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Since the Rainforest World Music Festival started 8 years ago, Sarawak groups have always been one of the highlights on the stage. These groups have come from a broad spectrum of traditional music or fusion world beat. Not only are they native Sarawak music, but also Malay and Chinese music groups based in Sarawak, and they have performed side by side with international groups that the organizers have been bringing in. This year, there are some very special people featured on, what has become known as the most magical stage in any festival – the smaller but very picturesque Stage 2 that is sandwiched between two towering trees. JERRY KAMIT – well known virtuoso sape player, puts aside his usual Jimmy Hendricks style of rock and pop sape playing, and will be showing his more spiritual and lyrical side on this local lute. PAK AINAL and his young son will present high spirited Malays drums and rhythms as a percussion duo. Another duo, 2 lovely ladies the Lepo Ke' clan, PAYA KAJAN and BALU BUNGAN will be bringing the rare wooden lotongs on stage. These are zithers with six strings and are also sometimes played together with the jatung utang or sape. However, for this festival, it will be as a duet. 66 year old BAUN LENJAU will be playing the keringut or the nose flute. She comes from the village of Long Semiyang which is one of the uppermost longhouses navigable by river-- the third last from the end of the Baram, and she belongs to the Ngurek clan. Right now, she is the only existing keringut player left in the village so this makes her a very precious person at the Rainforest World Music Festival. These musical cameos are not the only Sarawak band present at the festival. Tuku Kame, the resident cultural band at the Sarawak Cultural Village will also be performing a more world beat set. It will be interesting to see the same cultural roots being presented in different idioms. Other groups at this year’s festival will be Petrona Martinez – the bullerengue queen of Caribbean Colombia, Djamel Laroussi from Algeria, the amazing qawwali singer Faiz Ali Faiz from Pakistan, Chulalongkorn University Ensemble from Thailand, the gentle Florencio Mess and the Maya K’ekchi’ Strings from Belize, colourful percussionists Yelemba D’Abidjan from the Ivory Coast, bluegrass strings from Portland – the Foghorn Stringband, soulful Sarawan from Iran, fiery gypsies of Acquaragia Drom, celtic band Shannon, exotic Namgar of Mongolia and the funny Old Rope String Band from the United Kingdom. The Sarawak Tourism Board is moving into its 8th year of being the organizers for this event. The mechanism for preparing for the festival kick-started almost from the last day of last year’s festival. From July 8th to the 10th, there whole of the Santubong area outside Kuching will be alive with the sounds of the festival. Tickets are priced at RM60 per day, which will enable one to attend both the afternoon workshops and the evening concerts. Children between the ages of 3 to 12 are eligible for half priced tickets. Infants get in free. The website www.rainforest music-borneo.com will have more information
on all the bands, tickets, shuttles, etc. of the festival. Or call the
Sarawak Tourism Board at 082-423600.
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