Rainforest world music fest exposes Sarawak’s diverse cultures
By Yu Ji, Photos by Zulazhar Shelee and Andre Oliveiro
Monday July 12, 2010
THE Rainforest World Music Festival never fails to entertain.
After four days and three nights of performances, there’s little to fault organisers.
Sure, there were reports in the local media of poor promotion and slow ticket sales during the run-up to this year’s event, but last minute sales and discounts proved rather successful.
In the end, what really became a problem was transportation, due to the capacity crowds, especially on Saturday.
Drummer boys: Farafina artistes keeping the crowd thrilled with a variety of songs and beats.
Queues for shuttle vans back to Santubong Resort, about 3km away, the only place where public parking was allowed, were long.
Some attendants waited more than an hour for the service. Outside of minor issues like this, the festival has been growing from strength to strength.
Allround praises should go to former Sarawak Tourism Board chief executive officer Gracie Geikie for her feat, while the present CEO Datuk Rashid Khan’s efforts and ideas for future events are encouraging.
Drum beats: Leila Negrau from Reunion Island beats on a drum to accompany the music.
The annual Rainforest weekend at the Sarawak Cultural Village incorporates not just music but also an arts and craft bazaar. It provides revellers another venue to learn about Sarawak’s many indigenous cultures.
Already there are plans for a food festival to be held at Kuching next year, which could last up to one week, taking place immediately after the music fest.
But the musical event will continue to be promoted as the main draw.
With the conclusion of the 13th edition last night, over 10,000 tickets were sold over the three-day event, while total attendance was estimated at 20,000.
As the largest annual music fest in Sarawak, and indeed Malaysia, the event attracts the kind of audience, who come with the right intentions.
While these are mostly youths, the festival has built up a strong reputation as a family event. Every year, college students can be seen dancing alongside their parents and grandparents.
The key to the festival’s success has always been its emphasis on celebrating diverse cultures.
French beat: Minuit Guibolles from France playing the bagpipe while a traditional dancer accompanies him.
The band line-up features everything from the percussions of Africa to slower, meditation-like pieces by Iranian musicians. Twenty groups from around the world had participated in the festival this year.
There is a sense of celebration and openness at each year’s event, which seems harder to come by within the confines of cities like Kuching or Kuala Lumpur.
In terms of business, the festival is incredible value for money.
According to Rashid, the weekend cost about RM2mil to organise but the spin-off revenue is estimated to be more than RM20mil.
Media exposure of roughly RM10mil is the “icing on the cake”, Rashid added. More facilities are also being constructed at Sarawak Cultural Village and would be ready by next year’s event.
There are even plans to live-webcast the series of concerts over the internet, he said.
Next year’s festival will be held on the second weekend of July.-- The StarMetro
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