At Adau brings Sarawak to the world

IT’S one thing to believe in yourself, quite another to have the drive to make your beliefs a reality.

Experimental world music band At Adau is currently one of the hottest up-and-coming local music groups in Sarawak.

If you have been fortunate to catch a live performance by the group, it’s not hard to get caught up in their infectious energy and style of music. As the numerous comments and videos on their active Facebook page suggest, they are winning the admiration and hearts of music fans wherever and whenever they play.

However, make no mistake, At Adau has worked very hard to get to where they are now and they have a very clear vision of what they want to achieve – to become Sarawak’s music ambassadors to the world.

At Adau consists of Ezra Tekola (sape), Jackson Lian Ngau (serutong, dununba, rain stick), Meldrick Bob Udos@Andrew (drum, cajon, djembe, percussion), Ju Hyun Lee (also fondly known as Juju) who plays the conga and djembe, Alfonso McKenzie (bass guitar) and Cerdic Riseng (guitar).

Recently, thesundaypost met up with Juju and Alfonso to find out more about the group and their music.

 

Determined to succeed

The core of the group first started with Jackson, Bob and Ezra who were friends who liked the idea of fusing modern music with traditional instruments. Other members came on board later.

Since the group was officially founded just two years ago, they have performed at more than 30 events, gigs and functions.

One of their most challenging gigs to date was for Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) during the latter’s ‘Sarawak Week in Singapore’ campaign in May. The band performed three times daily over the 10-day period – 30 times in total.

“It was a really good time because we had the opportunity to play every three or four hours. It created stronger bonds and our music becomes tighter. We used the opportunity to generate more ideas, do something different and bring our own creativity to experiment on,” Juju said.

“Our music before and after got more refined. We really appreciate STB for bringing us there.”

Alfonso agreed, saying the experience reinforced his belief that the band’s music could attract more people to come to Sarawak. It also made him proud to be able to share his culture and music with the Singaporeans.

“I’m proud people accept this kind of music even though it may be something new because it touches their hearts. That’s the most important. Some people commented later they would go to Sarawak to explore more. So we achieved our objective. I want our culture to be promoted more to the world and I achieved my goal which is to promote more of Sarawak, especially my own roots,” he said.

Since coming back from Singapore, the band has been kept busy playing for a host of corporate and public gigs, including playing at a number of events happening in and around the recent Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF).

Come next year, At Adau will get to play on the RWMF main stage after winning this year’s Waterfront Music Fest 2016 band competition.

 

Serendipity

Performing at the world-renowned music festival will be a dream come true for Juju, the only female member and non-Sarawakian in the band.

The native South Korean first met future band mate Bob during the RWMF in 2013 when she was backpacking around South East Asia. They became good friends and music buddies. The following year, Bob invited her to a Hari Gawai celebration which was held at Lan E Tuyang, a homestay which belonged to Jackson’s family.

Two significant events took place that night — she realised how smitten she was with Sarawak and she was also invited to join the band.

“That night I saw (the beauty of Sarawak) for the first time. I witnessed how people really celebrated the festival together. Traditional dance, sape music, the sharing of food and drinks – everything was there. Whenever good music was played, people would stand up and dance, forming a long line. It was really beautiful and magical.

“That was the night I really completely fell in love with Sarawak. And that night, everyone (the band) was there and they asked me whether I wanted to join them because I played percussion. And I was really honoured, really happy to be a part of the group,” said Juju who is now based in Sarawak.

 

More than music

The band’s name itself is a combination of words from two Sarawakian languages. ‘At’ means ‘roots’ in Bidayuh while ‘Adau’ is the Kenyah name for a tree, traditionally used to make the sape, a stringed instrument which has come to symbolise the Orang Ulu culture as well as the culture of Borneo.

The group try to learn as much as they can about the traditional music forms as well as traditional instruments they play from experienced masters, especially from the older generation.

“We don’t have a constant mentor but we seek out the old masters and experienced people for guidance. We don’t want to give wrong information or present the culture wrongly,” Juju explained.

Most of the songs on the band’s first album called ‘Journey’ are instrumental pieces, influenced by Orang Ulu and Bidayuh culture and songs as their members are mainly Bidayuh and also Orang Ulu.

“We don’t really want to put lyrics, because we feel by putting lyrics, the real true beauty of the instruments’ sound, harmony and music progression can be hidden. People will pay more attention to the lyrics and also the idea of the lyric will restrict the minds of people from accepting.

“By fully making it instrumental with some chants, people can immerse themselves in the various emotions and will be able to explore these emotions so much more through our music without restricting themselves,” Juju said.

 

Changing perceptions

Alfonso, a Bidayuh, started learning to play the sape while he was in university, after being inspired by his first visit to the RWMF in 2006.

He admitted initially, he was not very interested in learning about the traditional instruments and music from his own ethnic culture until he and his bandmates got more serious about their music and started doing more research.

In the same manner that he has come to love traditional Sarawak music as well as music from his own Bidayuh culture, he hopes through the band to spread similar pride and love to the younger generation of Sarawakians and also to a wider audience who may not be familiar with traditional Sarawakian music.

According to the band, experimental world music can be an effective medium to not only introduce Sarawak to the world but also revive interest among locals in traditional Sarawak music.

“Experimental world music means we want to see how traditional instruments infuses with modern instruments. By doing so, we can better appreciate traditional instruments when we see how well they mix with any kind of instrument from around the world as people, especially the younger generation will say, wow, it is really cool.

“That way, the music will be accepted by people from different backgrounds, and they can really appreciate and start looking at traditional instruments in a different way and take the initiative to learn more.

I think that’s our main mission.

“So by going experimental, we want to show there’s no boundary we should fit in because music really has no boundaries. We want to bring traditional instruments to that level,” Juju said.

 

Healing power

On the reasons behind the band’s fast-growing fan base, Juju said being able to build a connection and rapport with listeners was more than just music perfection or playing with great skill.

“It’s just simple music we play with full of joy. Maybe it touches people, I don’t know. There are many bands who play traditional instruments and every music can open people’s hearts but I think different bands open up the heart to different degrees.

“All music touches people’s hearts but there is something one band has more than the other. It’s not about music perfection, how you learn music professionally, how well your music is arranged. It’s more than that and that’s what I really feel we have.”

The band believe in the selfless power of music to heal and comfort people – hence their mission — Music That Heals. It’s a bold statement but it’s something which their members have clearly taken to heart.

“Music transcends the boundaries of language, gender, not matter what the differences are. We have seen people struggling with no hope and living in desperation. Life is not supposed to be like that. Life we have from God, we have to live happily and we really have to help each other make this whole world a better place.

“We think music is the tool we are given to use. Through our music, we don’t only want to touch their hearts and make them happy but stir something to make that change,” Juju shared.

At Adau will be returning to Singapore to perform at the Causeway Exchange 2016 festival from Sept 9 to14. During this trip, they will perform at various locations, including a hospital where they will get to share ‘Music That Heals’.

“We are very excited about this,” Juju said, adding that they were also exploring opportunities to perform at music festivals in Thailand and South Korea next year.

To find out more about the band, visit https://www.facebook.com/loveatadau/ or http://www.atadau.com. They also can be found on Instagram under the username ‘atadauborneo’.