Greening the Rainforest World Music Festival

My RWMF cloth bags are often commented on at my veg market

When in Malaysia (Kuching, Sarawak) I have planted trees as part of their ‘greening the festival’ programme: and helping cut my carbon footprint too. This tree-planting ceremony – at all local festivals -“helps make Kuching a livable city” I’d been told.

Once again at the Rainforest World Music Festival (20th) #RWMF I find they have found another way to green the festivals by making great bags out of the previous year’s banners! Excellent recycling.

reusing old banners to produce bags help reduce rubbish

Malaysia often receives bad press for destruction of native forests and planting oil palm plantations, so it cannot be easy to convince the often cynical foreigners they want to “take care of our environment”. It’s heartening to note that the Sarawak Tourism Board has taken the government’s eco campaigns seriously. After all Sarawak is proud of having the world’s’ oldest rainforest so they need to care for it on behalf of the world.

Here’s another story I wrote about me planting mangroves at another RWMF festival.

I got to the 20th music festival a day too late to plant trees this time – if I get to the 21st RWMF I will make sure to be there in plenty of time to dig a hole or two for a tree 🙂 🙂

17th annual Rainforest World Music Festival is bigger than ever

The Rainforest World Music Festival  has begun and this 17th event (#Sarawak, #Borneo) is the biggest so far.
* 22 bands
* 190 performers
* 27 workshops

The tree stage has been enlarged; a 3rd stage has been created as the ‘the theatre stage’ and this indoor, seated, more chamber music style, will have 2 bands performing each afternoon.

Another first is the RWMF Community Drum Circle which will be for an hour each late afternoon: I’ll check it out tomorrow!

Tonight the groups I’m particularly interested in are:

Kalakan – Basque country
Karinthalakoottam – India
Son Yambu – Cuba/UK

Will get back to you about the groups on my return to New Zealand!

Interviews with some performers about to start

Reducing my carbon footprint: greening the music festival

Heather with her tree’and Kuching North City Commission’s Deputy Director, Kartina Zamhari

Within twelve hours of arriving in Malaysia (Kuching, Sarawak) along with 200 others, I was planting a tree as part of the ‘greening the festival’ programme while also helping reduce our carbon footprint.

Here for the Rainforest World Music Festival for the first time, it seems this tree-planting ceremony is in its 3^rd year and “helps make Kuching a livable city” said the CEO of Sarawak Tourism Datuk Rashid Khan.

Although not essential, it seems traders at the festival are “encouraged to use green products and practices so the event is not only successful, but also to leave a lasting eco-effect,” he continued.

No doubt, like most international festivals this will soon become a need to get a licence to be part of the #RWMF which is set in the Sarawak Cultural Village.

The 150 trees we (school children, musicians, journalists, concert promoters, travel writers, along with local officials and politicians) planted – in the Government offices lake compound area, Banguan Baitulmakmur – are the Golden Shower (Acacia Fistula). Evidently, over the past few years, some 2 million trees have been planted across Sarawak in events such as this: ‘We try to plant three trees for every one cut down’ someone said, ‘although it’s not always in the same area.”

Datuk Gramong Juna digs a hole for his tree, watched by Kuching North City Commission Deputy Director and Datuk Rashid Khan CEO Sarawak Tourism Board

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Malaysia often receives bad press for the destruction of native forests and planting oil palm plantations, so it cannot be easy to convince the often cynical foreigners they want to “take care of our environment.”

“Come back and hug your tree” we are encouraged by Assistant Minister of Tourism, Datuk Gramong Juna, who said they are “trying to do good deeds to our mother earth, to take care of our environment. It’s heartening to note that the Sarawak Tourism Board has taken the government’s campaign seriously. ”

The minister continues, “We are proud to have the world’s oldest rain-forest that we have custody over. We are serious at promoting Sarawak as an eco-destination – this beautiful land where adventure lives.”

A beautiful setting for “my tree” to grow!

Arriving in Kuching a couple of days before the Rainforest World Music Festival I was, for one day, able to join a group of international concert promoters and journalists who were in the city for their first world music business conference and expo. It seems this was successful for many of the artists featured with their diaries filling up with dates to perform in other places.

The consensus from knowledgeable music people there (and I’m not one of them!) seemed to be that the local, traditional, music scene was creatively rich but needed support to present themselves professionally and that this expo, and the contacts made, will advance that. Good luck to them all!

 

 

 

 

Note, talking culture; the letter K at the end of a

Malaysian word, such as Sarawak, is always silent!

Magical Malaysia – Sarawak & Sabah

Today is my last day traveling in both Sarawak and Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, and it’s confirmed that Malaysia is my favourite Asian country.

For eight weeks I’ve been at such diverse events as the Rainforest World Music Festival in Kuching and attended the Sandakan Memorial service, and traveled to the Tip of Borneo near Kudat; I’ve been to many national parks; seen bearded pigs, proboscis monkeys, a pygmy elephant, the worlds largest flower, many birds, and of course, orangutans.

Despite this I now have a list of places I’ve yet to see so they are now on my ‘Borneo Bucket List’ file.

So, for more about magical Malaysia see my blogs (use the search box on the right) and for up-to-date information, use the links above, and make sure you get emailed  my blog updates (top right of this page) as, as soon as I get home and unpacked, the blogs, the photos, and articles will start flowing – the book will take longer! ( Do you have suggestions for book titles? Please.)

PS Don’t forget to like me on Facebook,  Google+. & Tumblr, etc and recommend my blog to armchair, or actual travelers. (I’ll add the inks to those pages when I’m back in my office with my familiar systems)

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