| IT’S RAINFOREST WORLD MUSIC
FESTIVAL TIME AGAIN
Each year when the last drum beat descends at the
finale of the Rainforest World Music Festival, there are mixed emotions
of elation and sadness as crowds meander their way out of the Sarawak
Cultural Village that has served as the home of the festival since
it started in 1998.
The wait for this year’s festival is almost over.
2005’s Rainforest World Music Festival will fall on the 8th
– 10th of July, the usual three day weekend pattern that faithful
festival friends will know very well.
Again, the Sarawak Tourism Board leads the way with a small core
group of people organizing the festival. And the Santubong region,
45 minutes drive out of Kuching, Sarawak, will yet again see the
gathering of musicians from the far and near coming together at
the Sarawak Cultural Village.
The festival will still feature daytime afternoon “workshops”
– these range from story telling sessions, to interactive
dance and fun, to the ever popular percussion jamming, to informal
but informative sit-downs with different stringed or wind instruments.
Musicians from the bands that come in for the festival take part
and run these workshops. Unusual ethnic instruments from the different
regions that they come from feature high on the list on the make
up of each workshop.
In the past, there were also extra unexpected bonuses like Setona
from Egypt also setting up a booth where she did henna tattoos,
or Ramli Ibrahim from Kuala Lumpur giving background information
on Indian Classical dance when he came in to do some contemporary
dance with Japanese group Silk and Bamboo in 2004, or a group of
Kelabit children from Kuching coming in to teach village games as
done in the longhouses.
Over the three evenings, friends and families find a good spot
to spread their rugs or mats in front of the 2 stages at the festival
site to listen to the bands.
The official category of “world music” was created
in 1987 to put a label to music that has grown out of ethnic based
roots, so that record companies and retail shops could differentiate
it from other categories like jazz or classical or rock, etc.
Today, “world music” has become a household term.
When the concept and the first steps were taken to set up a festival
to encompass world music in Sarawak – a Malaysian state situated
on the north-western end of Borneo – the name “Rainforest”
came about since it would be sited at some of the world’s
oldest lush tropical forests.
This was the first festival of its kind set up in South East Asia.
There are other festivals also sited in exotic stages like the “Festival
in the Desert” located in the Sahara Desert, the South Pacific
World Music Festival in Fiji, Awesome Africa in Durban. There will
soon also be an Indian Ocean World Music Festival in Madagascar.
Every year, the organizers try to bring together as many different
groups as possible – not only from different countries and
regions, but also groups that play different genres of music while
still falling into the category of world music.
This year, there will be groups who will play very “roots”
music. These will include FLORENCIO MESS AND THE KEK’CHI STRINGS
from Belize. Florencio Mess is from the Mayan tribes and he self
makes all his instruments – the harp, the violin and guitar,
just as his ancestors used to do.
THE CHULALORNKORN UNIVERSITY ENSEMBLE from Thailand will also feature
music from the Isan region as well as the other regions of Thailand.
They will be bringing an impressive array of instruments. As Thailand
was never under any foreign rule, their music has remained very
close to what it used to be for hundreds of years.
TUKU KAME, who has performed before at previous festivals, will
also be on stage with Sarawak fusion music with emphasis on the
many ethnic instruments that are found in the state and are in danger
of dying out.
FAIZ ALI FAIZ with his powerful vocals will come with eight other
men with qawwali from Pakistan. He has been feted as the successor
to the late great and legendary Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.
Another stage presence to be reckoned with is PETRONA MARTINEZ
with the bullerengue traditions from Afro-Colombia. This is another
band with family members in it. Petrona will be almost 67 years
old this year and she will be making that long journey across the
globe to be here in Sarawak for the festival. In a music world that
is dominated by men, this female diva will be very much welcomed.
YELEMBA D’ABIDJAN is expected to bring the house down with
their colourful costumes and percussion from the Ivory Coast. African
bands are usually one of the favourites at the festival –
festival fans will remember Omar Pene, Issa Bagayogo, Black Umfolosi
and Badenya Les Freres Coulibaly from past years.
There will also be lively Celtic music complete with bagpipes from
SHANNON who are based in Poland.
Closing act for Saturday night is usually an upbeat fusion band
to lead everyone into the traditional finale that the Rainforest
World Music Festival has become famous for. This year, it will be
DJAMEL LAROUSSI from Algeria with his funked up rai. Djamel used
to play with Cheb Mami, the Algerian master musician who leapt to
international fame playing with Sting in the hit single “Desert
Rose”.
From the Arabic regions come SARAWAn who specialize in the old
percussion, vocal and string traditions of Iran and Kurdestan. This
will be greatly contrasted by a group from the USA playing early
bluegrass and oldtime American songs from the Appalachian - THE
FOGHORN STRINGBAND.
NAMGAR is a female-led band with songs and instruments from the
icy lands of Mongolia. She comes from the Buryat tribes who at one
time, was threathened with extinction, and who can trace their ancestry
back to the days before even Genghis Khan.
Stage Two at the site just off the main stage might be small but
has been voted the most picturesque and magical stage setting as
it is flanked by two towering trees and backed by the forest. Getting
groups for this stage is sometimes trickier than selecting for main
stage, or so the organizers find. Since it was first used in 2003,
audiences have come to expect off-kilter groups or unexpected tongue-in-cheek
acts.
This year is no different. Look out for THE OLD ROPE STRING BAND
from the United Kingdom and ACQUARAGIA DROM from Romania as well
as malay percussion. There will also be quieter more spiritual numbers
from Sarawak musicians on the nose flute, lutong and sape.
Check out the festival website at www.rainforestmusic-borneo
for updates and more information.
The hotels in the Santubong area – Damai Beach Holiday Inn,
Damai Lagoon, Camp Permai, Santubong Kuching Resort – are
all very fully booked over the festival weekend so plan your schedules
as soon as possible. Hotels in Kuching town itself are also making
arrangements for their own shuttles up to Santubong or linking up
with the official Rainforest World Music Festival shuttles. Bus
schedules will be out in local dailies as well as on the website
nearer July – taking these shuttles will also take away the
worry of parking up at the Sarawak Cultural Village.
Packages by travel agents are also available on the website.
Official carrier Malaysia Airlines (MAS) will be flying the bulk
of the musicians in as they have done so since the festival began.
Unilever and Heineken Music have also come in with invaluable sponsorship
as well as fRoots, the widely subscribed world music magazine throughout
the world.
Tickets are already out on sale priced at RM60.00 per day and will
be valid for both workshops as well as the evening show. Children
aged 3 – 12 years old can obtain tickets at RM30.00 per day.
Free admittance would be extended to children aged 2 and below.
This year, there will be no more 3-day package tickets. Each night’s
tickets are sold individually so check for the programme and workshop
schedules if you want to select the groups you want to see. The
bigger-sized groups on main stage will only perform once over the
festival so to see everyone, it would be advisable to attend all
three nights.
Tickets can be obtained from the Visitors' Information Centres in
Kuching, Miri and Sibu, the Sarawak Cultural Village, and Sarawak
Tourism Board or call Rudy at 082-423600 or e-mail: rudy@sarawaktourism.com
Ticket buyers are urged to buy their festival tickets from official
outlets or festival organizers only as each ticket will carry a
security seal and security measures at the festival site will be
stringent.
Food and drink stalls as well as handicraft stalls will form the
Village Mart to cater for all. Bringing food into the Village is
also discouraged as the organizers are confident that there will
be enough varieties and quantities to feed everyone.
It will definitely be fiesta mood come July. There will be the promise
of so much music and feel good atmosphere. Everyone is a new friend
in the making or the reunion of old ones. Musicians and audiences
mingle and everyone is anxious to make it a weekend of such magnitude
and emotional highs so as to sustain one’s soul till the next
festival comes around.
Yeoh Jun Lin
Artistic Director
Rainforest World Music Festival 2005
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