Thursday, July 05, 2012

Eco-tourism plus culture in Kota Kinabalu


While eco-tourism is the selling point of Kota Kinabalu, the Sabah Tourism Board has not forgotten that it has to emphasize equally the importance of cultural tourism in creating awareness of what Kota Kinabalu and Sabah, in general, is all about.

While the federal government of Malaysia spends millions of ringgit in advertising, Sabah Tourism Board does its own promotional efforts to lure tourists to the city. Tourism board’s chairman, Dato’ Seri Tengku Zainal Adlin, makes sure that it has one important cultural event in the yearlong calendar of attractions to the city.

Called Sabah Fest, it depicts the age-old traditions and legends in a theatrical presentation with music, poetry, dance and songs by talented performers.

It is held on the third and fourth days of May.

We had the chance to watch a preview of the epic presentation in a theater built expressly for the festival. The colorful musical play was about how the indigenous peoples of Sabah were able to unite and bring forth progress to the now federal state known as Sabah after years of colonization. It was meant for just one night, and I felt the excitement of the people of Kota Kinabalu.

Apart from the Sabah Fest, other cultural events that dot KK’s calendar include a jazz festival held on June 15 and 16. It is a gathering of local and international jazz artists for two nights of musical improvisation. On June 29 and 30, in a dramatic setting at the tip of Borneo headland is the annual Sunset Music Fest at the Tip of Borneo Kudat.

The festival is Sabah’s biggest and most spectacular outdoor musical event, the musicians performing on a stage perched on a cliff overlooking the point where the South China and Sulu seas overlap.

One of the most awaited even is the Sabah International Folklore Festival on July 8 until the 17 in which each of the indigenous peoples of Sabah are given the opportunity to showcase their culture in a series of events culminating in a two-day International Folkdance Competition.

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