Mount Santubong cuts an impressive sight. Rising in all its chiselled glory from the northern-most tip of Sarawak’s Santubong Peninsular it casts a primeval shadow across the land.  While the lower reaches of the mountain slip seamlessly into the clear saline waters from where it once emerged, the upper bulk, 810 metres of limestone outcrops, intrudes upon an azure sky. As darkness falls the heady nighttime air vibrates to the sounds of…an Iranian muscian blowing into a set of bagpipes made from a goat!

Welcome to the rich diversity of the Rainforest World Music Festival – undoubtedly South East Asia’s premier annual musical event. Now in its 13th year this gem of a festival, which once attracted only a few hundred World Music fans, this year saw several thousand people pass through the gates over the three day period.

Although music lovers traveled from all over the region, the majority came down from Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore. Backpackers who had accidentally stumbled upon the festival were clearly delighted at the prospect of three days sitting on their arse listening to music.

The setting for the event is nothing short of spectacular. The tree-covered Mount Santubong forms the backdrop to the main stage and the traditional wooden buildings of the Sarawak Cultural Village which hosts the festival serve as venues for afternoon music workshops. These workshops, where musicians from different bands come together for a themed display of virtuoso skills, form an integral part of the relaxed weekend.

This year’s diverse line-up included the spectacular Ensemble Shanbehzadeh directed by Saeid Shanbehzadeh who I had the great pleasure to talk with at the festival. Unable to reside his home country of Iran, Saied and his son, who also plays in the trio, lives in Paris awaiting a better political climate so he can return home.

Other notable acts this year included the marvelous Bisserov Sisters from Bulgaria who performed traditional folk songs and dances from their rich musical tradition. 

The three sisters are dedicated to keeping their musical traditional alive and have spent the last 30 years performing songs taught to them by their mothers and elders.

Reelroad’b from Russia also gave a strong performance of obscure folk songs from northern Russia and Siberia.

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For me, the strongest performance came from the outstanding and totally alluring Leila Negaru, and also the captivating  Musafir Gypsies of Rajasthan both of which can be seen in a forthcoming post. The legendary Farafina from Burkina Faso also stirred up the crowd with African dance and drum beats.

This was my fifth visit to the festival and I fully intend to return next year. A couple of years ago I remember asking  a technician from Scotland who worked as part of the crew at the festival about the very special nature of the event and he said, ‘It’s the best festival in the world, and I go to a lot of festivals. It’s not a technical thing because in reality it is a very challenging festival to work on. The equipment certainly isn’t what we are used. However, the setting, the atmosphere, the diversity of music…. I can assure you the bands are all elated at the experience of playing here. I wouldn’t miss it for the world. This is as good as it gets.’

These days, I’m not sure I would totally agree with the above comment. It is undeniably a superb festival with a unique ambience but over the last few years, since the change of its musical director, has lost some of its magic. The line-ups are certainly more of a mixed bag that they used to be and crowd numbers are declining. Families are also being replaced by an increasingly large contingent of local teenagers who have little genuine interest the music and see it merely as an opportunity to get out and get drunk. As one musician put it to me, ‘you could put any band on stage and they would receive the same response.’ What the festival needs is a major world music artist headlining on each of the three nights but I understand it the budget is currently unavailable.  

With thanks to Sarawak Tourism.

Visit the Rainforest World Music website here.