BORNEAN TRADITIONAL MUSICAL ENSEMBLE TO PERFORM AT RAINFOREST WORLD MUSIC FESTIVAL 2024

By Rozlin Rusharmeen Rosmin

KUCHING, June 26 (Bernama) -- A fusion of traditional musical instruments from Borneo, played by a renowned lineup of local musicians, is set to electrify the stage at the Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF 2024).

The RWMF is slated to take place from Friday to Sunday (June 28 to 30) at the Sarawak Cultural Village.

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This debut collaboration, named 'The Borneo Collective', includes veteran musicians such as Jerry Kamit and Johari Morshidi from the group Tuku’ Kame, Mathew Ngau Jau, Ezra Tekola Semuel (from At Adau), and Rining Peter Paris.

Rining, a traditional musician of the Lun Bawang ethnic group known for playing the tapi’, remarked that performing on the main stage of this international festival is an honour to highlight the unique music and culture of Borneo, especially from Sarawak.

“Previously, I performed solo on the RWMF stage, but it was only for five minutes. This time, The Borneo Collective will perform for 40 minutes, so this is a great achievement to be with these veteran musicians for the first time.

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“This is also a recognition of the efforts to revive and introduce the tapi’ instrument, especially to the younger generation and outsiders,” he said when met at his residence recently.

Aside from the melodies of the tapi’, the traditional musical instrument of the Lun Bawang people, the group formed for the RWMF 2024 will also treat visitors to the sounds of the Orang Ulu's traditional ‘sape’, played by Jerry, Ezra and Mathew, along with percussion by Johari, who is better known as Jo Gendang.

Rining said all the group members are actively rehearsing to ensure the blend of all the instruments sounds balanced and harmonious when played together.

“Before rehearsing, we also did some research to see if we could blend the sounds of all these instrument. For instance, tapi’ has only two strings while the sape has six. Additionally, our musical genres and backgrounds are different,” he said.

The Borneo Collective is set to perform on the first day of RWMF 2024 on June 28, with a repertoire of nine songs for the visitors, aligning with this year's festival theme, ‘Evolution’.

Rining added that the RWMF stage also provides an opportunity to revive the tapi’ through a workshop titled 'Tapi’: Revival of the Forgotten Instrument,' which will be held on the final day of the festival.

“During this workshop, participants will be introduced to the anatomy of the tapi’ and learn to play this traditional Lun Bawang musical instrument, which many people are still not exposed to,” he said.

RWMF 2024 will also feature legendary artistes known for their innovative electronic instrumental music, such as Japanese Kitaro and Datuk Zainal Abidin, along with 68 international musicians from 15 countries and 63 Malaysian artistes.

The Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, and the Sultan of Perak, Sultan Nazrin Shah, are also expected to grace the festival.

-- BERNAMA