BAGPIPES, KILTS AND WILD BODHRANS AT THE RAINFOREST WORLD MUSIC FESTIVAL
By Yeoh Jun Lin | Artistic Director - Rainforest World Music Festival

In 2004, SHANNON from Poland went on stage at the Rainforest World Music Festival and the crowd at the festival never recovered from it.

This band was not here to play traditional Polish music, but to play raw and energetic Celtic music – complete with bagpipes, bodhrans, whistles, kilts and tattoos.

The term “celtic” music is actually a term coined by record companies and music stores so as to know which shelf to compile CDs that broadly covered the folk musical genre of the Celtic people of Western Europe.

Often, it means the music of Ireland and Scotland, but strangely enough, the Irish and the Scottish will very seldom refer to their music as “celtic music” !

The Celtic traditions are also strong in Wales, Northumbria, South Britain, areas of Spain and France and Portugal, and also where ethnic Celts have emigrated to like the USA and Canada.

In Poland, there is a huge demand for Irish and Scottish music and Shannon, led by Marcin Ruminski, feeds this hunger, and feeds it very well too.

Marcin frontlines it with spectacular bagpipes. They were an all-man band the last time they were here, but now there is a new female fiddle player,  Maria Namyslowska,  who plays alongside Marcin.

Fiery bodhrans are also part of the sound of Shannon. Look out for a great display when everything stops and the band only does a great display of bodhran playing.

The Rainforest World Music Festival is bringing back repeat bands only for its 10th Anniversary to create a kind of reunion festival.

There has been so many good bands and so much great music, it was a difficult year to try to programme for, as we want every band back!

However, the deciding factor was that the overall programme still had to have contrast and variety and to cover as many un-alike cultures as possible.

We made an exception when it came to Celtic music.

Not only is Shannon coming for 2007, so is Shooglenifty from Scotland. They both have completely different styles and approach to the music they play. It is going to be one of the highlights of the festival to have them both meet – onstage as well as off.  This is the way we want the Rainforest World Music Festival to be. There can be 17 bands on stage and everyone of them is a master in their own field.

The festival is organized by the Sarawak Tourism Board 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

The schedules for the evening shows and the workshops will be out soon. Check to see which are the bands that you don’t want to miss. We hope it will be every band.

Yeoh Jun Lin
Artistic Director
Rainforest World Music Festival