Lihan (centre) flanked by Lai (second right), Elizabeth (right) and others at a press conference held at Permy Mall Miri yesterday.
MIRI: The 2015 Baram Sape Master Kuala Lumpur (BSMKL 2015) will be held outside Sarawak for the first time.
BSMKL 2015 advisor and sponsor, Senator Datuk Lihan Jok said in a press conference held at Permy Mall here yesterday that the event will be held in Kuala Lumpur from Sept 4 to 5.
“This festival was introduced and held mainly to preserve and maintain the originality and uniqueness of Orang Ulu traditional music from Sarawak and Malaysia in general, at both the national and international level,” Lihan said.
He explained that the sape is one of the Orang Ulu’s identities and can become a tourist attraction for the state and Malaysia.
The festival is divided into two stages. The first stage is the launching of BSMKL 2015 in Permy Mall Miri on May 15, while the second stage of the festival will be the launching of the logo on May 16 in conjunction with 2015 Miri May Fest.
“There will be two school categories, namely the primary school category and secondary school category which will be held on May 16 at 10am in Miri,” Lihan added.
The second leg of the festival is the Baram Sape Master Award Night to be held on Sept 5 in Kuala Lumpur and would involve only the adult participants.
The champion, second place and third place winner of the Sape Master category will each take home RM3,000, RM2,000 and RM1,000 respectively.
As for the winners in the secondary school category, the champion will receive RM600, while second and third place will each receive RM500 and RM400, respectively.
“The champion in the primary school category will receive RM400, while second and third place will receive RM300 and RM200, respectively,” Lihan said, adding that all winners will also be given a trophy and certificate each.
“We hope that we will be able to make Miri the “Home of Sape” since the population of Orang Ulu in Miri is expected to reach 100,000 by 2020. We may not be economically strong, but we can create something out of our unique identity, tradition and culture,” he said.
Present at the press conference were Miri Mayor Lawrence Lai and Temenggong Elizabeth Deng.