Sarawak Rainforest World Music Festival 2012

Finally, the three-day Rainforest Music Festival has come to an end, and it was a fantastic experience for me! I have been wanting to go to the Sarawak Rainforest World Music Festival ever since I heard of it a few years back. However, I am not the kind who goes for the festival and then go back. If I am to go for this, I would like to travel around since I have never been in this part of the world before. But for the past few years, due to professional and personal life, I never have the chance to go.

So when my friend told me that her wedding would be held in Miri on 7 July this year and invited me, I was so excited, as that would be the weekend before the Rainforest Festival. Finally, I can get a chance to visit Sarawak! And it was so timely as I would leave Miri and go to Kuching in time for the festival. Seems that sometimes God does answer my prayers.

I was so looking forward for this festival that when tickets were being sold in February this year, I bought the three-day pass, which gives me free entry into the Sarawak Cultural Village where the festival was being held. But since I only wanted to go for the concerts and not interested in any of the programs, I only went in the evening for all three days.

The Sarawak Cultural Village is in the Damai region of the Santubong peninsular, about a forty-five minute ride from Kuching. There were shuttles going from many hotels in the city centre at the rate of RM15.00 per trip. The lady of the guesthouse was kind enough to have her guests picked up directly from the guesthouse, even though it was not a designated pick-up place, so we need not walk. However, because of the crowd, the bus driver could not guarantee that he could send us back to the guesthouse directly, so I had to hop on to any bus going to the city centre and stop at the hotel nearest to the guesthouse and walked back.

Due to the festival, there were stalls set up selling food, drinks, souvenirs, tribal wear, jewellery, instruments and many hand-crafted trinkets by the natives. This festival is a good idea because people from all over the world attend it and it promotes tourism and gives business to the natives too. I am actually quite impressed by the numerous things on display in the stalls. In fact, I bought a beautiful necklace there! 

The concert starts at half past seven each evening, featuring songs and instruments from all around the world. The objective of this music festival is not the traditional concert one sees, but that they feature "world" music, as in tribal music and music exclusively from certain regions. For instance, there are throat singers from Mongolia, where they create music using their throats alone. There are also instruments and music from those Pacific islands, and of course, tribal music from Malaysia itself.

When I first entered, we were given a plastic bracelet as a pass. A different coloured bracelet is used for each day, so we could not enter the next day using the previous day's bracelet. The bracelet had to be worn at all times as proof of authorised entry. Since this festival is at the Cultural Village, I get to kill two birds with one stone by visiting the Cultural Village and attending the festival at the same time!

 The bracelets to gain entry into the Festival. First day green, second day blue and third day yellow.

I was supposed to meet my room mate at the festival, as she went with another travel companion to attend some of the workshops, whereas I joined them after the tours I went on. When I arrived on the first day of the festival, I saw signs leading to the festival and natives dressed up and doing a tribal dance just after the entrance.

 The sign I came across on the first day of the festival.

 The entrance of Sarawak Cultural Village

 Natives dressing up and showing a dance

 These are souvenir shops for both the festival and visitors to the Village

My room mate told me she was having dinner, so I went to the dining area which is a big house on its own. I am not sure if the food served there was exclusively during this period of time, but the food was okay and the price was not too bad too. Initially I thought I would be charged an exorbitant amount, but it cost me only RM9.50 for a plate of coconut rice with vegetables, chicken wing, chilli and fish, plus a drink. It is really not too expensive!

 

Stairs leading to the eating area

 

 Dining area

 Interior of the dining room

After dinner, we had some time to kill before the concert started, so we went to explore the stalls to see what they were selling.

 1st stall selling clothes made from native students. Notice the skulls as significant of their headhunting tradition?

The second stall we went to sold custom-made tarpaulins that look like baby beds.

We also passed by traditional houses. Apparently the Sarawak Cultural Village is a living museum on its own. It features the different types of traditional houses owned by the different types of people living in Sarawak when it was first "discovered". On normal days, there are trips to the Sarawak Cultural Village where visitors can explore the traditional houses, climb up to them and even see traditional tribal dances by the people living there. And yes, there are actually natives living there to preserve the place.

 This is a Chinese house

 Firewood stocked in a shed

 This is supposed to be a Malay round house

 Tentages for food and other stalls at the other side of the lake

 This is the Heineken cabana

 Another traditional house

In some of the traditional houses, locals put their products and wares for sale, like weaved baskets, jewellery and pottery.

 Caught a lady in the act of weaving a basket. Her fingers can really move very fast!

 Another traditional house with stalls

 This house is open to those who wanted to rest, so those wanting a little snooze or break can climb up and go inside.

 A large pottery kiln

 Pottery on display

 This place sells traditional artwork

 A local guy making the artwork. He was using a little object to poke each of the holes to perfection.

 Making pottery

 Black paint to sprinkle on the finished artwork after the holes were poked

 Things used for shadow puppet shows

 I fell in love with this necklace so bought one!

 This is the tallest traditional house, belonging to the native Orang Ulu tribe

As nightfall, we heard the music booming, so made our way to the open space where the concert was being held. It was crowded, so we had to jostle before we could find a space to sit down on the grass. There were two stages - one a bigger stage and one a smaller stage next to it. I have no idea why two stages are needed, but some of the performers used the bigger stage and some the smaller stage.

 The bigger stage

 The sound system in a tentage at the back

 The stage crew

 First performance of the day - traditional Malaysian dance on the smaller stage

 Second performance of the day - Penan singers

 There were even stones on the ground for people to sit on!

 Third performance of the day - a group from one of the Pacific islands

 Fourth performance of the day - female Celtic violinists

There were other performances as the concert stretched to the wee hours of the morning, but because I already had a tiring day trekking and caving, and foreseeing another tiring day the next day, I left after the Celtic performers.

 This stone was outside the entrance

On the second day of the festival, I arrived earlier than before and started to wander around the Santubong Peninsular and Damai beach, before entering the Cultural Village.

 Signs showing the direction of the hotels and resorts in Damai area

 Guard dogs at the entrance

 Visitors participating in the tribal dance

 The hornbill mascot, incidentally the national bird of Sarawak

Since I had already explored the stalls the day before, I spent the time exploring more of the place instead and saw more traditional stuff.

 Bidayuh Bamboo Bridge leading to a Bidayuh Longhouse

 A stone statue at the foot of the Bidayuh Bamboo Bridge

 This is an Iban Longhouse

 The Orang-Ulu Long (Tall) House by day

 Stalls selling food

Because I was earlier on the second day, I managed to secure a seat that faces the bigger stage directly.

 The smaller stage

 The television screen in case people could not see the stage

 First performance of the day - Another traditional tribal dance

The second performance of the day was my favourite. They were the Mongolian throat singers, who learnt a special skill to make music using their throat alone! And the music they made was soothing and nice!

 Second performance of the day - Mongolian Throat Singer

 The instruments accompany the throat singing, not the other way round

 The manager of the Mongolian throat singers, introducing the group. Incidentally he speaks very good English.

 The emcee for the day

 Third performance of the day - a group from Cayman Islands

For this group, the leader (main white guy) was intrigued by the music and instruments passed down by the former slaves brought into the island, so he set up a group and performed that music.

 Fourth performance of the day - a Malaysian group consisting of mixed race and cultures and fusion music

 The crowd dancing to the music

As usual, I left after the fourth performance as I had another tiring day with the orang utans and climbing the longhouses. However, it was a Saturday, and the stretch leading into the Sarawak Cultural Village was jammed for an hour or so. By the time I finally reached the guesthouse, it was almost one in the morning.

On the third day (last day of the Festival), I decided to take it easy since I have already seen the stalls, food and the traditional houses, so I just wandered around snapping pictures.

 I was actually quite fascinated by this rabbit sculpture

 Could not resist taking a photo of this "Red Indian"

Luckily I decided to wander around casually instead of seeing the sights, otherwise I would not have caught the sunset!

Since it was the last day, I decided to try sitting on the stones. However, there were already people there so I sat in front of the stone instead, and it was a really comfortable position as the stone could support my back instead of sitting in the open. (Note to self : If I ever go back, I will reserve the stone for myself! :-P)

 As usual, the first performance always started with a tribal dance

The second performance of the day was another Malaysian group, consisting of Koreans, mainland Chinese, Punjabi and Indians. Interesting mix of music!

The third performance was the most interesting of all. It was a duo who came from one of the Spanish islands, and they made music by banging two bars on a surface, with a background story to it. What is so amazing is that both of them specially went to travel and took the photos, and weaved them into stories for their music. I find that so refreshing from the normal genre of music!

 The story in the background before the performers started

 Using the bars to bang the surface

The fourth performance was another local group consisting of mixed races, but they came up with fusion hip hop music.

And that was that! I left in the middle of the fourth performance as I did not wish to be caught in the crowd and jam again. However, traffic that day was pretty smooth, perhaps because it was a Sunday, hence I managed to reach the guesthouse in record time. This was my first Rainforest Festival experience, but it will sure not be my last as I really enjoyed this experience!