AFTER a lapse of a few years, I decided to go to the much-hyped annual Rainforest World Music Festival over the weekend.
What could I say about the festival, other than seeing a sea of people from as far as the Czech Republic in Europe, Argentina in South America and Hawaii in the United States converging here.
Simply said, it was a very rami crowd. In Sarawakian Malay, rami means many and it refers to people.
For me, this year’s event was fun because I brought two good friends from Singapore — Andrew and Rudy.
Being first-time visitors to the RWMF, they were obviously excited.
Nevertheless, having known them for a long time, I had to brace myself for whatever comments — good or otherwise — they had about the festival.
“Well, we’re Singaporeans what! It’s our obligation to be fussy and particular about everything,” Andrew half-joked.
So we went to the festival — me without much expectation but I couldn’t say much about Andrew and Rudy.
I thought they were observing everything, although they didn’t show much.
In fact, they seemed to enjoy the atmosphere and it made me glad.
“I love the energy here. Everybody seems to be moving all the time.
“It does feel like a music festival, equivalent to Woodstock but at a much more positive level,” said Rudy.
Thank goodness — a good comment, I thought to myself.
“Yes, I agree,” said Andrew. “At first, I thought it was going to be a wild rave party but it’s not.
“It’s really a musical celebration from around the world and I love seeing people of all creed and races get together and be like old friends to each other, even though they’ve never met before.
“What I like is the fact that youngsters have come not just to participate but also as volunteers and food stall operators. It’s all so active.
“And I must commend the security. They’re really successful at making visitors feel secure and safe.”
As a Sarawakian, I beamed with pride hearing these comments. I agreed that this year’s handling of the festival was professionally done.
Of course, also as a Sarawakian, I felt the festival could have been better but I believe that true observation would only come from first-time visitors like Andrew and Rudy rather than from a been-there-done-that person such as myself.
True enough, not everything about the festival was rosy.
Apart from anticipating that RWMF would be a rave party of sort, Andrew expected the festival to be more focused on raising awareness of preserving and sustaining the rainforest.
“With the ‘rainforest’ in its name, I’m expecting more programmes for raising awareness of the rainforests.
“But what I see is that the RWMF appears to be solely a music festival, albeit a great one.
“Also, seeing that the festival is being held at Sarawak Cultural Village (SCV), I expect it to be more ethnic.
“Instead, it seems like the management of the space is ‘renting out’ the place for the RWMF and their cultural performers are taking a backseat during the festival,” he said.
Continue reading at: Sarawak Rainforest World Music Festival - It’s all about the music
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