Sharzede (fifth left) poses with members of At Adau and others.
KUCHING: Music is one of the platforms that bring people together; people turn to music to calm themselves and through music, are able to understand the lifestyle and culture of a particular country, said Sarawak Tourism Board chief executive officer Sharzede Datu Salleh Askor.
As an illustration, she said songs by the British band ‘The Beatles’ created a culture of rock music that started in the United Kingdom.
“Look at all the music, they created culture…this is one of the ways that we should look into to discover Sarawak, see what it has to offer, be it from culture, adventure, nature, food and festival, and music is one of them.
“You may call it music tourism. I love the young vibes of people here, who come with great energy and for us it is through this music that we are able to bring uniqueness of Sarawak to the world,” said Sharzede during the launching of ‘OBA’, a brand new album by At Adau at the Barok Room, here yesterday.
Members of At Adau.
On why Sarawak is different from the rest of the world, she said: “Because we have the culture, the people, the music…there is nowhere else in this world that has a Sape. Why aren’t we very proud of it? This instrument comes from Sarawak and if we are true Sarawakians, we should be proud of it.”
She added that through music tourism, visitors can discover Sarawak’s heritage, traditions and culture, making the local tourism industry sustainable.
“It will create a very good eco-system which is healthy for the state of Sarawak, and Malaysia for that matter,” she said.
Besides that, music tourism can be one of the ways to support young and budding musicians like At Adau, she suggested.
“I urge the band to be serious in promoting their ‘OBA’ album in whatever ways they can and STB will try to help as much as we can.”
Meanwhile, founder of At Adau, Jackson Lian Ngau (Lian), said the inspiration for the album came from the traditional musical instruments and the way of life of people in Sarawak.
“We have been touring with our previous album ‘Journey’ around the world, that inspired the song in the new album,” he said.
At Adau is a six-member band comprising Ezra Tekola (Ezra) who plays the 4- and 6-stringed sape, Lian on ‘Serutong’ a Bidayuh drum, Meldrick Bob Udos (Bob) the percussionist and drummer, Luke Wrender David who is on 4- and 3-stringed sape/guitar, Alfanso McKenzie (Fonso) on bass guitar and 4-stringed sape, and Cedric Riseng (Sidik) on guitar.
At Adau started as an experimental world music band in June 2014, driven by the spirit of traditional sape tunes blended with musical instruments from around the world.
The band combines the traditional Borneo sounds of sape and perutong with drums, percussions, electric and bass guitar, as well as traditional instruments such as djembe and dunun from West Africa, congas from Latin percussion, daf from Persia, bamboo rainstick and many more.
“At Adau experiments with the fusion of modern and traditional instruments to create innovative and timeless music,” Lian said.
The name ‘At Adau’ derives from the combination of words from two Borneo languages. ‘At’ refers to ‘roots’ in the Bidayuh language and ‘Adau’ is a Kenyah word for preferred tree used to craft the sape.
https://youtu.be/b_s5XPu7nKw
At Adau has been the music ambassador of Sarawak under the smart partnership they have with STB and also Malaysia Airlines.
To get At Adau’s album, visit their website at www.atadau.com or visit www.catsound.co