Bloggers@RWMF’09 & The Rainforest World Music Festival 2009

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Green is the RWMF theme

The title says everything. I was indeed at the Rainforest World Music Festival 2009, code name Rain-fest for short. It is an annual event organized by the Sarawak Tourism Board (STB), and it is completely, if not hugely bragged about by many past goers. This year, I had the advantage to go, and my verdict: FANTASTIC!! (although, I have a few reservations)

One of my best shots... Lan-E Tuyang

Mike, Amiey and I car-pooled, while Fahriee had some errands and decided to drive solo. “Being soOoo early“, as Mike described it, we managed to get ourselves 1st class parking also… Fahriee was unfortunate, having to park his car somewhere further up. But well, we all gathered at the SCV Restaurant for the BLOGGERS@RWMF’09. The first gathering of its kind ever held.

THE BLOGGERS@RWMF’09

Those whom came for the gathering. Photo from Carol

The gathering was attended by Alus, Carol, Faizal, and Melbie of Sabah, Eileen came in from Miri, and Fahriee, Mike,  Keeman, Amiey and I were representatives from Kuching. Looi Chin was our independent observer. I know, it wasn’t such a huge gathering, but well… it’s a start.and I felt it was great. After all, the smaller, the closer we got to know each other.

Since I was the organizer of the meet, I pulled in Keeman to prepare the games, and Amiey was in-charge of gifts. Those whom got the gifts, hehehe.. you know what you got.. hahaha… Nice kan?? Basically, as I did mention the other day, we all introduced ourselves, and then, came the quizes. I hope they are no complaints coz the whole thing was rather simple, in-formal and well… short noticed. Mr Moslem whom is in-charged of the SCV Restaurant was kind enough to allow us to use his restaurant for the gathering, so a huge thanks goes to him. My personal opinion was the bloggers@RWMF’09 was a success despite the short comings. I did have fun, and I got to know new friends. SO, anyone for bloggers@RWMF’10??

Those whom attended till the end

Owh, Alus suggested t-shirts.. well, I designed the shirt but not sure who will be interested coz the RWMF is over.  Also shy to show my design =P Anyway, thanks guys for coming!

THE RAIN-FEST 2009
I think, I was blessed this year. Honest. It’s either that, or STB must have the best bomoh‘s (Sherman) in town coz the rain stayed away during the biggest day of the Rain-fest, which would be that Saturday, 11th July.

World Craft Bazaar 2009

Being total virgins of the Rain-fest, Amiey and I quickly appointed Mike to be our personal tour guide. After all, he was very, very familiar with the tourism industry, so he must know a thing or two on giving a tour =D Well, we were right, coz Mike acted as an excellent tour guide, telling us about the 8 green cans he would need that night, and what goes on during the rain-fest. We even enjoyed the Rainforest World Crafts Bazaar which highlights crafts from South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Poland, Iran and Afghanistan.

Workshop at the Iban Longhouse

When that was done, we went on to the SCV Restaurant for the Bloggers@RWMF’09, and later headed on to one of the workshops (Mike wanted to go to the Iban Longhouse, so we ikut ‘tour guide’ la). This is the part where we were suppose to learn a thing or two about the performers, and also get to know new things on music, but the place was too darn packed, and I could hardly figure out what the performers were trying to say. It’s one thing to put up with the accent (and sometimes limited English) the performers had, but I guess the major culprit would be the sound system which was not loud enough, despite the huge crowd.

Amiey, getting herself tatooed.

Anyway, I tried my best to catch whatever I could on the workshop, and later we made our way out of the long house to go and see Norman at Lim Kok Wing’s tattoo booth. We were all thinking, “H1N1 scares people, so when the 2nd workshop starts, we’d have a place…“.. but NAahhh!!! WRONG!! 2nd workshop was a hit! The long house was full, and we had no place to sit and so.. after a short deliberation, we all suggested that we should get a tattoo. Well, although it was an airbrush tattoo… it still is a tattoo, right?? =P We really.. REALLY.. extremely wanted to attend the 3rd workshop!! BUT, get tattoo first, workshop later =P

Mike with Christian with Korean girls..

It was almost 4pm, and Fahriee was the only one left to be tattooed. After Amiey, it should be him… but then.. some fat ‘friend‘ of Fahriee simply sat on the chair, and asked the tattoo guy to do her’s first. I’m sure Mike was going “What the…“, but I guess he calmed down when he saw some Korean girl’s a meter away.. hahhaa… Since Fahriee’s ‘friend’ cut line, so we missed the 3rd workshop. Disappointed, Yes.. there’s always next year.

Jouhiorkesteri of Finland was renamed Harry Potter's group by the crowd

The next hour was filled with us moving up and down the village, aimlessly. When we got tired of that, we decided that it was camp time. Mike and Fahriee booked a perfect spot for us to watch the concert, but we ended under-utilizing it. Thankfully, Keeman and Looi Chin found it to their liking and stayed there for a good portion of the Rain-fest concert.

The group from Portugal which was a total blast!

Despite the muddy field, it was a memorable day. Christian and Ame joined us for the camp, and we found all six of us grooving to the foreign music on stage. The atmosphere was fantastic, and despite some drunk men (and women), the situation was under control. My favorite band wound be the last one, which is known by the name Dazkarieh. I don’t know whatever they were singing about, but their music is just fantastic! If there is a band I’d really appreciate that night, it was them, music wise. Other performers were also great, but The last few were more memorable.

Jeff & Vida from USA proved to be a hit also

Despite the whole event being nothing short of fantastic, I think STB could improve on certain things. One must be the mud at the main stage. It was dangerous jumping and dancing as it was very very slippery. Putting pebbles would remove the natural field, but I think STB could ask SCV to make proper underground drainage so that the mud could dry up faster. Second would be bathrooms. At some point, water was not available in the washrooms. Long queues were observed to washrooms made up for women. I say, increase the number of washrooms, and ensure continuous water supply. Third, provide a better place for the workshops. I felt the performers conducting the workshop should be stationed at the end of the workshop so that visitors could sit down and watch them face to face, instead of looking at them from the side, and only a handful looking at them from the front. The sound syetem should also be improved to avoid people going “Uhh??“.

The 'geng' dancing away...

Anyway, I think the whole event was close to perfect, and I think my RM90 was worth every cent. I thank STB for providing special passes for the event, and SCV restaurant for allowing us to use their restaurant as a meeting point. Other than that, it was a fantactic and memorable day, and I bet.. I’ll be there again next year!

Sleeping Beauty...

To Mike.. try again next year… Arigato. hehehe

19 COMMENTS

  1. Great post bro! Had me laughing at the “friend” part…and yeah Dazkarieh is the bomb! Downloaded a few of their songs already, though I wish I could find the songs they played that night..I liked the heavy distortion they added to their instruments..

    [Cyril]
    Share-share tehir songs?? hehehe.. Piracy rocks!! Glad you like the post bro!! It was fun to write.

  2. Was the gathering sponsored by STB? I wrote to STB months earlier – no answer. I was hoping to represent Bintulu. Kinda sad, STB didn’t bother about us in Bintulu.

    [Cyril]
    Actually, it wasn’t Calvin. They provided us with discounted tickets only. If you are interested, maybe next year we can join forces. I’m thinking of making next year big, as in asking STB to be more involved.. if that is possible anyway.

  3. I missed Dazkarieh!!! boohoo…

    Ok, I will be the first to say yes for Bloggers@RWMF10….*fingers crossed*

    Anyways, nice to finally meeting you guys.
    Btw, Sabah Bloggers will organize our 3rd Bloggers Meet tentatively on Halloween Night. Maybe it will be even merrier to have you guys around. Interested? 😀

    [Cyril]
    In the making..hehehe.. now already planning small small details =P I’ll make it a point to bring it up to those whom attended bloggers@RWMF’09 first if next year materializes. Well, I am hugely interested, but tiket kapal teda org bayar.. plus kerja and memang pokai udah. Maybe next time *cross fingers and toes*

  4. Haha. Can share, but like I said, I was hoping to find the version they performed that night. Maybe someone would find it? :p

    [Cyril]
    Post it up on the net. I’m sure someone would have it..

  5. btw…wud like to congratulate you for making the gathering a success.
    without your effort (and your team), no matter how small the attendees turned up..it was still a success.
    until next year!!!

    [Cyril]
    Yeah.. hoping for next year.. hope we can all have more fun next year.

  6. hey there, now u know why i am the loyal fan of RWMF.. haha.. btw, i saw u that day but dr jauh la..

    [Cyril]
    Loyal eyh? So didn’t miss any RWMF so far la? Em, You should have said ‘hye’ Didn’t see you.. Busy with my tour guide..hahahah

  7. Hi! You can find the songs they performed on the last album Hemisferios (Hemispheres). You can listen at http://www.myspace.com/dazkarieh or the website http://www.dazkarieh.com or maybe you can download the cd somewere.
    You can also order it of their website I guess.

    Hugs from a Dazkarieh fan too! 😉

    [Cyril]
    Thanks for the links man. I definitely will check them out. But I really prefer to listen to them live. They are just awesome!

  8. Wow… so nice..

    I’m planning to go next year instead.. hopefully no more wabak that time 😀

    Glad that you all enjoyed yourself there 🙂

    [Cyril]
    I’m crossing my fingers you can make it next year! =D

  9. Cyril 🙂 Regarding the question you asked me on my page…

    The place is actually a house lighted up beautifully. You can see it from the road coming down from Chong Lin park because it is next to Chong Lin park. The food’s pricing is pretty standard. RM 9 for your soup. RM 20 for your fish and chips sort of thing.

    Regards to Miss Amiey Alen!

    [Cyril]
    Thanks for the info!! Well, I’ll try to check the place out. Hopefully soon. Now kinda broke, so just play masak-masak at home la.. hahhhahaa

  10. hukhuk nda pasal2 aku masuk dalam gambar ni 😛

    Nice meeting you guys, maybe next time we’ll get to chat a bit longer 🙂

    [Cyril]
    Hahaha..mestilah… kan ko ada datang itu hari. Yeah, maybe next time we can chat a lil longer. Too bad your shift co-inside with the gathering.

  11. tsk tsk.. sorieee guyss.. i was kinda late dat saturday.. friday was a blast for me.. hang over. hang over.. 🙁 so so so so sorie.. i came about 4pm the other day then missed out on all the workshops.. then was soooo tired.. and missplaceddddd my phone.. 🙁 uhhuhu..

    so glad that the gathering was a successs…so sad that i was not there….

    the aftermath… flu..cough..fever… kill me.. huhu.. am finnallyyy fine today… a week of rest was still not enuf…

    apologize again guys… sowieee!

    and lookin forward to a sober me for bloggers@rwmf10!!!! 🙂

    [Cyril]
    Well, hopefully next year Mira (cross fingers)… next year, we are realllllyyyy hoping for Bloggers@RWMF’10 =D

  12. Hi there… mm, i agree with you.. the RWMF was a blast.. i also went there with my classmates.. there were 13 of us including our lecturer. It was great. i’ll surely be back for next year’s fest.. and did you wear the mask? i guess it won’t help much but anyway, my group wore that..haha.. and you know what, every night of the concert, my group always stand at the very front of the stage.. (^o^).. what a view.. anyway, nice blog.. keep it up.. (^o^)..

    [Cyril]
    Thanks for the compliment. Ehh.. you went with your lecturer?? How cool can that be!! OOoo. so it was you guys standing in front and asking for ‘more’ =P

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