Guests-of-honour and special guests pose with performers (in the background). — Photo by Muhammad Rais Sanusi
KUCHING: Hundreds of people from all walks of life had a delightful night at a charity concert – ‘The Sounds of Music 2.0’ – held at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching last Saturday.
Award-winning band SM Sains Kuching Wind Orchestra (Sainsku Winds) kicked off the event by performing five pieces of music in a row.
The band won a gold medal, two ‘Most Improved Orchestra’ awards and the Division Two Championship at the 2009 National Wind Orchestra Festival.
After that, internationally-acclaimed violinist Nisa Addina Taufik, who won the Junior Grand Champion Instrumentalist at the World Championship of Performing Arts in Los Angeles, USA in 2011, staged a solo performance.
Nisa, who has showcased her talent in Paris, Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia, then had a joint performance with South Korean artiste Choi Sung Bong.
The duo awed the audience with two songs – ‘Getaran Jiwa’ and ‘I Pray’. Many could not help but bring their hands together for Choi as he presented the Malay song.
Choi was the first runner-up in Korea’s Got Talent 2011. He has performed with Paul Potts in London and recently with Psy in South Korea.
He also had a solo performance that night before the South Norfolk Youth Symphonic Band featuring Nisa took over the stage.
Formed by Michael Booty in 1974, the world-renowned band performs up to 30 concerts on an annual basis.
They have toured Germany five times and Southeast Asia including Singapore, Borneo and Thailand in Aug 2008.
Notably, the band successfully performed in a landmark concert here together with Sainsku Wind Orchestra featuring Nisa in 2012 when the charity event raised RM1 million.
Thanks to the success of ‘The Sounds of Music 1.0’, two halfway houses were created for rural folks accompanying their family members to receive treatment at Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) and Sarawak Heart Centre.
In acknowledging the support of all, co-organising chairperson Datin Patinggi Datuk Jamilah Anu said the charity concert would not be a success without generous donations and individuals who were present.
The Sarawak Heart Foundation, she said, was initially to sponsor heart patients who were financially constrained for treatment in Singapore.
It also engaged heart specialists from Singapore to treat heart patients in Sarawak, added the chief minister’s wife.
“With the setting up of the Cardiac Unit at SGH in 2001, the foundation then turned its focus to educating the public on the dangers of heart diseases and its prevention.”
Jamilah disclosed that the foundation has donated more than RM10 million worth of equipment to upgrade the cardiac unit over the years.
The donations, she said, had benefitted the patients directly besides raising the stature of Sarawak Heart Centre to the forefront of the treatment of heart-related diseases.
“Tonight (Saturday), I am happy to tell you that the foundation’s efforts all these years have added another feather to its cap. The Sarawak Heart Centre is being designated as a training centre for the running of the Fellowship Programme of Cardiothoracic Surgery by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.”
She termed this as a major milestone for the centre.
She also thanked caring citizens and corporations such as Plaza Merdeka Holdings Sdn Bhd as well as the South Norfolk Youth Symphonic Band, Sainsku Winds, Nisa and Choi for bringing the concert to city dwellers.
Before concluding her speech, Jamilah took the opportunity to invite all to the foundation’s next event ‘Walk-A-Mile’ to be held at Stutong Park here in conjunction with World Heart Day 2016 next month.
Head of State Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud and wife Toh Puan Datuk Patinggi Raghad Kurdi Taib were the guests of honour.
Also present were Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem, Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Masing, State Secretary Tan Sri Datuk Amar Mohd Morshidi Abdul Ghani and State Legislative Assembly speaker Datuk Amar Mohd Asfia Awang Nassar.