By George Francis
MIRI - There was no rain in Santubong last weekend despite its name tagged..Rainforest.. as it usually rains during this time of the year; there was no resounding rhythms of the rain but forest, yes! Thanks to the good weather for entire three-day of the 14th edition of Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF) 2011, which offered more than 20,000 enthusiasts a fantastic concerts by top musicians.
There's nothing quite like the atmosphere of a music festival. Then again, there's nothing quite like the RWMF!
It was where people regardless of their ethnicities, cultural backgrounds and music interests came together to have a blast of musical fun.
The festival continued to grow and attracted attendees from around the world with more bands and artistes with bigger international names, said its organisers, the Sarawak Tourism Board.
Apart from main-stage night concerts, attendees were caught up with daytime musical workshops, sunset concerts or group jam sessions as well as delighted in cultural displays, craft displays as well as variety of food stalls.
Running from July 8 to 10 at the Sarawak Cultural Village, 35 km from state capital Kuching, under the imposing shadow of Mount Santubong in the midst of virgin rainforest the festival emphasised the use of traditional acoustic world instruments with of course, common electric instrument accompaniment. It really was reconnecting the world with nature once more through music and culture!
This year featured 22 bands including international names: Grammy nominated Lisa Haley and the Zydecats of USA, award winning Blue Canyon Boys of USA; famous world music IIgi from Latvia, Kissmet of UK and from Georgia, The Shin.
A special addition side performance this year, saw the Leweton Women's Water Music Group of Vanuatu. They performed daytime in the cultural village lake showing their beautiful percussive water music....as the water itself is the instrument. The water is beaten in rhythmic dance of bodies and waves producing a wide range of sounds intoxicating rhythms.
Among the myriad performers were Masters of Sape (Sarawak, Malaysia), AgungBeat (Sabah, Malaysia), DuOud of Tunisia/Algeria, Frigg (Finland), Iskwew (Canada), Joaquin Diaz of Dominican Republic, Kamafei (Italy), Kamerunga (Australia), Kenge Kenge Orutu System (Kenya), Malike Pathe Sow (Senegal), Mamak Khadem (Iran), Pacific Curis (New Zealand, Paddy Keenan (Ireland), Startijen (France), Victor Valdez (Mexico) and Warsaw Village Band of Poland.
The grand finale featuring all 22 bands on stage wrapped up a superb three-night concert; proven to be a hit with audiences with many foreign music lovers promised to come back next year.
RWMF has been voted for the second consecutive year as one of the Top 25 Best International Festivals by renowned world music magazine, Songlines, elevating its status in the international music scene as the festival, which has well and truly put Sarawak on the world tourism map.
MIRI - There was no rain in Santubong last weekend despite its name tagged..Rainforest.. as it usually rains during this time of the year; there was no resounding rhythms of the rain but forest, yes! Thanks to the good weather for entire three-day of the 14th edition of Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF) 2011, which offered more than 20,000 enthusiasts a fantastic concerts by top musicians.
There's nothing quite like the atmosphere of a music festival. Then again, there's nothing quite like the RWMF!
It was where people regardless of their ethnicities, cultural backgrounds and music interests came together to have a blast of musical fun.
The festival continued to grow and attracted attendees from around the world with more bands and artistes with bigger international names, said its organisers, the Sarawak Tourism Board.
Apart from main-stage night concerts, attendees were caught up with daytime musical workshops, sunset concerts or group jam sessions as well as delighted in cultural displays, craft displays as well as variety of food stalls.
Running from July 8 to 10 at the Sarawak Cultural Village, 35 km from state capital Kuching, under the imposing shadow of Mount Santubong in the midst of virgin rainforest the festival emphasised the use of traditional acoustic world instruments with of course, common electric instrument accompaniment. It really was reconnecting the world with nature once more through music and culture!
This year featured 22 bands including international names: Grammy nominated Lisa Haley and the Zydecats of USA, award winning Blue Canyon Boys of USA; famous world music IIgi from Latvia, Kissmet of UK and from Georgia, The Shin.
A special addition side performance this year, saw the Leweton Women's Water Music Group of Vanuatu. They performed daytime in the cultural village lake showing their beautiful percussive water music....as the water itself is the instrument. The water is beaten in rhythmic dance of bodies and waves producing a wide range of sounds intoxicating rhythms.
Among the myriad performers were Masters of Sape (Sarawak, Malaysia), AgungBeat (Sabah, Malaysia), DuOud of Tunisia/Algeria, Frigg (Finland), Iskwew (Canada), Joaquin Diaz of Dominican Republic, Kamafei (Italy), Kamerunga (Australia), Kenge Kenge Orutu System (Kenya), Malike Pathe Sow (Senegal), Mamak Khadem (Iran), Pacific Curis (New Zealand, Paddy Keenan (Ireland), Startijen (France), Victor Valdez (Mexico) and Warsaw Village Band of Poland.
The grand finale featuring all 22 bands on stage wrapped up a superb three-night concert; proven to be a hit with audiences with many foreign music lovers promised to come back next year.
RWMF has been voted for the second consecutive year as one of the Top 25 Best International Festivals by renowned world music magazine, Songlines, elevating its status in the international music scene as the festival, which has well and truly put Sarawak on the world tourism map.
Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin Weekend
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