A sape player performing at the inaugural Borneo Youth Sape Festival.
THE mesmerisingly soulful music of the sape captivated Frenchman Julien Cottet when he first heard it some six years ago.
Despite being a guitarist with a good ear for the sounds stringed instruments, he finds the haunting twangy tones of the sape unlike anything he has ever heard.
Glowing with a burning desire to find out more about this so called ‘mystical’ instrument, Julien left his homeland and journeyed thousands of miles to the East — to the Land of the Hornbills. The 37-year-old left his lucrative career as an engineer to pursue his love for the sape.
“I left my country because I wanted to come here and learn to play the sape. Actually, about six years ago when I came to Sarawak to get some traditional tattoos, I met somebody busking in Kuching. He was playing the sape — and you could say I discovered the sape through him.
“Sape music is so soothing — it calms and relaxes the mind. I love it so much that I decided to settle down (in Sarawak),” Julien told thesundaypost at the recent inaugural Borneo Youth Sape Festival in Sibu.
The Festival, the first of its kind here, attracted some 16 sape players from Sibu, Kuching and Miri — as well as foreigners.
What is so special about sape?
“Ah … you can feel it … it’s hypnotic and basically an instrument for healing. It’s kinda like an instrument you can find in India or Africa — an instrument for rituals.
“It produces a very captive kind of music for the mind — mersmerising and relaxing — and I love it,” he said.
Dancers performing to the music of the sape.
Different ball game
Julien said there is no comparison between a sape and a guitar, adding that although both instruments are quite similar, the strings and plucking (techniques) are totally different.
After playing the sape for six years, Julien feels he still has much to learn.
He learned the ropes from renowned sape player Jerry Kamit who has won several international competitions, and was part of the Malaysian team bagging eight gold medals and two special awards at the 2009 World Championship of Performing Arts in Hollywood, USA.
Now based in Kuching and married to a Bidayuh, Julien teaches sape class for over 20 students comprising Chinese, Malay, Iban, Bidayuh and foreigners (American and Japanese).
He is also a sape maker — a skill he picked up from the grandmaster of sape, Mathew Ngau Jau, a Kenyah who performed in Paris in 2008, and proclaimed a national heritage by the Tourism and Culture Ministry.
Is sape well-known in France?
Julien recalled five years ago when he returned to France together with his well-known musician friends, they did some recordings for an album and some other projects.
“I was invited to perform on the stage in France and the response was very positive. Everyone found the sound of the sape really amazing and was curious about the instrument’s origin. Where’s this piece of wood from?
“So, I told them it’s from Borneo, prompting their next question — “Where is Borneo?” Actually, the name Borneo seems very mystical to them. While they know it’s in Asia, they don’t really know what happened here, especially about the music,” added Julien who had also performed in London.
He wants to continue teaching and playing the sape and hopes to get more students and keep up the interests among sape enthusiasts everywhere.
He also wants to promote the sape by marketing it.
“As a sape maker, you don’t just sell the instrument but also make sure your buyers are interested in learning to play and will come to Sarawak
“Actually, it’s promoting Sarawak and its culture and music — the local industry — that’s my plan and I’m very happy with that.”
Alexander (right) with the winners of The Battle of Sape contest during Borneo Youth Sape Festival.
Exotic instrument
Saufi Aiman Yahya of Kuching is a professional sape player, who bagged four gold and one silver medal at the recent 21st Annual World Championships of Performing Arts (WCOPA), in California, USA. He said the sape is an exotic musical instrument to foreigners.
“What makes it good for tourism — we (Sarawak) are the only ones having this thing (sape) and it’s the only thing they want to see. The Americans, for instance, have never seen a sape before. Once, you play sape well, they will fall in love with it,” the 27-year-old regaled.
Saufi Aiman started learning how to play the sape in 2010 at Sarawak Cultural Village. He studied music at UiTM and athough a classical guitarist, he wants to play the sape to inspire the younger generation.
“As a music graduate, I have researched the sape, especially the techniques of playing it. Today, I’m teaching, playing and selling sape,” said Saufi Aiman, now based in Kuala Lumpur.
He brought the sape to the peninsula to promote it and is collaborating with The Guitar Store at Kuchai Lama, KL.
“We’ll be setting up a sape hub in KL — the first one in West Malaysia,” he said excitedly.
According to him, performers at the Borneo Youth Sape Festival were holding sape of different shapes, motifs and colours. This is beacuse the musical instrument is hand-made.
“The sape epitomises originality. People who make sape have their own creative uniqueness. That’s what makes the sape special compared to other instruments. The best part is if you play the sape, people know it’s associated with Sarawak.”
Organising chairman Alexander Frederick Diglin, who is also the president of Sarawak Dayak Youth Organisation (Pebedas), said the Festival focused solely on the sape.
“There are many festivals where the sape is only a part of them but in Borneo Youth Sape Festival, it’s all about the sape. In fact, there’s even a sape workshop and demonstration besides the Battle of Sape (competition).”
Saufi Aiman figured without sape makers, there would have been no sape in the first place. He wondered why there is still no machine to produce sape today.
“The government should play a big role in supporting arts and culture not only through dance and performance and festival. We need to look at our roots.
“This where the government can help. While there are government bodies that reach out to us on this matter, we still want to see how far the sape can grow in terms of marketing and economic value,” he added.
Origin of sape
“… once a man dreamed he heard a spirit play music. The sound was beautiful and he saw the instrument that produced the music. When he woke up, he thought over the dream and decided to figure out the instrument that produced such a beautiful sound. There were no strings then, so he used rottan, splitting it thinly to make a two-string instrument with. He tried to imitate the sound he heard in the dream. He then had a second dream in which the spirit came to him and taught him the proper way to make the sape and play different tunes with it. After that, he did not dream anymore.”
— (The Sape of Sarawak, according to Kenyah folklore by PM Kedit on Asian Traditional Performing Arts held in Tokyo, 1976. The Sarawak Gazette, Oct 31, 1976).