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Imagine the swoop of a wild eagle across the horizon. Hear the hooves of horses galloping across the high, dry and cold grasslands. This is the world of Buryatia and Inner Mongolia where Ghenghis Khan in the 12th century, united all the loosely organized tribes that ranged over the forests and steppes of southern Siberia. Even before Ghenghis’s time, the Huns were already a fierce tribe that terrorized China for centuries and later traveled west to devastate Europe. Mongolia is the world’s largest landlocked country. And Buryatia is today, after centuries of turmoil and being on the brink of extinction as a nation and culture, part of the Russian Federation. There are about 300 000 Buryats living in the northern border of Russia near the picturesque Lake Baikal. Its precarious existence has been always in contention among powerful neighbours such as China, Russia and Japan. In Buryat mythology these people were referred to as the Burte Chino or the Blue Wolf People. In the old stories, the ancestor was a man named Burte Chino who took as his wife Goa Maral (Beautiful Red Deer), and from their marriage the Mongols, and Ghenghis Khan's clan was descended. “Burte” or “Bured” meant "wolf" in the ancient dialect of the region, and from this word comes the name Buryat. To this day the wolf clan is recognized as a lineage among the Buryat Mongols. In the past, they were nomadic herdsmen and lived in portable yurts which are large, circular felt tents stretched over light wooden frames. They have lovely customs – for example, newly wed brides throw pieces of fat at her father-in-law. The more accurate her aim, the more fertile she is going to be. Their music and language had to go into hiding over much of the 20th century. During the Second World War, it almost died out completely. Only recently, has it been allowed to emerge because of a handful of scholars who dared research and write poems on Mongolian themes. After 1990, there was a rapid revival of Buryat shamanism which has escalated to this day. The Rainforest World Music Festival, in its constant search for music from the furthest corners of the earth, this year brings in NAMGAR – a group based on a brave young woman of the same name. Many Buryats now live in Russia where it borders Mongolia and Manchuria. Their traditional instruments such as the morin khuu, chanza, yataga and the chzhen, and the technique of throat singing, come from the same historical background as the Mongolians. In addition, they also have a lot of dance themes that have now become extinct in Mongolia. The morin khuu is called the horse-head fiddle because it has the wooden head of a horse at the top of the neck, and its strings are made of horsehair. Legend has it that it was created by a nomad using the remains of his favourite horse when it died. They tune a lot of their instruments in fourths and use pentatonic scales similar to Siberia and Eastern Asia. Voices and instruments often perform the same melody but vary the timing and ornamentation. Narrative tales are common It will be interesting to see these musicians juxtaposed with other bands such as Petrona Martinez from Colombia, or Faiz Ali Faiz from Pakistan or Yelemba D’Abidjan from the Ivory Coast or even the Chulalongkorn University Ensemble from Thailand. There will be more than 16 different groups performing at the 8th Rainforest World Music Festival. Sarawak Tourism Board as the organizer has also teamed up with sponsors such as Tourism Malaysia, Malaysia Airlines, Unilever, Heineken Music, Biaramas, Telekom Malaysia and fRoots magazine. The festival, as it has from the beginning will be held at the beautiful Sarawak Cultural Village where evening shows will be out be the lake and under a tropical sky with lush rainforests flanking the site. Musicians will be staying at the Santubong Kuching Resort and the whole area around Santubong is abuzz with activity and music. Check the website at www.rainforestmusic-borneo.com for bus shuttles from Kuching as it might be easier to leave your cars in town to ease congestion and parking woes. There will be plenty of food and drink stalls as well as a Village Mart so one would be able to go up there with an empty picnic basket and just fill it with goodies before settling down at some prime spot in front of the main stage. The dates to stake out in your diaries are the 8th, 9th and 10th of July. There will be limited day passes sold for each night so it would be wise to get your tickets early. 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. 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 Packages are also available from several tour agencies and hotels. Check out the website for more information and contact numbers. Workshops will run between 2.00 to 5.00 pm every afternoon while the evening shows will start at 7.30 pm. NAMGAR will be one of the exotic bands to look out for at the festival. We hope they will also bring along their traditional salty tea known as suutei tsai , if not their arkhi or vodka, or their airag, a kind of weak home brew made by herders from fermented horse's milk. Many Mongolians distil this further to produce shimiin arkhi, which has an alcohol content of around 12%. They will appear on stage like legendary figures from historical Asia and sing songs of shamanistic gatherings and bring to Sarawak a glimpse of the glorious days of Mongolian Empire. Yeoh Jun Lin |
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