Monday, July 11, 2011

Universal appeal of music works wonders at the Sarawak Rainforest World Music Festival

SANTUBONG: Music is more than just a sequence of notes played in a particular style.

It is a powerful medium which gives voices to people to share their ideas, culture and history; through which change can be affected; and past people, events and traditions cherished and honoured.

Ilga Reizneice of Latvian group Ilgi said music gave group members a chance to express themselves, not just in a contemporary way.

“Music is one of the ways to communicate between cultures and to deliver our unique cultural message to them,” she told foreign and local members of the press during a media conference late yesterday morning.

She said half-jokingly that some of the performers were exchanging ideas until 6 or 7am that morning and that if it wasn’t for the press conference, they would probably be still in deep discussion.

Members of Kamafei (Italy), Kenge Kenge Orutu System (Kenya), Paddy Keenan Trio (Ireland), Pacific Curls (New Zealand), Frigg (Finland), Joaquin Diaz (Dominican Republic) were also present at the media conference.

Later, guests and staff of 1Hotel Santubong were treated to a performance at the hotel’s poolside by Vanuatu’s Leweton Women’s Water Music.

The performance was their way of thanking artistic director Randy Raine-Reusch for his support in bringing them to the festival.

As expected, Saturday night’s concert was well attended with only standing room within the staging area at its peak.

Despite the threat of cloudy skies earlier in the day, the good weather held up.

The evening kicked off with a sunset concert by the Masters of Sape, followed by the main concert event featuring The SHIN (Georgia), Pacific Curls (New Zealand), Ilgi (Latvia), Paddy Keenan (Ireland), Warsaw Village Band (Poland), Joaquin Diaz (Dominican Republic) and Lisa Haley and the Zydecats (USA).

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