RWMF 2015: A mixture of Traditional and Contemporary Sarawak Sounds at RWMF 2015

When the month August comes around, the Sarawak Cultural Village will once again be a hive of music and activity as the Rainforest World Music Festival will bring together performers from around the world for a three day magical event.  Also performing for this year's festival will be three bands from the Land Of The Hornbills.  So for this edition of The Borneo Broadcast, I'm going to introduce the three bands from Sarawak who will be performing for you starting the 7th to the 9th of August. 

First we have Kenwy Yang-Qin Ensemble:

(Kenwy Yang-Qin Ensemble)

Led by Ken Wy who is a master  of the yanggin, a traditional Chinese instrument which originally came from Persia. To carry on with his passion on the uniqueness of the yanggin, he established a Music and Arts Academy in Kuching which allows others to gain an insight into the extreme expressive range and the bright tones of the yanggin, which is also called the hammered dulcimer of China.
At this year’s RWMF, Ken Wy will be performing together with an impressive ensemble of yanggins and percussion bringing traditional Chinese music in its elegant and smooth vibe to the Rainforest.

The next Sarawakian band is Lan E Tuyang, led by Mathew Ngau Jau, famous for his extraordinary skills on Sape and as a story teller. The audience will be taken on a musical journey revealing the life of the inhabitants of the rainforest and their traditional way of life in the olden days. Ngau has been playing the Sape, a traditional instrument, a boat shaped lute since he was little. He is not only an expert on the instrument but also makes Sapes, he paints, dances and is very handy and experienced with the blowpipe. The band’s music is the music of Kenyah from the Orang Ulu tribe in Sarawak and combines the calm and lonesome sound of the Sape with the traditional dances of  Orang Ulu warriors.

(Lan E. Tuyang) 

The third band from Sarawak wants to attract the attention and interest of the young generation in traditional music and instruments and to prove the variety and beauty of its kind, the Sarawakian band Sayu Ateng (meaning “Welcome” in a local dialect) offers a modern and fresh mixture between old and contemporary sounds underlined with a strong Sarawak flavor.

This 8-member group composes their own lyrics and melodies taking their inspiration from nature, landscapes and the stories of Sarawak, preserving the original sound of Sarawak’s tradition and creating a distinct sound which unmistakably symbolizes Borneo. First performing at the Rainforest World Music Festival in 1999, Sayu Ateng will impress the audience once again this year, offering a variety of musical pieces which combine ancient instruments with modern ones, mixing the sounds of Sarawak with Pop and the World Beat thereby bringing the music of the Rainforest to a whole new level of excitement.

(Sayu Ateng)

Entrance tickets are now available on sale and for more information on the festival, please log on to its website at www.rwmf.net  Tickets event-presale is priced at RM 110.00 for single adult and child is priced at RM 50.00 while the three-day entrance is priced at RM 300.00 for adults and RM 130.00 for children.  I'll have more details on the other bands performing for the 2015 Rainforest World Music Festival, so drop by again for more details on the RWMF.  Until next time, as always, take care.