Beautiful Blend of Music & Culture

Music From Around the World

Kasai Masai was one of 16 groups to perform at the 11th annual Rainforest World Music Festival held at Santabong near Kuching, the capital of the Malaysian state of Sarawak. Performers came from Gambia, Greece, Poland, the UK, Palestine, India, Trinidad & Tobago, Philippines, Portugal, Japan and from Malaysia. Some played traditional music, others original compositions, and there was the beautiful blending of the old with the new. "They even play hip hop," moaned the manager of youth band Kani'd that plays traditional music from Central Borneo.

Biswasjit 'Bonnie' Chakraborty, headman of Oikyotaan, a group based in Chennai, India, would never be caught playing hip hop. "We are playing music that is 500 years old, so we don't want to play sugary renditions of songs that have come down from that time. It is very important to us that we keep the aesthetic value intact."

1000 Harmonious Notes

Chakraborty sees the music as bringing people, and indeed the universe, together: "We see our music as bringing harmony in confluence. We have a saying that 1,000 notes come together to make one song." The music of Oikyotaan, which was a big hit with the Rainforest audience, is very much about breaking down barriers of caste, religion and culture to make a more harmonious world.

While Bonnie was very serious about his music, mandolin player Jan Kubek of the Polish group Beltaine had a very different perspective about the music he plays. "It is just for fun!" he enthused. Asked why a Polish group plays Celtic music, he replied, "Polish music is very sleepy. So if you want to dance and have fun, you have to look to music outside of Poland for that. For us, the Irish, Scottish, Celtic music is fun!"

However, Jan did admit that music is not only fun, but serves a deeper purpose. "The Russians have a saying: 'If you play music, you can't think bad.'"

High Expectations Were Met

Nobody was thinking bad, even when the rain descended on Friday night. "We set an attendance record for Friday nights," noted Benedict Jimbau, Chairman of the Organising Committee, "despite the rain." Prior to this, it had only rained once through an entire evening performance in the ten years of the Festival.

"Expectations are very high," Benedict said before RWMF began, and throughout the three days, those expectations were met as could be seen from the enthusiasm of the audience.

People showed their appreciation and energised the performers with their loud expressions, dancing and calling for more at the end of every set. From the main stage the Voodoo King told the steaming crowd; "Don't tell anyone this, I'm telling you this in confidence - the Rainforest Music Festival is the number one music festival in the world!" Most of the musicians told the audience that they were the best they'd ever performed for.

We Need the Music!

When Randy Raine-Reusch conceived the idea of doing the festival, one of his goals was to reintroduce the people of Borneo to their own music. Through the 1970s and '80s, the traditional music of the indigenous people was ignored and was in danger of being totally forgotten. Thanks, in part, to RMWF, young people are once again taking up the instruments and playing the music of their ancestors.

Kani'd (meaning 'cousins') consists of 12 teenagers who have been inspired by the ancestral songs of the Kelabits from Central Borneo. They draw upon the wealth of the musical and dancing traditions of the Orang Ulu tribes along the Baram River. They have learned original compositions from their grandparents, uncles and aunts that have evolved into dynamic improvisations and arrangements of traditional styles bridging the ancient and the contemporary.

"We are one of the smallest cultural groups in Sarawak," says the group's manager Nikki Lugun. "There are only 4,000 of us. There are 4,500 orangutans. We are all fighting for survival."

A Unifying Force

One advantage the Kelabits have is their music. "Our music has been passed down from generation to generation, but it skipped our parents. Now we are trying to revive it. It is the music of the community. It is the music of celebration when the head hunters came back victorious; it is lullabies, it is love songs, it is songs of mourning.

"We will pass the music on to our children, and we hope that it will be a unifying focus not only for our people, but for our tribe and for all people."

Hisoshi Motofuji, a Taiko player from Japan, admitted that his drumming "is accepted by people, but I can't say it influences them. What I can say is that it unites them." And unite them it did as the audience responded to the power of his drumming.

Music Shouldn't be a Steamroller

Adel Salameh and the Ross Daly Quartet offered something completely different, appealing to an audience who appreciate beauty and complexity to their music. Of Irish descent, group leader Ross Daly plays a variety of Eastern music on a number of different instruments.

The diversity of the performers at the RWMF playing cultural music appealed to him. "The mainstream music industry is not interested in culture. What they want to do is make one kind of music that they can sell to the whole world. Music shouldn't be a steamroller to make us all the same. Modern technology offers us the opportunity to come together while retaining our individuality."

Old Timey & Bizarre

And as different as they could be was the New Rope String Band. Pete Challoner said their music is very hard to describe. "It is a big assortment of things and all sorts of hoe-down, pan-Celtic, old timey, up-beat down home music. All this combined with bizarre physical nonsense and clowning about. And singing. And dancing."

Using their fiddles to play musical ping pong with the notes, they gave reality to Ross Daly's comment "Music exists everywhere in our world, but, for the most part, we unfortunately don't hear it."

It is difficult to hear the music from the many corners of the world, and even their home countries' musicians are not always appreciated. After getting a hugely enthusiastic response from the audience, vocalist and electric guitar player for Fadomorse, admitted that at home in Portugal, they are not very well known. "We are not famous there: we are just another band among many who play similar music."

Diminutive Dynamite

Coming from the Philippines, where everyone and their 'bruised chicken' sings, Pinikpikan might have an equally difficult time making an impression, but Carol Rodriguez Bello, noted for her primal Manabo singing style, does. 'Diminutive but dynamite' comes close to describing the power of her performance.

Sammy Asuncion, Pinikpikan's front man and lead guitarist, says, "She's a natural. Even in the Philippines she stands out. She is eerie."

New Events

Adding to the festivities this year were two new events: the World Craft Bazaar and the Folk Art Forum and Exhibition that drew good crowds, as they not only got to look at how some of the crafts are made; they were able to purchase local and imported crafts from the likes of Kyrgystan, Japan and other countries.

"It is a beautiful blend of music and cultures," said Gracie Geikie, Co-chairman of the Organising Committee and CEO of Sarawak Tourism Board. This is a tourism-driven event which brings people from many countries in Asia Pacific as well as some from Canada, the United States and the UK. "From our tracking, we had people coming from 36 countries," Gracie stated.

The official attendance numbers showed record-breaking first and second nights, with 22,573 attending over the three days. Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi, and First Lady, Datin Sri Jeanne Abdullah joined the Saturday night crowds.

A Sublime Setting

The Sarawak Cultural Village is a delightful setting for RWMF, with traditional native buildings serving in many capacities, from food and drink venues to hosting the afternoon workshops where the audience can get up close to the performers who provide insight into their music. Packed houses were often the result.

People lounged along the walkways and at the food venues and watched the performances on big screens that made being in front of the stage not a necessity for enjoying the festival.

An Eye-Opener

The organisers urged the visitors from all those countries to take the time to see more of Sarawak and meet the people who are 'warm and welcoming'. Not only is the festival a great audience draw; the festival has become a great attraction for the performers, as the Committee had 462 applications for 14 slots on the programme.

Kasai Masai's manager, Andy Richardson, was enthusiastic not only about the event and the great show the group put on, but about Asia. "This is a real eye-opener," he stated. "It is a beautiful place, the audience has been superb, the organisation has been great. It has really been a terrific time. I would really like to come back here again."

Get your tickets early for the 12th annual event that will be held July 10 - 12, 2009. To hear live interviews with the performers go to xl-radio.net and check out the official site at www.rainforestmusic-borneo.com

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