I just came back from a short trip to Kuching and the reason why I was there is none other but to attend the Rainforest World Music Festival for the 3rd time. It was one of my bff's wishlist back then, if it was not for her I wouldn't even know the existence of it. My first time was in 2014 and I immediately fell in love and vowed to try my best to go to this event annually. I didn't get to attend last year's because I was in India at that time.
The most common reaction that I will get from most people when I told them I'm going to a music fest, they would have this image of a wild party where people wear scanty clothes, dancing around and drunk. I won't deny there were drunk visitors every time, but they were not causing any trouble and I was always in a safe zone.
Maybe people missed the word 'World Music' which essentially means the music are of various genres and not always those that you can dance to. This event actually gathers musicians and bands from all over the world and this gives them the opportunity to introduce their music along with promoting their country and culture.
The event is for 3 days; during the day there will be workshops and interactive sessions while the concert will be held at night. There are many things going on at one time in different venues so you have to really scrutinize the schedule and decide what type of music you would want to experience up close or what type of dances you would want to learn and do show up early at the venue to get the best view.
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For this year, I was so relieved when JF agreed to come with me without any hesitation and we were lucky to get cheap return flight ticket ~RM 160. As for the ticket, they only have this 3-day pass and 1-day pass so if you are going for 2 days then you have to buy two 1-day passes. We met our junior in school who bought her pass even before the early bird ticket was released and she got it for RM 84. Ours was RM 134 per pass and the early bird ticket was slightly cheaper than this. You can still buy at the ticket counter during the event but of course it will cost you more.
As for transport, some people drove to the event but their cars were parked far away. Some were parked at walk-able distance and some were parked too far away but there were shuttle buses prepared by the organizer but I'm not sure of the fare. As for us, we took the shuttle bus from Kuching city. I'm not sure if there has always been the free shuttle for ticket holder because before this I bought the ticket at the counter but ya this year we redeemed the free shuttle with our tickets. It was written 'Limited Free Shuttle' at the shuttle bus counter so I guess we were lucky to have got it for both days. There were 3 stops; Hills Shopping Mall, Harbour View Hotel and Plaza Merdeka
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| This lady is the leader of the Tahitian dancers |
We just passed through the entrance when we saw men and women dressed in Hawaiian-like costume. We guessed they were the Tahitian dancers and we were right! We were puzzled because the group was about to conduct a dance workshop in about 30 minutes so what were they doing there? They went down from the wooden walkway to the grassy area and started to play music and dance! It was my first time to ever seen that live so I got really really excited and just stayed there until the performance ended although I was standing at a non-shaded area.
We manage to catch the string instrument workshop which was in the same venue with the Tahitian dance and later we went to the South African dance workshop. The South African workshop was a full house. Later we learnt that they were among the favourite performers for the first night concert so that explains why it was full house that evening. I enjoyed their music and did follow some of the steps but the area was too crowded that I decided to stop and just watch and listen. For a moment it felt like I was in Zumba class although normally we dance Zumba to Spanish music, and that time it was African music.
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| My 3rd time; I already know that a mat is crucial for maximum comfort during concert |
That night, it rained heavily after the second performance which was the Tahitian. JF and I donned our poncho and sat there in the rain and continued to enjoy the concert to the end. My favourite would be the At Adau, a local band from Sarawak and Hanggai a Mongolian rock band.
The rain was even worse on the second night but we enjoyed the show anyway especially Calan from Wales. They made amazing music with the bagpipes! I also love the last performance by Bitori from Cape verde. The music is called Funana, which is accordion-based and according to the emcee it was once banned by the Portuguese in Cape Verde as it is said to be subversive
Overall, this event never disappoints me. It always make me want to come to the next one. Next year it will be held on 13th July to 15th July. I might go if the dates does not clash with our trips (^^) I didn't get to take a lot of pictures or videos during the concert due to heavy rain
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| Our breakfast on the last day of RWMF2017 |
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