Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF) Concert Day 1

I was here! At the Rainforest World Music Festival 2013! Marked as an annual event in Sarawak Tourism Board Events calendar, the 3-days world class festival features a lineup of performers from many different parts of the world facilitating workshops in the afternoon and concerts in the evening. 

When the clock stroked 5 pm I was already very anxious to get to Sarawak Cultural Village to soak in the festival. First photo I took, a panorama of the early evening. It was only 7-ish, the crowd was bustling at the Village Craft stalls set all over the venue featuring spray on tattoos and hair tattoos. Not to mention the Food Mart and Heinekabana where most go to grab some bites and cool off the heat.

At 7.30 pm, the concert opens with the Native Festival Blessing. From my vantage point, as the chanting progresses, the crowd began to draw themselves to the stage as if mesmerized by it. The chanting was the local native's way to welcome visitors and spread peace, harmony and goodwill. 

Here's a snippet of the chanting. 

As always, there are two stages prepared for the night concert, and adhering to the theme of the rainforest each stage was named the Jungle Stage and Tree Stage. The performers alternated between the stages, and the crowd of festival-goers follow along as the concert progresses. 

The welcoming performance began with a lineup of local performers : Juk Wan Emang, Lan E Tuyang, and Rythm in Bronze, followed by Chet Nuneta from France, Rey Vallenato Beto Jamaica from Columbia, Alp Bora from Turkey, Nunukul Yugera from Australia (yeap, complete with the diggeridoo) and finally at closing with Kila from Ireland. 

There were so many highlights I could not just pick a few! For starters, I'm a local Sarawakian, have only heard about nose flute but never seen it being played live. It is a dying form of music. In the old days, some of the native tribes in Sarawak namely Kayan played the nose flute (called Selingup, Selingut or Keringut in the local dialect) as part of the courtship process between an man and a woman, as well as during funerals to appease the spirits. To watch and listen first hand brings much appreciation to the land I live in. 

I was especially proud when Lan E Tuyang followed the nose flute performance with their sapé, another local instrument of profound history. The music that comes from this boat shaped lute is soothing and tells a story that comes alive with your imagination. 

Next was the performance from Rythm in Bronze. Here's a small snippet of their song called Suntuk Masa or Out of Time. 

After a dose of local performers, the audience moved to Tree Stage. Chet Nuneta from France. What can I say about them. Their performance was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G! Perfect harmony, deep underlying message, energetic, colourful, mesmerizing, so many adjectives I could use to describe them but none will probably do justice. They sang songs from their album called Pangea, what they describe as borderless, of wanderings, of emotions, of vivid imaginations inspired by unrecognized languages, soon to be extinct, the history of a people or a popular poem. Pangea is a tribute to the people's memory. Chet Nuneta performs with a myriad of wonderful instruments that looked like they came from a forgotten place or tribe, or of fairy tale altogether. One of their song called Pigmees Blues sang about deforestation, and I just barely caught the lyrics "No more forest for us, we could build no more forest for us". So very profound message from their music, and such passion!

*Pictures credit to Seth Borneographer

This is when my phone battery went flat. Sux to not have a powerbank or charger handy. 

Next was the Alp Bora and Rey Vellenato Beto Jamaica - both featuring very different, very unique, very elegant styles. Rey Vallenato Beto Jamaica with their accordion and percussion  - Alp Bora with their unforgivably electrifying funky strings. 

The closing number from Alp Bora was very very familiar. The lead singer introduced it to be featured in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, and Black Eyed Peas sampled it in one of their tracks. Unfortunately I don't have the recording because my battery completely died on me much to my frustration (but on the lighter side I reallly get to soak in the performances!) It's called Misirlou. 

Happy as I was to be there, I was unable to stay til late (times like these is when you have to do errands or be at some place before God-knows-what o'clock) and missed Kila's performance. No doubt they rocked it anyways!