Metro

Wednesday July 25, 2007

Three magical nights of music

By LOOI SUE-CHERN

It was not called the 'Rainforest World Music Festival', but it rained and drizzled through the first, second and final nights.

The World Music Festival opened at the Penang Botanic Gardens’ Taman Kuari under a pouring sky on its first evening last Friday, driving many to seek shelter at nearby stalls.

The unpredictable Penang weather did not surprise most of the local audience. Thousands armed themselves with umbrellas, raincoats, jackets, mats and stools, ready to brave the bad weather for a night of magnificent world music.

Vibrant group: Narasirato Pan Pipers from Solomon Islands putting on an exuberant show.
The festival featured the most colourful cultures and unique sounds of 18 bands that came from various parts of the world, five of which were Malaysia’s very own.

Darsa opened the first show with beautiful traditional music from Sarawak while fellow countrymen from Malay Drums produced pulsating rhythms.

Young percussionists from Pe-nang calling themselves ‘Thunder-ing Drums’ also showed off their ‘thundering skills’ on Chinese wushu drums on the second evening. On the third evening, West Malaysian Asika opened with an entertaining performance of ethnic music.

Apart from the familiar rhythms, the audience were treated to the most enchanting and haunting performance of Tuva’s Huun-Huur-Tu. The Tuvan throat-singing quartet gave the audience something very unique to remember with their amazing overtone singing and music-playing skills.

Huun-Huur-Tu also showed the crowd that the traditional could blend very well with the modern. On the second night, they closed the show alongside Russia’s Malerija and put on an electrifying rock concert.

Non-stop action: A lively performance by African performers.
The bands from Africa provided powerful displays of vocals, dances and African percussions. Dressed in traditional outfits, the culture custodians from Dizu Plaatjies’ Ibuyambo (South Africa) and Farafina (Burkina Faso) brought a taste of Africa to Penang and gave the festival so much life.

The Narasirato Pan Pipers (NPP) from Are’ Are’ in the Solomon Islands was a friendly, good-humoured and lovable bunch. They even did a number that was normally performed by women.

NPP’s music director Donation Manu'asi said: “This pan pipe number is about scraping coconuts. Unfortunately, we do not have women with us here tonight to perform it.”

Afghanistan’s Ensemble Kaboul got the crowd screaming and cheering as if they were pop stars rather than musicians playing traditional Afghan folk music.

While Singapore’s Wicked Aura Batucada threatened to bring down the house with their highly contagious positive energy and very loud Brazilian percussions, Inka Marka and United Kingdom’s Mas Y Mas gave the show a hot Latin flavour.

Returning to the stage for a second round was American band Foghorn Stringband from Portland, Oregon. Clustered together in a small circle, the group of five musicians picked on the fiddle, mandolin, banjo, rhythm guitar and bass – giving the audience more old-time north-western American folk music with traces of Scottish, Irish and African influences.

Great fans: Bad weather does not seem to bother these fans.
Also performing twice at the music festival was Tammorra from Palermo, Sicily. The passionate Italian musicians with their tammorras, large framed drums with small bells, provided more beautiful and intense Southern Italian popular music.

The majority of the crowd might have been wet from head to toe but nobody really cared much about the endless rain and many continued to dance through the evenings.

The three-day festival, which was one of Visit Malaysia 2007’s main events, was organised by the Ministry of Tourism in collaboration with the Penang Tourism Action Council and Sarawak Tourism Board, and supported by Maxis Communications Bhd and MBF Cards (M) Sdn Bhd.

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