Sights and Sounds Hear the Rainforest Sing Nur Aziemah Aziz explores the Rainforest World Music Festival that has put Southeast Asian traditional music on the world map. N A sea of festival-goers dancing the night away at the music festival 24 — ISSUE 5/2018 The home ground of the Rainforest World Music Festival – the Sarawak Cultural Village Being present at the festival is a truly immersive experience that seems to transport one to another world, away from the hustle bustle of the city. The festival takes place in the Sarawak Cultural Village, at the foot of Mount Santubong approximately 35 kilometres away from the city centre of Kuching. The Sarawak Cultural Village is a living museum and home to replicas of traditional houses of the Sarawak’s ethnic groups such as Bidayuh, Iban, Orang Ulu and Melanau. RWMF For more than two decades, the Rainforest World Music Festival (RWFM) in Sarawak, Malaysia, offers a weekend of music indulgence that has excited visitors from across the world who keep returning for more every year since its inception in 1998. Unlike the many well-known A-list festivals such as Glastonbury, Tomorrowland or Coachella, the RWFM is in a league of its own. Held in the middle of a tropical rainforest, the festival brings together an extensive stellar line-up of musicians representing a diverse range of musical styles of regions and cultures around the globe. These include traditional, ethnic and folk music, genres that are rarely played on your mainstream radio airwaves. Youtube estled in the lush greenery of the Bornean rainforest, a mega stage booming with the tune of the Sape, a musical instrument of the Sarawak traditional tribesmen sets the evening atmosphere. The melodic sounds of other instruments from the various performers begin to send people into a trancelike state. Festival-goers soon raise their hands in the air while their bodies sway from side to side shadowing the gentle wind breezing through the rainforest. The cool air brought some respite from the humidity in the day. The joyful dancing continues on through the night.