Rumble In The Jungle – RWMF 2012

image: Pein Lee/Sarawak Tourism Board

Having witnessed the 15^th edition this year, there is no arguing that RWMF is a big success for the Sarawak Tourism Board. Since its fledgling start in 1997 this annual global event has soared its way to the Top 25 Best International Festivals today, according to renowned magazine Songlines.

In fact, I am rather surprised that they did not leverage on the 15^th anniversary to hype up their marketing efforts. Did you know that Heineken has been the one and only beer partner from year one?

It is indeed a joyous celebration of world ethnic music with a global audience and the huge turnout each year bears testimony to its immense appeal. Attendees are exposed to the traditions and cultures of various countries not only through the presentations of the musicians during the concerts but also via personal interaction during the daytime workshops on their music and dance.

What makes RWMF stand out is the unique collaboration of its musicians in some of their stage performances and workshops. They were truly communicating through music.

 image: Pein Lee/Sarawak Tourism Board

Visitors were treated to an afternoon full of fun on Saturday, July 14th when the Dewan Lagenda at Sarawak Cultural Village (SCV) was jam packed with festival goers eager to learn the Bhangra and Bollywood dance at the Now You Can Dance Like the Stars workshop. Malaysia’s Diplomats of Drum thumped their dhols and taught their dance moves.

Next, the Theatre stage presented Angling their Angklungs. This interactive workshop led by Narawi Rashidi featured the bamboo instruments which are found throughout Malaysia and Indonesia.

The bamboo tubes are carefully carved and cut by a master craftsman to produce certain notes when the bamboo frame is shaken or tapped. Each Angklung produces only a single note or chord, so several players must coordinate in order to play a melody.

After a demonstration by the pros, Angklungs were distributed to members of the audience and Rashidi taught the participants how to play their Angklungs to make sweet music.

The Angklungs were soon replaced by another percussive instrument, the rare Txalaparta which almost became extinct 60 years ago. The original instrument consisted of several wooden beams struck vertically by sticks, always performed by two musicians.

According to Harkaitz Martinez de San Vicente of Oreka TX, its origin is undocumented, but it’s commonly believed that apple cider makers in Spain’s Basque Country used the wooden beams to press the apples, following a certain rhythm.

Today’s new breeds of Basque musicians have not only reinvented the Txalaparta but have also introduced new materials. Harkaitz and his fellow performer Mikel Ugarte Azurmendi brought three versions to RWMF – wooden, stone and plastic. Although the original Txalapartas were not tuned, the ones used now are tuned so that performers can play alongside other musical instruments.

 image: Veronica Ng

Here’s the video Oreka Tx played in the background during their gig. The audience lapped up the way the two musicians played - energetic, strong and very joyful, evoking feelings of happiness just by watching them play. Again, it really felt like they are communicating through their music.

Another popular workshop featured the intriguing Balafon, played by the Diabate brothers, Mamadou & Seydou. They played as one, truly communicating through their music. The other instruments were the Kulintangan and Cak Lempong, played by Rajwan Juni from Rythm of Borneo and then there was the Mouth Organ/Harmonica, played by Conrad Molleson.

The Breath of Fire workshop highlighted wind instruments like flutes, alboka, madeira, daegeum and sogeum, played masterfully by talented performers David Synak, Jean Michel Ducau, Raimundo Teixeira Neves and Seongwon Kim.

The Brass Instrument workshop, Metal In My Mouth had Thiery Courdouzy on Saxophone, Sebastien Boyer on the Tuba and Barbaro Garcia the Trumpet player from La Zikabilo teaching participants their breathing and blowing techniques.

Then the concert proper started at 7:30pm with a distinct Sarawak flavor of the Sape and Warrior Dance, followed by a young band called Nading Rhapsody, winners of this year’s talent contest. These guys fused traditional Iban, Bidayuh, Orang Ulu and Malay rhythms with modern elements.

Palestinian ensemble Le Trio Joubran delighted the audience with their contemporary Arabic music interspersed with influences of flamenco, all played on three Ouds and a ripping percussion beat.

 image: Pein Lee/Sarawak Tourism Board

Definitely the highlight of the night was the gig by the String Sisters. This female band featured top folk violinist Annbjorg Lien of Norway, fiddler and vocalist Mairead Ni Mhanonaig of legendary Irish band Altan, American fiddler Liz Carroll of Cherish the Ladies fame, American fiddler Liz Knowles who plays for Riverdance Scottish musician Catriona MacDonald of Blazin’ Fiddles and Vamm, Swedish fiddler and vocalist Emma Harderlin of Garmarna and Triakel.

The String Sisters, accompanied by a Scottish-Norwegian band that included James MacKintosh, David Milligan, Conrad Ivitsky and Tore Bruvoll proceeded to play a lively and captivating mix of contemporary folk music based on Irish, Norwegian, Scottish and Swedish traditions.

Then Rhythm of Borneo, last year’s talent search champions, rocked the festival with its gong driven fusion of Borneo music combined with rock and jazz fusion.

Another high point was French band La Zikabilo, led by Cuban singer and multi-instrumentalist Bárbaro Teuntor Garcia playing a dynamite mix of Cuban and Gypsy brass band music.

The closing act was USA based Sarawak girl singer-songwriter Zee Avi. The local celebrity presented a set of folk-pop songs accompanied by various native drums and an electric sape performed by one of the American members of her band.

It was the turn of percussion and global rhythms to dominate the last day of RWMF.   Pan-Asian fusion band HATA, powered by skillful Korean musicians led by Lui Park, were joined by instrumentalists from Azerbaijan, Turkey, Malaysia and Taiwan. They combined instrumental virtuosity with inspired fusion pieces.

For me as a Malaysian, watching Samuel Dass and Prakash perform Indian classical music on sitar and tabla in tandem with the other multi-talented musicians was inspiring. The fusion they produced from their impromptu interplay of their traditional musical instruments was awesome and for a brief spell the world was indeed one as music transcended race, religion, color, culture and boundaries.

Expectedly, Mamadou Diabate was one of the highlights of the evening. They were all about color, vibrancy and the joy of life, the way only West Africans can celebrate life itself.

The balafons are like a big xylophone and their performance were very hypnotic. You just can't tear your eyes away while they are playing, as their precision and hand-eye coordination is just mesmerizing.

The last gig was by UK-based Kanda Bongo Man. This charismatic singer created one of the signatures of modern dance from Congo known as Kwasa Kwasa and his super agile hip-swinging female dancers showed the audience that dancing means it’s time for some good fun.

The legendary group jam at the end of the festival did produce the expected fireworks, but those of us staying at One Santubong Hotel were privileged to an after party started by Mamadou and Seydou with various other musicians joining in that lasted till the wee hours. Man, did we rumble in the jungle!

  

The only glitch to RWMF 2012 was the traffic jam to SCV, especially on the second night when the gridlock was about five kilometers long. Despite ample shuttles to and fro the festival site, picking up people from different parts of the city, the locals still preferred to use their own cars, and park on BOTH sides of the road, causing a nasty jam.

More effort should be put into persuading Kuching folks to use public transport next year, perhaps introducing a “No car zone” and incorporating shuttle fares in the ticket price.

In all fairness the organizers did their best to ease the congestion to SCV, and perhaps the traffic snarl is the trade off for success. Speaking of success, it is inevitable that a long running music festival will begin losing steam after a number of years. Kudos to Sarawak Tourism Board for being proactive and activating the reinvention by bringing back Artistic Director Yeoh Jun Lin to breathe an air of freshness into RWMF.

Frigglive.com thanks our generous hosts - Dato Rashid Khan, Sarawak Tourism Board, the organizers, musicians, performers, crew, volunteers and security of Rainforest World Music Festival 2012, Emcee extraordinaire Hendrick Foh, Sound Maestro Niall Macaulay Photomeister Pein Lee, Ms Angelina Bateman, Ms Pauline Lim, Ms Catharina Tipong, Mr Mark Justin Sylvester and Mr. Nazrieman Bujang of STB, the staff and volunteers at the RWMF media center, Santubong Cultural Village, Heineken, Sarawak Forestry, Mr Oswald Braken Tisen, Ms Elaine Tan, Mr Michael Tsan,  our always bubbly guide Mr Eric Yap, Diethelm Travel, and all the wonderful people of Sarawak who have now become our friends.

Kudos also to everyone who had made RWMF 2012 the most talked about weekend around the globe.