"The Rainforest World Music Festival is a credit to Sarawak and therefore a credit to Malaysia”

Earlier in July we decided to attend the much talked about Rainforest World Music Festival now held in Sarawak as an annual event, this its eleventh year. We had wistfully watched and read of past events and wished we had previously made the effort. 2008 became the enlightener.
 
There is something rather attractive not knowing what to expect. Thoughts of  ‘are we really too old for this?’ and ‘is the accommodation going to be sloppy?’. Frankly, it really didn’t matter. Firstly, it was a refreshing respite to arrive in Borneo. We hit the tourist trail and had an agreeable lunch at
the James Brooke Café over looking the River in the centre of town. Now dominated by a new state secretariat building, which reminds most of a mosque. It’s on par with any construction in Putra Jaya and equally as imposing. The present administration has certainly made it’s mark.  

Onward, we checked into the Santubong Resort, organized by STB. Had we had a choice or if l were to make a recommendation; The new Damai Puri, a beautiful new resort hotel on the doorstep of the festival. The sunset drinks are knock-out too! However, the Santubong Resort is pleasant, it has-been a five star property. I believe the current owners have ambitious plans for the site, which do not include too much expenditure in the interim. Bit of a shame, but that’s development or developers! Stay at
the Damai Puri!

The Festival started on Friday July 11th and it poured down, good old tropical storm - rainforest style. It rained cats and … more cats (kuching kuching). A record crowd of over 7000 people from approximately 40 countries got drenched. We shuffled precariously on a treacherous wooden gang plank type walk way until slowed further by a torch lit procession. We stopped to let the procession through, we had to stop to let the procession through. Which included a damp but smiling Malaysian
Prime Minister and spouse. A proud Sarawak Chief Minister and spouse and … more than a few ‘friends’. Once through, we strode out and found agreeable seats close to centre stage, a good food vendor and a bar.  This was to become our base for the next three nights. Close to the central
lake in the Sarawak Cultural Village it had a great overhead screen which gave a great view of the stage. It was that or join thousands enjoying a muddy field. And enjoy they did. We were entertained by some serious World Music Musicians. I was enthralled. Why had l missed the last 10
years? What makes it all so entertaining – World Music is not a type of music per se. It is music which is representative of a culture and/or it’s people.  All very different and all equally interesting. It’s subjective, personally l do get slightly higher on the African drums than l do on the Palestinian lament. But it’s all here and it’s really not to be missed. It’s a full three nights and if you want, it can be a full three days as the organizers have music workshops on site during the day. This was a great way to meet the 17 bands and artists participating. I did agree with one correspondent who said that it was noticeable China, South America andKelly Thoma Iyra Russia were absent. Hint hint…

There was a ‘World Craft Bazaar’. Booths and booths of the ubiquitous ‘handicraft’. But like a good
bazaar, there were some great treasures. You had to slow down and look. It was well worth the
effort. As was a dry and pleasant Saturday night which saw an unprecedented crowd of over
9000 folks. The final night on Sunday brought over 6000 and many promises to return. It’s
not often l get to say this… “The Rainforest World Music Festival in Sarawak should be in your Diary”.