Go Green Initiative
Kevin: Last year, around 40000-60000 water bottles were
wasted and hence, this year we decided to Go-Green! The
festival is all about sustainability. We aim to preserve our
culture. We are now attracting the younger generation to
pick up sustainable music instruments and try it out!
Our aim through the festival is to reduce the use of
plastic and we hope for the Sarawak government to
make it a policy to all other music festivals too.
Colourful and good looking trash cans at the festival
Kevin: Spativate, a social enterprise that activates
soulless public spaces and promotes civic participation
had taken this initiative to make the trash cans look
great at the festival. The idea was to make recycling
cool and to soften the image of garbage disposal.
The festival has always been a platform to people,
societies, and communities to showcase this. It
went in hand with our theme of sustainability.
Idea behind venue expansion for the festival
Kevin: It is impossible to expand the venue as such
because the carrying capacity is 8000 per day and if you
have more people it disturbs the whole ambiance of the
festival. What we figured out from the tourism angle is
to either increase number of days, though we are unable
to do it, or to have a fringe festival in Kuching. By doing
so, you have a pre mini festival before the main festival.
People have a reason to come earlier to Kuching and
that would in turn benefit the tourism industry.
Gustino: About six to seven years ago, we reached the
maximum capacity. We thought of another venue like
Santubong village and other areas nearby. But the challenge
is the lack of facilities. The Sarawak Village provides great
facilities for the festival to happen. Many other places are
located far away from Kuching. In order to build a new one
is a huge investment by the state government. It would be
possible to expand this current village but we will have
to see how we can do it. We have already expanded the
stage areas three times. It the foothill of a mountain and it
becomes difficult as it would involve cutting trees which
is against our policy. We can see the growth of the festival
over the years. We want to encourage more people to try
out and play the ethnic instruments of the region. We have
managed to get younger people to like this kind of music.
About the traditional instruments of the Sarawak region
Gustino: The instruments are home made by Orang
Ulu tribes, some of who live in the mountains.
Access to this village is mostly by flight.
Kevin: It used to be very difficult to find out who makes
the SAPE instrument. Thank god for social media, now
we have people posting there and helps people find these
instruments for their personal use. The SAPE is a proud
export from the Sarawak cultural export. We have Japanese,
French and people from all over the world buying these
and taking lessons too. Some even learn how to make it. It
used to be a solely Urang Ulu instrument but now because
of globalization, interests come from various parts of the
world. We have even young people making it now. They are
taught how to make it, what wood to be used and so on.
The annual RWMF is an international music festival
that celebrates the diversity of world music – ranging
from traditional to contemporary. The dates for next
year are July 10th to July 12th 2020. Do not miss it!
The
Score Magazine
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