Rainforest World Music Festival
| Rainforest World Music Festival Festival Muzik Hutan Hujan Sedunia |
|
|---|---|
French Gypsy band performing during RWMF 2006
|
|
| Status | Active |
| Genre | Music Festivals |
| Frequency | Annually |
| Venue | Sarawak Cultural Village |
| Location(s) | Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia |
| Coordinates | Coordinates: 1°44′57.1″N 110°18′57.9″E / 1.749194°N 110.316083°E |
| Country | Malaysia |
| Years active | 1997 |
| Founder |
Randy Raine-Reusch Robert Basiuk Edric Ong Edgar Ong |
| Sponsor | Malaysia Airlines |
The Rainforest World Music Festival (often abbreviated as RWMF) is an annual three-day music festival celebrating the diversity of world music, held in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia, with daytime music workshops, cultural displays, craft displays, food stalls, and main-stage evening concerts. The festival has been awarded 25 of the best International Festivals by Songlines for six consecutive years; from 2010 to 2015.
The festival features a wide range of performances from traditional music, to world fusion and contemporary world music. The festival emphasizes the use of traditional acoustic world instruments, although electric accompaniment instruments are common.
The festival was founded by Randy Raine-Reusch, a Canadian world music instrumentalist, Robert Basiuk (then marketing head of the Sarawak Tourism Board), Edric Ong, President of the Society Atelier of Sarawak, which supports traditional arts, and Edgar Ong a film producer, at the Ong brothers' residence in Kuching in 1997.
The Society Atelier undertook the initial planning, financing and laid the future groundwork. When approached to assist, the Sarawak Tourism Board later took over and greatly enlarged the idea.
In the early years, Randy, Edgar Ong and Yeoh Jun Lin were responsible for selecting the international musicians who took part; they nurtured the future direction of the festival. During its fourth year, there was a bid from WOMAD to take over the festival and rename it WOMAD Borneo.
The Sarawak Tourism Board has since taken the festival to a larger audience, hence also to a more commercial level. During it first and second year, only about 400 people attended the festival. The Star reports in 2013 that the festival has bought in MYR 37 million. It is reported that the festival has 60% repeat visitor ratio year-after-year.
The dates of the festival held since 2005:
The festival is held in the grounds of the Sarawak Cultural Village nestled against the base of Mount Santubong, about 35 km. north of Kuching. The festival runs workshops (mini concerts) in the afternoon followed by evening performances held on the two main stages in the village. The festival usually features from 18 to 20 bands through the weekend.
...
Wikipedia