KUCHING: The Dayak music industry has seen tremendous improvement over the past few years.
Now it has gone beyond our shores and reached other parts of the world.
As such, it is necessary for singers, musicians and art activists to be able to sustain the development, advised Snowdan Lawan, the chairman of Dayak Artistes and Musicians Association (Dama).
“Today, we can see that our talents are varied and we have really good singers and musicians of various genres including ballad, pop, rock and many more. We have moved beyond ordinary in terms of music quality, lyrics, music arrangements as well as the artistes.
“Nevertheless, we must strive to make other people, especially those outside of Sarawak, to understand that Dayak music is no longer just traditional music and show them our new generation of music. That is an achievement for us all,” he said in his speech when launching Dayak Music Awards (AMD) 2016 at Dayak Bidayuh National Association (DBNA) Hall here recently.
He also pointed out that there was a need to make people love our music, although they might not understand our language.
“We love to listen to songs that we do not really understand the lyrics or language, but we tend to memorise the song by heart, including popular Hindi and Korean songs.
“So, what is the difference between our Iban, Bidayuh and Orang Ulu songs? If we are able to charm music enthusiasts with our extraordinary music arrangements, music, and melody I am sure other races that do not understand our language will also love our songs,” said Snowdan, adding that several Dayak songs had been made famous by foreigners including Andrewson Ngalai’s ‘Bekikis Bulu Betis’.
He thanked the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism (MDTCC) for their continuous effort in fighting piracy.
“The issue of piracy must be eradicated to ensure that the Dayak music industry will be able to sustain for more years to come and we will continue to fight the good fight,” he added.
Continue reading (Incl. Pic) at: Make Dayak music appeals more to outsiders
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