A rainforest, some jungle beats and a gathering of world music’s most acclaimed and you’ve got the 12th Rainforest World Music Festival in Kuching, Malaysia. By Michael Switow

Sarawak, Borneo conjures up exotic images of ferocious headhunters, river people steeped in superstitions and misty mountains that hide nature red in tooth and claw. Its Survivor setting though, belies the truth of this land. Warm, creative, open and encouraging, it is probably these factors of the land and people that first drove Randy Raine-Reusch to conceive of a world music festival here, set at the foot of one of the most inspiring mountains in East Malaysia.
 The Canadian composer and world music instrumentalist himself, and consultant to world-acclaimed Cirque du Soleil, first journeyed to Borneo in the 1990s, “to document and make recordings of rare instruments like the ‘gourd organ’.” But Raine-Reusch found more than unusual, ethnocentric instruments. He found, too, groups of local talents from the people and thought up the festival as a means to bring about an exchange of musical influences in this tropical stage. And so was born the Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF), now in its 12th installment.
  After a brief hiatus, Raine-Reusch is back at the helm of the festival, promising breathlessly, a lineup and program that aims to do nothing less than, well, take your breath away. Raine-Reusch says, “I’m looking to excite, amaze, enjoy, have a good time and also educate a little bit ... This is a voyage of discovery for the audience. I want concertgoers to say, ‘Wow, I’ve never seen that before!’”
  The three-day festival features musicians from over a dozen countries and is set in the Sarawak Cultural Village against the stunning backdrop of Gunung Santubong, where as local legends have it, is a cursed princess turned to stone and rock after a quarrel with her sister.
  A common sound that will thread this year’s festival is that of the traditional instrument whether it comes from the Hungarian gardon (cello), the Finnish jouhikko (lyre) or the Korean taepyongso (oboe). Raine-Reusch explains, “These instruments are disappearing and I want that culture to survive. I want to hear what that culture sounded like on the real thing. I’m not interested in hearing Balkan music on an electric guitar. I want to hear authenticity, even if it is in fusion music.” 
  And all-encompassing the RWMF surely aims to be. Other than the main evening shows every night, what’s a festival without some carnival cheer? Afternoons promise up-close master-classes with musicians and dancers, or casual sit-downs of inter-band jam sessions. When the evening starts firing up to way past midnight, the beat will surely bump up the atmosphere and after-parties along Damai Beach are expected to draw more than 10,000 world music enthusiasts who turn up every night. Sounding good yet? -
 
Festival Details
The 12th Rainforest World Music Festival is on from Jul 10–12 at Sarawak Cultural Village, Damai Beach, Sarawak. Tickets from RM90-RM250, available from TicketCharge, 603–2241-9999. More information at www.rainforestmusic-borneo.com.

Essentials
International dialing code: +60 (82)
Currency: S$1 = RM2.42
Getting there
Direct flights from Singapore to Kuching on AirAsia, Jetstar Asia, Malaysia Airlines (MAS) and SilkAir. Fares range from $69 on Jetstar Asia (carry-on bags only) to $203 on MAS, including tax. Shuttle buses run every hour between Kuching and the concert venue. Tickets are RM10 and the journey to the venue takes about one hour. A taxi from Kuching will cost about RM40, but only goes as far as the Santubong Kuching Resort; from there, you can take a shuttle for RM5 to the festival.
Where to stay
Most festival-goers stay in Kuching. The hotels closest to the concert venue are Damai Beach Resort, Damai Puri Resort and Santubong Kuching Resort. If you don’t mind roughing it out, try a room in one of the Longhouses at the Sarawak Cultural Village. The official website, www.rainforestmusic-borneo.com, has an extensive list of places to stay for all budgets.

Festival Highlights
Lan-e Tuyang is a trio of sapé (traditional three or four-striped instruments) players and the only Sarawakian band to join the festival this year. The musicians interlock and harmonize simultaneous melodies. “Composers study for years to do this, but these guys do it with ease,” says Raine-Reusch.
  Muzsikas is one of the most experienced troupes to play this festival. They have been researching and performing traditional Hungarian folksongs since the early ‘70s, and won the prestigious WOMEX World Music Award in 2008. 
  Chile’s Inti Illimani boasts a highly-illuminated history indeed. In the 40 years that the band has performed, and the whooping 40 albums it has recorded, they have shared the stage with bright lights like Peter Gabriel, Bruce Springsteen, Wynston Marsalis and Sting, among others.
  Noreummachi, which has performed in New York’s Lincoln Center, plays a music rooted in the animistic harvest rituals of Korean rice farmers. The group blends acrobatic dancing and chanting with flutes, reed and percussion instruments. They also mix it up with bits of jazz, Korean pop and even flamenco.
  Red Chamber’s Liu Guilian is one of the world’s pre-eminent pipa players and has performed in the 1980 Oscar-winning documentary From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China. We don’t usually expected to see a traditional Chinese band perform Kentucky bluegrass music, but Red Chamber does bluegrass that will make music legend Bill Monroe proud.
  A world music festival wouldn’t be complete without African drumming, provided this year by Tanzania’s Zawose Family, which has toured with Peter Gabriel.  The group disappeared from the world scene after band-leader, 65-year-old father and former goat-herder Hukwe Zawose, died of AIDS in 2003. But they are back on the road again. The Zawoses have an exuberant stage presence that are supplemented by their unusual instruments like the izeze (a harp-violin) and the calembo (a plucked thumb-piano).