SMS Online - The Rainforest World Music Festival 2003

Coming from our neighbours in Indonesia for the Rainforest World Music Festival, is the dynamic and bold fusion of traditional Indonesian and world music jazz from a group called KRAKATAU.

They are as explosive as their volcanic namesake.

Founded in Bandung, West Java in 1985, they made their international debut at the Yamaha Bands Explosion in Tokyo, Japan.

Their music is very distinctive as it uses an ancient Gamelan tonal system called “s’lendro”, found in Karawitan traditional music of Sunda, Java and Bali. Juxtaposed upon this, KRAKATAU adapts western diatonic elements which is energized by modern feels of jazz, rock and pop fused with various ethnic rhythms of Indonesian music.

Dwiki Dharmawan plays keyboards and syntesizers and is alsoone of the founding members of KRAKATAU – he was classically trained at a young age and winner of the Grand Prix in Japan in 1985. He is also conductor and composer oof the Indonesian Art Orchestra, director of the Farabi Music Educational Centre in Jakarta and Chairman of Jakarta World Music Festival 2003.

Pra Budidharma graduated from Seattle, USA and plays guitar and bass while working as a producer specializing in recordings for West Javanese traditional music.

Main singer and dynamo of the group , Trie Utami, has won awards in Romania and Kuala Lumpur – it will be an exciting moment if the organizers of the festival will manage to pair her together with Hanitra Rosoanaivo of Madagascan group TARIKA who will also be here for the 2003 festival. Both are live wires and female and commanding presence on stage. Look out for the workshop schedules when they come out.

Zainal Arifin will be bringing his bonangs and sarons of the gamelan family as well as many other percussion instruments.

Adhe Rudhiana and Gilang Ramadhan handles the gendangs and percussion while Yoyon Dharsono plays virtually any instrument handed to him.

One of them is the Sundanese tarompet, a double reed instrument which is a more brittle version of a clarinet. It is commonly associated with the traditional martial art known as pencak silat.

Another is the suling or bamboo flute that comes in different lengths, as well as the bangsing which is more popular in the city of Cirebon.

This 7 member band is all set to live up to the festival’s reputation of being the best danceable party in town.

TARIKA - ROOTS MUSIC FROM PLANET MADAGASCAR AT TTHE RAINFOREST WORLD MUSIC FESTIVAL

It must certainly be woman power at the 6th Rainforest World Music Festival at the Sarawak Cultural Village come July 11th.

TARIKA – one of the hardest working and most continually creative bands on the International World Music circuit is coming to town and is led by the charismatic Hanitra Rosoanaivo.

They are Madagascar's most successful musical export. TARIKA’s name means simply "the group" . They have evolved a unique, modern blend from the roots music of the different regions of their Indian Ocean island home, strongly featuring local instruments in a way that has been described as "virtuoso traditional music with the energy of punk rock!"

Their tight harmonies, buoyant grooves, infectious melodies, wild instruments, energetic dancing and captivating presentation have been a live hit all over North America and Europe, and their albums have topped the World Music charts on both sides of the Atlantic.

In the early '90s, Hanitra (pronounced "Anch") led Tarika Sammy, the first modern group rooted in the traditional music of Madagascar with the vision to adopt a professional approach to international touring, and unique as a band led by a Malagasy woman. Songs written by Hanitra or her sister Noro on their chart-topping second album “Balance” began to address challenging, controversial subjects such as the situation of women in Malagasy society, pushing the boundaries of Malagasy roots music.

This group split up at the end of 1993, after which Hanitra put together TARIKA. Hanitra and Noro stayed as the new group's live focus, delivering their fabulous sibling harmonies, driving percussion and spirited dancing, but the new band's instrumental side was much stronger. They now feature a specially designed and crafted array of up-dates of traditional Malagasy instruments that they had commissioned - marovany (box zither), valiha (bamboo zither), kabosy (the small Malagasy guitar), jejy voatavo (gourd dulcimer) - TARIKA immediately achieved international success.

The other TARIKA members since 1994 have been three multi-instrumentalists/singers.

Donné is a top all-round musician on marovany, valiha, kabosy, melodeon and percussion. He had long experience in traditional music, including touring in Malagasy bands Voninavoko and the Malagasy All-Stars.

Ny Ony came from the brother group Solomiral whose members all regularly work with Madagascar's top modern artists: he's one of Madagascar's best guitarists and bassists, and a fine kabosy player.

Solo, the youngest of the team, travelled throughout the island with the vakodrazana (traditional music) group led by his father. He too, plays bass guitar, kabosy, valiha, marovany and percussion, and adds the bass voice to the famous TARIKA harmonies.

Their intensive touring in 1994 and '95 - all over Europe and North America - caused a big stir, surprising everybodyy with their ever-increasing energy level.

Their second album, Son Egal, was released in 1997, produced by Simon Emmerson (Baaba Maal/Afro Celts) and Martin Russell. On a creative surge and tackling powerful historic and political themes, it received rave reviews in Europe and the USA (everywhere from The Times to Playboy!), shot to the top of the European World Music Charts and spent an unprecedented 8 weeks at No.1 (15 weeks in the top 5) on the CMJ World Music Chart in the USA. In Madagascar, released at a time of political upheaval, it received saturation airplay. They were nominated in the 1997 Kora All-African Music Awards and won the AFIM Indie Award for Contempory World Music Album in the USA.

Although the Malagasy are usually thought to be African, their origins from perhaps 1500 years ago are Malayo/ Polynesian from Indonesia. In September 1999, Hanitra spent an inspirational month in Sulawesi, Indonesia, uncovering many traces of these long ago ancestors.

Therefore, to be coming to the rainforests of Borneo, Hanitra has a separate agenda from just bringing her music to Sarawak – she is also here to soak in the ambience and roots that might run in her blood.

A review in the UK described TARIKA as a band so rich is rhythm, they could make the dead dance.

The five-member band is determined to drive, punch and hammer that point home with colorful singing and dancing, and they approach their craft with the enthusiasm of the very open-minded.

Hanitra herself has been described as "Dynamic, attractive, and fashionable".

So don’t miss big name TARIKA at the Rainforest World Music Festival.

Anak’ Adi’ Rurum Kelabit

Joining the Rainforest World Music Festival’s international performers this year is the Anak’ Adi’ Rurum Kelabit. Last year, the group took part only in the workshops but were so impressive that this year, the festival has decided to put them as one of the opening items on Main Stage.

The Anak’ Adi’ Rurum Kelabit children’s dance group was formed four years ago in an effort to preserve the traditional song, dance and folklore of the these people who originate from the remote mountainous Kelabit Highlands situated right in the heart of Borneo.

The oral history, folklore, dance and song of the Kelabits is on the brink of extinction and this children’s group is making a tremendous effort to preserve the rich culture and traditions of their people. They will present an overview of their culture and history in the form of song and dance and their variants: lullabies and children’s songs, social songs and spiritual songs, the hornbill dance and the long dance.

Like most indigenous groups of Borneo, the Kelabit do not really use musical instruments to accompany their songs and really, there is no need to do so. The stamping of their feet in unison and their sweet melodious tunes reflects their aural surroundings.

In the Kelabit culture, a good singer is supposed to tell a story with their song. The words are sung as they would be spoken naturally, and the melody fits the verses such that it can vary somewhat from verse to verse.

For these people, the months after harvesting and special occasions such as the “peka’ak ngadan” or the name changing ceremony are when people from near and far gather to meet to sing and dance. Filled with humor and good feelings, the songs utilise soaring sweet vocals that come from the heart and resonate the resilience of their tribal heritage.

Anak’ Adi’ Rurum Kelabit children are between the ages of seven and 16 and consists of both boys and girls and for each performance, around 20 children participate. The girls wear the traditional peta or beaded skull cap and belts and the boys wear jackets or vests which are made from bark cloth which distinguishes this Orang Ulu group from the others.

A very important item in the dance culture of the Kelabits and other Orang Ulu tribes is the use of hornbill feathers.

However, in an effort to preserve this magnificent bird which is also the emblem of Sarawak, Anak’ Adi’ Rurum Kelabit are the pioneer group of dancers to use turkey feathers which have been dyed to resemble hornbill feathers. These turkey feathers are trimmed and painted in a collective effort by the Rurum Kelabit members and stitched on exactly the way the original hornbill feathers are prepared.

The feathers are a gift from the Wildlife Conservation Society and the Sarawak Forest Department who worked together to start this unique and highly commendable project under “A Master Plan for Wildlife in Sarawak”. The Master Plan is a comprehensive wildlife conservation and management document that takes into account the social, economic and cultural aspects of Sarawakian society.

This is an example of good wildlife conservation where people can still practice age-old customs without having to hunt hornbills, which are highly endangered.

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