personal Life

Admitting that her guitar skills are "extremely basic" and writing is something that she "cannot escape from", Wani sets "being a lecturer" as her top priority over being a singer-songwriter.

Discography

Senikatawati
Year: 2008
Type: Demo

Tiga Venus
Year: 2009
Type: Compilation
Artists: Ana Raffali, Fynn Jamal, Wani Ardy

Meanwhile
Year: 2010
Type: EP

"Mighty Melody" Malaysia Indie Scene
Year: 2011
Type: Compilation
Artists: Yuna, Liyana Fizi, Wani Ardy, Ferns, Shoegaze, Furniture, Love/Comes, The Hollow, Couple, Nice Stupid Playground, Khottal, Romancesa, Laila's Lounge, The Sofa Sessions

Literary Works

Perempuan Simpanan (anthology)
Senikatawati (in development)