Rainforest World Music Festival
Trip Start
Feb 25, 2006
1
113
148
Trip End
Jun 24, 2009
Kuching,
Sarawak,
Malaysia
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Rainforest World Music Fest
. We didn't see much of him for the first 2 days we were there and hadn't checked in or paid anything as we were at the festival until 1am. No worries. When we asked him what time was check-out, he said, anytime just not at night. Now that's hands off management in a relaxed atmosphere.We arrived in time to go to the last day of the 3 day 11th Annual Rainforest World Music Festival. It's a fairly small festival with between 6000 and 9000 people per day. I had heard about it in 2006, the first time I came to Borneo, but I was a week too late to get here for it. It's held at the Touristic Sarawak Cultural Village grounds about 45 minutes out of Kuching. It's a bit of a trek to get out there and back, but with the shuttle buses, it's doable in a very long day. During the afternoons, they have workshops at the fest where you can meet the musicians and they put on a interactive presentation doing things like teaching you how to play a bamboo instrument or bang a drum and do a traditional dance. Definitely not something you would get to do at a festival with a million people like Blues Fest in Chicago. There are different food stalls all around the grounds with everything from local rice dishes, cakes, "waffles", kebabs to burgers. Unfortunately, the beer sponsor was Heineken which I really don't like. At night, they have several bands playing on alternating stages right next to each other
Tiny Dancers
. It's a strange setup, but it keeps the music going continuously from 7:30 'til Midnight. When one band finishes and the lights go out, the next band starts on the other stage. Where's the intermission so you can take a break and get another drink?The night started off slow with a pretty bad "band" from the UK. They were 3 guys that played various string instruments and an accordion. I believe they interspersed playing musical instruments with "humor", but I'm not real sure as I didn't find a laugh. Fortunately, their set only lasted about 30 minutes. They also had a Japanese guy billed as a Taiko drummer, but there wasn't much of Taiko drumming going on as he was a one man show with a lot of different drums. He was a pretty good drummer, but not nearly as good as he thought he was. There was a huge band from India that was full of energy and got the crowd dancing as the heavens opened up poured down on us. The main floor was nothing but a putrid smelling swamp that was created during Friday's downpour. They poured tons of sand to try to fill in the muddy swamp, but the water just seeped right through. By the end of the night, everyone on the main floor was covered in mud ankle deep. Those that weren't already covered in mud were later covered by mud in the ensuing mud fight at the end of the show. I decided to take a zero and watched the shows from a nearby long house
Sarawak Cultural Village
. C on the other hand, decided to brave the cesspool and dove right into the pit. In the wooden thatched roof long house, I met a Malaysian girl most likely from KL. She was smoking a cigarette just under a (one would think unnecessary) NO SMOKING sign in a highly flammable wooden and thatched roof house. I reminded her that there was no smoking in the long house and she just ignored me. She looked at her friends and said something to which they all laughed and said, "don't understand" and shook their heads. Now, I don't much like smokers already, but inconsiderate, rude and stupid smokers, I really hate! I said to her while smiling, "ah saya maaf, tidak faham? (I'm sorry, you don't understand?) I guess you wouldn't understand rude bitch either then...dilarang merokok (no smoking)". Her friends started laughing as I walked away from her foul stench. It's amazing how many Malay words that I can put together when I put my mind to it.
The rain stopped just as quickly as it had started when a Masai band came on and rocked the forest! They put on a great show to what would have been a great ending to the night. But for the Grand Finale, they not only brought out every one that played on Sunday, but everyone that had played the entire festival and had a huge jam session with about 100 people on stage.
I thought it was going to be a nightmare getting out of the fest and finding the shuttle bus to take us back to town, but it all went smoothly and I think we only waited 10 minutes for a bus. I think I much prefer smaller music festivals to the massive ones in the States.
