The 11th RainForest World Music Festival ('08)

The RWMF '08 is over now. (from 11th-13th of July)
It is always held at The Cultural Village in Kuching, Sarawak.
This is the first time I visited the RWMF, & I hope to go again next year, perhaps with my friends. This year, I went there with my mummy, you know, I can't really enjoy, haha, she asked me to go home, when the party had just begun. But, it has been a tiring day, since the very minute we woke up, we are busy doing things, preparing, walking & so...We went on the 11th July only.


Hey everyone!!!
Did you notice that this post is my 101th post?
Yes!! It is!
& it is ALL ABOUT MUSIC!!!


~ 11th July ( FRIday ) ~

Ok, lets see, what I have been doing.
We hit the town at 7.30am.
To waste time, we walked to visit my aunt's at her shop,
walked to the Holiday Inn Hotel, rest & read newspaper, I didn't read, it was my mum, I was just there plucking the earphone to my ears, listening to MUSIC!!

Oh ya, we saw this car parked outside the Hotel.


Pinky....Pinky....Pinky....Who??


At around 9.30am, we walked to a 'kopitiam' (to those non-Malaysians, kopitiam means, Coffee Shop =) , to have our brunch.
We ate kolo-mee (this is Malaysian food)

It looks something like this..

Then, we bought Pau & Nomikai (also food) to bring along,
Our bag was so heavy I tell you! All because of my mum...haihhhh

Then, we visited allt he souvenirs shops at Carpenters' Street, even though we live in Kuching, we seldom visit these shops. Now, it's the perfect chance, we had so much time to waste, & we could just walk there.
At around 11.30am, we headed back towards Holiday Inn Hotel, bought our shuttle tickets, then wait for the shuttle to fetch us. There were many people joining this event, mostly foreigners. I was so ashamed because even I'm staying in Kuching I'd never been to RWMF before, those foreigners from countries thousands of kilometres away, would pack their bags, flew in hours of flight to visit this festival! You can see the passion of music in their blood =)

After over an hour in the shuttle, at last we arrived at The Cultural Village (TCV).
We visited the booths set up by all countries who participated in this year's RWMF, they display their goods, musical instruments from their countries, & many other interesting products.


This is the bridge made of bamboos, people build these bridges to their longhouse. We can only find these in Sarawak, no other places=)

By looking at the pic above & below, do you know which country is this artistic drawings from?
Guess guesss guesss...
Ans: Indonesia..


What about these?
Puppets from Japan!! I love these very much..


And, the pictures below are from Sarawak, Malaysia :





Then, we attended workshops. In these workshops, each performers from their respective countries, would introduce their musical instruments, & do a short demonstration. The whole afternoon was filled with musics & interesting stories of theirs. My mummy & I went from each stage to another, to get as much information as we could. At last, we managed to view 4 workshops, namely :

* Not Your Average Intrument


Instruments introduced :
1. Kubing & Hegalong from The Philipines ( Bridge, you know about these? )
2. Dotara & Khomok from India
* P/s : Click on the links to view the instruments.

* Heavy Metal



* String Things



* Harpers Bazaar

Instrument :
Kora from West-Africa



Yakhouba Sissokho played the Kora (a 21-string Harp-Lute).
He said when he was young, his family was so poor, there were no shoes no clothings, foods & water were given from begging. So, he did not has the chance to go to school like many other kids. He felt very upset. His father didn't allow him to go to school, but he taught Yakhouba how to play Kora. As his father said, it is good to learn this instrument, Yakhouba at that time did not understand what is so good about it, then, he said now, he understands it very clear. He realized what his father did was the best.
He even taught us to sing along with him.
Ana-La-Ke

It means God's creations in his language.


After the workshops, we were given our free time to have dinner then head towards the main stage for the party to begin. Yeahhh!!
The night performance were supposed to start at 7.30pm, many of us were already there at 7.00pm, sitting on the ground (it is open air), waiting..Right at 7.30pm, rain started to pour, tick tack tick tack!! Some of us hurried to the nearest roofed Iban longhouse. However, many of them were still on the field, they didn't care much about the rain, when the music started, they danced to the beats, like they were in a disco-pub. That's how you enjoy music, yea?

Night performances included :
Senida ( S'wak )
The Love Circle
Akasha ( Malaysia ) <- This was the best!!!!!
Adel Salameh ( Palestine )
Fadomorse ( Portugal )
Ross Daly ( Greece )
Pinikpikan ( Philippines )
New Rope String Band ( United Kingdom )

Each performances lasted for about half an hour.
" So, if the music is lousy, "WHY IS IT SO LONG??"
If the music is nice, "WHY IS IT SO SHORT??"
haha
As I said, we went off at 10.30++pm, so the last two performances, we missed them!!
Owh no!! What a waste!

Arrived home after midnight, what a long day. phew, but I love

M

U

S

I

C

!!!!