FOR three exciting days last weekend, musicians from around the world found a common ground in these parts. Like the previous nine years, that platform was none other than the Rainforest World Music Festival, held at Sarawak Cultural Village in Santubong. About the only thing that threatened to grab the highlight away from the musicians was the weather. The scorching heat that always hits Santubong around this time needed some getting use to, but it seemed even the heat could not stop the music lovers from coming in droves to attend the workshops in the afternoons and watch the bands perform at night.
After a while, the sweltering heat was not that big of a deal. The workshops not only allowed the musicians and the music to immediately become accessible to anyone who’s interested, it accentuated the performances later at night.
Organised by the Sarawak Tourism Board, the festival has been growing steadily in repute over the years. Starting only with a 300 turnout in the first edition, this year’s festival kept its crowd consistency with more than 15,000 through in attendance. A total of 12 international acts were tapped for the fest apart from the usual Sarawak-based groups to reflect home talent.
Each act brought along their unique culture, costume, language and musical instruments to the festival. Despite the differences, each group found a receptive audience – be it the lively gypsy music of Eastern Europe, deep throat-singing by the Mongolians, the foot-stomping Quebecois folk music, story-telling music pieces of Kyrgyzstan or the exhilarating music of Madagascar.
What is truly amazing is that the audience itself comprised varied nationalities, and once the music started the language barrier became a thing of the past.
Karen Stein, of the group Calle Sur (Latin America), who performed at the festival five years ago with another group admitted that the Rainforest Festival is her favourite simply because it included the more popular groups and, at the same time, the exclusive ones.
Stein said: “This festival is not afraid to let the audience sit quietly and listen to one group and have them be rambunctious and expressive with the next.”
Hence the Mongolian group Egschiglen found an audience who couldn’t get enough of their two-string guitars and their overtone singing (two different tones of voices emanating at the same time) and the European group Hotel Palindrone got the audience excited with their yodelling and out-of-this-world instruments.
The meeting of the groups also brought forth a new-formed partnership. John Morrissey from Hotel Palindrone revealed that his group and Egschiglen are looking at staging a performance together somewhere in Europe.
Peter Morrison of the Scottish band Peatbog Faeries reasoned these easy partnerships: “The tunes vary from country to country but we all share the same rhythm.”
This became apparent throughout the three days whereby members of other bands would do impromptu guest spots onstage with different bands and yet, everything blended perfectly. About the only glitch in this almost perfect festival were the technical problems that plagued the bands, especially on the first nightand during the workshops. However, there is no doubt that it was pure delight to watch bands perform their numbers with both passion, precision and energy each year.
And this year was no less special with its own attractions, stories and highlights. By the end of each night, it got harder and harder to decide which is one’s most favourite performance.
If the second night was a treat with Peatbog Faeries showcasing how to use traditional instruments like bagpipes and fiddle with a bit of modern approach, the final night saw how violin masters from France expertly manipulated the strings and bows, and even made the two violins converse to one another. And artistes like Kelima (of Madagascar), Nahawa Doumbia (of Mali) and Eric Slabiak (France) immediately emanated charisma onstage that it was hard to take your eyes away from them. The energy they gave the audience, was given back in equal amounts by the audience.
Both Calle Sur and Genticorum (of Canada) performed for all the three nights and they can attest that they received an amazing response from the audience every time. It’s a people’s festival and the warmth was undeniable.
For Kelima, coming to this festival has entailed something extra. He said: “I feel like we have come home.” Kelima spoke about how people from this part of the world travelled by boat to reach Madagascar a long time ago. “And in Kuching we found a bamboo instrument that is very much like our national instrument. So this has been an emotional trip for me.”
What each band brought to the festival in the end was a strong sense of their roots. And festivals like this allow both musicians and music lovers to understand the differences and the similarities.
Kelima said: “I was watching the Canadian band, as they moved their feet while playing their instruments, and the combination of the beat was familiar to me, only the accent was different.”
Edgar East of Calle Sur added: “We all love music and that is what binds all of us.”
Rainforest trees, a lake and Mount Santubong surrounded the festival grounds and this atmosphere added the element of music truly being universal. As the Rainforest Festival reaches its 10th year next year, the Sarawak’s Ministry of Urban Development and Tourism is considering extending the ground to accommodate a higher capacity or extending it by a day. At this moment, the maximum the Sarawak Cultural Village can take is 8,000 – the amount of people who turned up on the second day of the festival.
The ministry is also looking at the possibility of lengthening the hours of the performance as a way to add more bands to the line-up. The organisers are currently talking to previous bands that have performed at the festival to make a comeback to celebrate the decade-long anniversary next year. Next year the festival will be held from July 13 to 15.
Here’s a word of advice, book those tickets now because the Rainforest World Music Festival is definitely something you do not want to miss.
After a while, the sweltering heat was not that big of a deal. The workshops not only allowed the musicians and the music to immediately become accessible to anyone who’s interested, it accentuated the performances later at night.
Organised by the Sarawak Tourism Board, the festival has been growing steadily in repute over the years. Starting only with a 300 turnout in the first edition, this year’s festival kept its crowd consistency with more than 15,000 through in attendance. A total of 12 international acts were tapped for the fest apart from the usual Sarawak-based groups to reflect home talent.
Each act brought along their unique culture, costume, language and musical instruments to the festival. Despite the differences, each group found a receptive audience – be it the lively gypsy music of Eastern Europe, deep throat-singing by the Mongolians, the foot-stomping Quebecois folk music, story-telling music pieces of Kyrgyzstan or the exhilarating music of Madagascar.
What is truly amazing is that the audience itself comprised varied nationalities, and once the music started the language barrier became a thing of the past.
Karen Stein, of the group Calle Sur (Latin America), who performed at the festival five years ago with another group admitted that the Rainforest Festival is her favourite simply because it included the more popular groups and, at the same time, the exclusive ones.
Stein said: “This festival is not afraid to let the audience sit quietly and listen to one group and have them be rambunctious and expressive with the next.”
Hence the Mongolian group Egschiglen found an audience who couldn’t get enough of their two-string guitars and their overtone singing (two different tones of voices emanating at the same time) and the European group Hotel Palindrone got the audience excited with their yodelling and out-of-this-world instruments.
The meeting of the groups also brought forth a new-formed partnership. John Morrissey from Hotel Palindrone revealed that his group and Egschiglen are looking at staging a performance together somewhere in Europe.
Peter Morrison of the Scottish band Peatbog Faeries reasoned these easy partnerships: “The tunes vary from country to country but we all share the same rhythm.”
This became apparent throughout the three days whereby members of other bands would do impromptu guest spots onstage with different bands and yet, everything blended perfectly. About the only glitch in this almost perfect festival were the technical problems that plagued the bands, especially on the first nightand during the workshops. However, there is no doubt that it was pure delight to watch bands perform their numbers with both passion, precision and energy each year.
And this year was no less special with its own attractions, stories and highlights. By the end of each night, it got harder and harder to decide which is one’s most favourite performance.
If the second night was a treat with Peatbog Faeries showcasing how to use traditional instruments like bagpipes and fiddle with a bit of modern approach, the final night saw how violin masters from France expertly manipulated the strings and bows, and even made the two violins converse to one another. And artistes like Kelima (of Madagascar), Nahawa Doumbia (of Mali) and Eric Slabiak (France) immediately emanated charisma onstage that it was hard to take your eyes away from them. The energy they gave the audience, was given back in equal amounts by the audience.
Both Calle Sur and Genticorum (of Canada) performed for all the three nights and they can attest that they received an amazing response from the audience every time. It’s a people’s festival and the warmth was undeniable.
For Kelima, coming to this festival has entailed something extra. He said: “I feel like we have come home.” Kelima spoke about how people from this part of the world travelled by boat to reach Madagascar a long time ago. “And in Kuching we found a bamboo instrument that is very much like our national instrument. So this has been an emotional trip for me.”
What each band brought to the festival in the end was a strong sense of their roots. And festivals like this allow both musicians and music lovers to understand the differences and the similarities.
Kelima said: “I was watching the Canadian band, as they moved their feet while playing their instruments, and the combination of the beat was familiar to me, only the accent was different.”
Edgar East of Calle Sur added: “We all love music and that is what binds all of us.”
Rainforest trees, a lake and Mount Santubong surrounded the festival grounds and this atmosphere added the element of music truly being universal. As the Rainforest Festival reaches its 10th year next year, the Sarawak’s Ministry of Urban Development and Tourism is considering extending the ground to accommodate a higher capacity or extending it by a day. At this moment, the maximum the Sarawak Cultural Village can take is 8,000 – the amount of people who turned up on the second day of the festival.
The ministry is also looking at the possibility of lengthening the hours of the performance as a way to add more bands to the line-up. The organisers are currently talking to previous bands that have performed at the festival to make a comeback to celebrate the decade-long anniversary next year. Next year the festival will be held from July 13 to 15.
Here’s a word of advice, book those tickets now because the Rainforest World Music Festival is definitely something you do not want to miss.
Source: The Star
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