Maimunah Bagharib, better known as Munah (or Kathee), is one half of the crazy and talented duo that is MunahHirzi. Dubbed as the founding prince and princess of Singapore’s YouTube scene, Munah, together with her partner-in-crime Hirzi, has been making us both laugh and cringe since 2008. By wittily combining social satire (on issues such as foreign talent, housing and mats/minahs) and political commentary, and remixing them with popular tunes, it’s no wonder MunahHirziOfficial has over 132, 000 subscribers and 27 million views on YouTube! Their brand of in-your-face humour and brutal truth-telling has led to TV and stage appearances, live comedy shows, their own TV series and Munah’s latest travelogue series with Carla Dunareanu called #MissAdventures! And through all this fame and fortune (and a little bit of controversy!), Munah has remained as down-to-earth and authentic as when she first started. Zahara spent some time with the beautiful and funny Munah to find out what she’s been up to these days.
Our gorgeous Zahara Warrior, Munah!
Give us three words to describe yourself.
Adventurous, Stubborn, Laidback. Haha, all very vast but I think that really sums up who I am.
What inspired you to start MunahHirziOffical (MHO) on YouTube?
Honestly, it really started out by chance. We didn’t have any intentions of making it what it is today. Hirzi and I have always been doing crazy things while we were in polytechnic (we were in Mass Comm in TP) and we thought, we should document these things and upload them on YouTube to share amongst our friends. Little did we know, YouTube was a growing medium at that point and other people started watching our content as well. It really started out very organically and that’s what I love most about our channel, that it stays very true to our intentions – which is for fun and a passion.
We love your crazy covers and dance videos! What projects do you guys have next?
Thank you! We do have a couple of videos in the pipeline. One that has just came out is a parody of Beyonce’s Formation and I loved working on that because our idea was to portray a strong generation of champions in Singapore, who stay true to who they are and are amazing at what they’ve achieved in their own right. I’m very proud of this video and am very honoured that the people who were involved in it came on board to do this with us.
Munah & Hirzi at the 20th Asian TV Awards last year where our girl hosted the crap out of the show and was styled by her partner-in-crime, Hirzi!
Where do you see yourself (and MHO) in 10 years’ time?
Wow, this is a tough one. Haha. I like to take life one step at a time and don’t really plan too far ahead. Just because anything could happen at any time and plans never fall through. I really go where life takes me and work from there. It’s a little more spontaneous that way.
What should every woman try at least once in her life?
Go on a crazy extreme adventure that pushes your limits, puts you in pain, doubt yourself and all that you know and then find strength and triumph in that. Sounds like life actually. Haha! But I think doing something completely out of your comfort zone will put you on the spot and be very scary, but it will make you stronger in every way possible.
Who are your style icons?
At this moment, I love Nicole Scherzinger & Kylie Jenner (her makeup is to die for!). I take little bits and pieces of their style and fuse it with mine. I always like something sexy but classy and makeup that enhances features but still look very natural.
