Safa (Pureness) is the seventh studio album by Malaysian singer Siti Nurhaliza. It was released on 11 January 2001 by Suria Records. Five singles were released from the album, with "Percayalah" released as the lead single.
Production Safa was heavily influenced by Siti Nurhaliza. She began working on the album by the first quarter of 2000 following the commercial success of her previous six albums. Siti said that the album's title, Safa means Pureness, while stated that the album is meaningful to her and specially dedicated to her fans. For the album, she worked with Ahmad Izham Omar and Aubrey Suwito as the album's producer as well as Adnan Abu Hassan (who previously produced her previous albums), Azmeer, Zulkifli Majid, Pak Ngah and Helen Yap.
Track listing
Release and reception Safa was released on what would have been Siti Nurhaliza's 22nd birthday, on 11 January 2001. It peaked at number two on RIM's local album chart. It was Malaysia's best-selling local album of the year when more than 80,000 units were sold in 2001 alone.
Safa received mixed to positive reviews from music reviewers. Zainal Alam Kadir of the New Straits Times gave the album two and half stars. Zainal wasn't pleased with the presence of too many ballads in the album. He reviewed the album, "None of the songs is memorable enough. Siti's voice might be the only saving grace." In a more positive review by Marina Abdul Ghani of The Malay Mail, she commended Siti's vocals and singled out "Percayalah" as her favorite song from the album. She wrote Siti's rendition of the song as "next to perfect". She concluded her review as "Safa offers a variety of polished songs that showcases Siti's versatility as a singer." Saniboey Mohd Ismail of Harian Metro rated the album with four stars. In his final comment, he wrote, "[...] Siti's 2001 beginning is really good with Safa, although it is really hard for me to say this is her best album." In a three out four star review by Joko of Tembang, he reviewed Siti's vocals in Safa favourably. He commended how Safa explored Siti's vocals to the maximum and the clarity and quality of Siti's voice.
Personnel Credits adapted from Safa booklet liner notes.
Siti Nurhaliza - vocals, backing vocals Haslan - backing vocals Ailena Ali (Lin) - backing vocals Sanizar Ayin - backing vocals Swara - backing vocals Zulkifli Majid - backing vocals, composer, producer, A&R AS Design & Print - cover, design, printing Tan Su Loke - executive producer Wong - producer A.D. Ho - photography Nurul Shukor - make-up artist Kenzo - wardrobe, recorder Ahmad Izham Omar - composer, producer Aubrey Suwito - composer, producer Azmeer - composer, producer Helen Yap - composer, producer Pak Ngah - composer, producer Adnan Abu Hassan - composer, producer, backing vocals Ajai - composer, producer, backing vocals Jason Foo - production manager Azmi Ali - promotion Bard - promotion Rahayu - promotion Shahrin Halim - promotion Vincent Chan - recorder Koh - recorder PRO Recording Studio - recording studio Genesis Mastering Lab - mastering
Footnotes Note 1: In the Hits of the World section of Billboard, Safa was listed at number three for the RIM's overall Malaysia album chart for week ending 6 February 2001. As the highest positioning local album in the chart, Safa by default should be at number one for RIM's local album chart. However, on Hisham Harun's Hit List section of The New Straits Times, for week ending 5 February 2001, Safa was not even listed for RIM's local album chart. It is unclear which information is correct.
Explanatory notes
References
External links Safa by Siti Nurhaliza at Discogs