Written By: Yeoh Jun-Lin
The Rainforest World Music Festival has established itself having two components to make up its whole.
There are the evening shows under the canopy of trees and night sky.
And there are the daytime mini-shows that have been called “workshops” over the last 9 years of the festival’s existence, but are really more of a loose collection of every possible attempt to milk more information, more music and more personal interaction from the musicians with the audience.
This year, there are about 120 musicians involved over the 3 day weekend from the 7th – 9th July. This is about the biggest number the festival has ever had.
They will all be split up into different workshops during the afternoons, and there are about 26 sessions planned for 2006.
There will be some interactive dance workshops like the Mongolian URAN GAR which means “graceful hands” as the hand gestures are very symbolic. There is also MENIGAL for Bidayuh dance, BOLLYWOOD BHANGRA for some sweat-it-out activity. The Canadian group Genticorum, will run a workshop called STOMP! where they will teach some set Quebecois dances as well as how to do some nifty foot percussion.
Different families of instruments will also be herded together in an attempt to contrast and compare and explore the capabilities of sound production.
SWEET VIBRATIONS will put stringed instruments together. DRONES AND PIPES will feature hurdy-gurdies, bagpipes, whistles, nyckleharpa and accordions. LUTES OF ALL SHAPES AND SIZES will see kemelen’goni  pitted against the Sarawak sape, against the Kyrgyzstan komuz and so on. WIND IN THE FOREST for wind instruments and reeds, LIPS AND TEETH for more unusual mouth techniques.
At these workshops, after each instrument has taken centre stage, it is almost now tradition to get them all to try play together – an event not to be missed if one can imagine every possible modal tuning juxtaposed together in a on-the-spot improvisation.
Some of the more popular workshops are usually the percussion ones. This year, look out for FEEL THE BEAT and HIT ME and also THE LANGUAGE OF THE TABLAS where members of the Malaysian Dhol Federation will explain how their drums can be made to talk.
Some of the bands will be giving a deeper insight into their instruments, culture and their music. The Chungmyung Art Troupe from Korea, for example, will be doing a workshop called THE FORCES OF NATURE as their drums and gongs are all symbolic of an element.
Persatuan Orkestra Tradisi Oriental Kuching will talk about their Chinese instruments and how they were used for rituals and social events in PRECIOUS CHINA. Egschiglen will do a workshop on their amazing throat singing in DEEP THROAT and possibly invite members of the audience to have a go at it as well. A secret tip seems to be drinking warm milk just before doing this.
Kilema from Madagascar is a multi-instrumentalist. So are Karin Stein and Edgar East of Calle Sur, so you will be seeing the three of them in several workshops. Some of them include a musical trek through the different types of Latin American music and a more intimate view of the lyrical music of Madagascar.
LONGHOUSE GAMES is where you will be able to take part in age old games that the natives of Sarawak used to indulge in before the invasion of television and the play station.
There are also workshops that will pit bands against each other. THE BLACK EYED FAERIES is one of them where the Peatbog Faeries of Scotland will try to outplay and outdo the gypsies from France, Les Yeux Noirs. Bring armour to this one.
Or STRINGS OF FIRE as the festival has several virtuostic violin players from several bands this year.
Of course some meetings will be more amicable like KISSING COUSINS where there will be a search for similiarities between Madagascan and Sarawak music. Or BOXED IN, with Mongolian and Chinese dulcimers.
The organizers of the festival hope to provide a lot of variety for the growing number of people who will go up early to the Sarawak Cultural Village for the workshops before the night shows begin. The mission is to be as informal and friendly as possible. The Rainforest World Music Festival is not just a music festival – it seems to be a hand to hand reach out for people from all parts of the world to become friends as well.
Workshops will start at 2.00 pm they are staggered over 3 venues – the Auditorium, the Dewan Lagenda and the Iban Longhouse. It is advised to get hold of the schedule in advance from the website www.rainforestmusic-borneo.com or upon arrival at the SCV, so as to be able to choose which ones you would like to go to.
Tickets are sold by the day and they will cover everything from the workshops right till the evening shows - RM60 and RM30 for children aged 3 – 12 years. They are available at the Visitor Information Centres in Kuching, Miri and Sibu. Or check the website  for packages or travel agents or outlets and updates on the festival. More enquiries can be made by calling the Sarawak Tourism Board at 082-423600.
There is also a ticket outlet in Kuala Lumpur –
SARAWAK PARADISE IN BORNEO
No. 25 Jalan Bukit Bintang
55100 Kuala Lumpur
 
Tel:  03 - 214 26113 or 03 - 214 26111
Fax: 03 - 214 26112
E-mail:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
 
Sarawak Tourism Board is the organizer of the RWMF. The festival is also supported by the Ministry of Tourism, Malaysia Airlines as its Official Airline and fROOTS magazine as the Media Sponsor. DIGI has come in as the official telco while supporting sponsors like Heineken and Water Genesis are also adding their weight to the festival.
PATA (Pacific Asia Travel Association) has just announced the Rainforest World Music Festival as the winner of the gold award 2006 in the Heritage and Culture category 2006. 
At the festival site, there will also be food and handicraft marts that one can browse happily through.
The daytime workshops are just a big a part of the festival as the more structured evening shows. Hopefully it will be as informative as it is fun.
Yeoh Jun-Lin
Artistic Director
Rainforest World Music Festival