2007 is the 10th year of the Rainforest World Music Festival.

This home-grown event has grown way past any of the organizers imagination since its debut in 1998.

To celebrate, we have planned a reunion festival where only bands who have played over the last 9 years are coming back this year.

It will be a heady affair with emotions running high as we welcome back the bands and the music that have been the reason why the festival has become such a success.

But nothing can match the turning of a full circle with the appearance of Randy Raine-Reusch, the Canadian multi-instrumentalist who, when in Sarawak to look for ethnic instruments to add to his collection, was one of the original brains for starting a world music festival in the heart of Borneo.

Not only was he one of the founder members, he also performed with his band Asza first, and then later with his wife Han-Mei at the festival, and was also the artistic director and consultant for the first three years of the event.

He also worked with the Sarawak Tourism Board to create and produce a show on Sarawak music and dance to take to the music expo WOMEX in Marseilles, France in 1997.

Sarawak music and Sarawak instruments lie close to Randy’s heart. He plays most of them and specializes in wind and string instruments from Asia and South-East Asia. He has also given numerous lectures at prestigious conferences all over the world.

So it is going to be doubly meaningful as, apart from playing solo, he will also be joined by two Sarawak percussionists for half of his show at the festival.

It will be the first time Randy returns to Sarawak after the third festival in 2000. Then, the stage site was still situated at the front of the Sarawak Cultural Village with an audience of about 500. Last year, the organizers calculated that there were about 20 000 people over the 3 day weekend.

The festival is organized by the Sarawak Tourism Board, like it has been since the beginning,  and it  will be held at the Sarawak Cultural Village in Santubong on the 13th, 14th and 15th of July. Tickets are already on sale and can be bought online at http://www.ticketcharge.com.my/  as well as at all Visitor Information Centres in Kuching, Miri and Sibu.

Tickets are priced at RM80 for a one day Adult Pass, and RM200 for a 3-day Adult Pass. Children aged 3 – 12 years of age can purchase half priced tickets.

More information on the festival can also be found on the website www.rainforestmusic-borneo.com

Yeoh Jun Lin
Artistic Director
Rainforest World Music Festival