Borneo Rainforest World Music Festival
The Borneo Rainforest World Music Festival will be held in T-3 days. Sheesh, and I’m stuck here with AD Migration. More like AD Migraine! Should have taken leave in advance and booked my Air Asia ticket early, then I’d be sipping beer relaxing in the pristine rainforest with it’s eye soothing greenery and fresh richly oxygenated air with my hearing teased to the diverse resounding rhythms in the heart of the one of the world’s oldest rainforests. Was looking forward to hearing the sape music again, especially since the virtuoso sape player, Jerry Kamit ,much touted as “The Jimmy Hendrix of the east” will be displaying his prowess and further more this time he’s gonna puts aside his usual rock and pop Sape playing style, and showing the more traditional spiritual and lyrical side.
Matthew Ngau and Uchau Bilong
Jerry Kamit
What is The Rainforest World Music Festival? Well it’s a unique annual festival, something akin to UK’s Concert In The Park with a twist, it brings together renowned world musicians from all continents. You’ll get to hear Celtic music, Caribbean Bullerengue and ethnic music from Algeria, Belize, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Thailand to name a few. But that’s not all, during the 3 day festival, there are also informative workshops, ethno-musical lectures, jamming sessions and mini concerts, followed by evening performances on the main stage.
What is a Sape?
For the uninitiated, the Sape (pronounced “Sa-Peh” is a 4 string instruments from the lute family, made from soft wood, (Meranti). The Sape has quite an elongated body that is hollowed out and functions as a resonator and a short neck. It is famous among the Kayan and Kenyah tribes. Sape strings were originally made from the Sago tree but have since been replaced by nylon strings. All the strings are plucked using the thumb and only one of the strings is used to play the melody, while the accompanying strings are struck rhythmically to produce a drone. The strings are fixed across the body, supported by a bridge which is movable, for tuning purposes. Musically, the Sape is a simple instrument. In practice, the music is quite complex, with many ornamentations and thematic variations. Sape music is best known through the works of the late, great Tusau Padan and introduced to the world during the Worldwide Music Expo (WOMEX 97) held from 23rd to 26th October at the Palais du Pharo in Marseilles, France by four musicians, Irang Lahang, Tegit Usat, Asang Lawai and Uchau Bilong. How much effect did it have? Well I’ll leave you with an exclamation of disbelief by a Frenchman at the event “How can such a simple instrument make such beautiful sounds?!”
