The last edition of Sarawak Rainforest World Music Festival closed its doors in Kuching on June 22 at night with a “Finale” song with the participation of most of the artists coming from all around the world to perform. A great success for Sarawak tourism which wants to capitalize on other cultural events in conjunction with the festival and anchors the festival as Southeast Asia’s meeting time for ethnic cultures.
KUCHING – “Now in its seventeenth year, the Rainforest World Music Festival is a signature event for tourism in Sarawak”. The words came from Dato Rashin Khan, CEO of Sarawak Tourism Board in its introduction speech to media a few hours before launching officially the latest edition of the festival on June 20 at Santubong, where the Sarawak Cultural Village is located.
The festival is firmly anchoring Kuching and Sarawak among culture-fan travellers. The unique setting in the middle of the jungle within the Sarawak Cultural Village makes already the festival unique for its location.
This generated a very strong appeal among travellers. “From 30,000 visitors on average, 70% come from outside Sarawak. This could be Malaysians from the Peninsula or foreigners.”
“Singaporeans, Bruneians and Australians represent the bulk of foreign participants but we also record visitors from Europe, mostly expatriates and holiday makers in Malaysia”, explain Sarawak Tourism Board Executives. The benefits for the State are obvious: the Festival organization costs RM 3 million (US$ 940,000) but it generates direct and indirect revenues of RM 60 million, especially for hotels, restaurants and tour companies.
“Singaporeans, Bruneians and Australians represent the bulk of foreign participants but we also record visitors from Europe, mostly expatriates and holiday makers in Malaysia”, explain Sarawak Tourism Board Executives. The benefits for the State are obvious: the Festival organization costs RM 3 million (US$ 940,000) but it generates direct and indirect revenues of RM 60 million, especially for hotels, restaurants and tour companies.
The festival voices a strong message that traditional and ethnic cultures are particularly alive and are part of the identity fabric of each country.
“We face threat all around the world for our local culture. Having such a festival gives us the opportunity to spread the message about the strong commitment to people’s will to retain their own culture”, tells Horomonal Horo, a powerful Maori singer. “Through our performance, we also want to show that traditional and contemporary music can bridge the gap and find new ways. The Rainforest Music Festival is a great opportunity to transcend frontiers and generations”, says Singer Opah from Nading Rhapsody, a Sarawakian Bidayu band of young performers.
For the tourists, it is a great opportunity to touch on authentic cultures.
Workshops take place during the three days of the festival to learn about music instruments but also particularly on traditional dances. Hundreds of participants could be seen learning rudiments of traditional movements of Sarawak ethnic groups, Kerala and South India dances from Kochi-based Karinthalakootham group or Malay-Arabic (Zapin) dances from Yayasan Warisan Zapin Johor Bahru.
Changes in generation tastes but also political or religious pressures can indeed be a threat on traditional arts. This is what Northern Malaysia Kelantanese music group Geng Wak Long is facing. “We have troubles to attract today young Kelantanese towards traditional music. In our school, we only train five youths to our music”, explains Mohd Kamrolbahri Hussin, Scholar at UTM Faculty of Music but also leader of the band. In the past already, the Kelantanese State Government banned century-old performances deemed as “non-Islam compatible”.
For the Sarawak government, the Festival should further boost the profile of the State as an abode of culture. “We are now thinking to expand further the appeal of our festival. Not by expanding the festivals as we want to retain the quality of the audience and the venue. But by probably adding other events such as a literature festival or more fine arts events. We are studying seriously the idea as it will strengthen our image of a centre for ethnic and people’s cultures”, underlines Datuk Abang Haji Openg, Minister of Housing and Tourism of the State of Sawarak.
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
