Some of the festival-goers dance to the traditional beats being played at the Jungle Stage of RWMF 2019.
KUCHING: The three-day Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF) 2019 kicked off at Sarawak Cultural Village (SCV) here yesterday with a myriad of interactive activities for the visitors.
On the first day, they were treated to series of performances, mini sessions, tutorials and culture-sharing sessions conducted by various performers coming all the way from Ireland, Russia, Madagascar, Chile, Canary Islands, Morocco, Scotland and Vietnam.
The SCV was divided into multiple sections including the ‘Ingenious Stage’, ‘Theatre Stage’, ‘Jungle Stage’, ‘Tree Stage’ and ‘Rainforest Music House’, to provide platforms for the performers and artistes to interact with the festival-goers.
For this year, the concept of ‘Responsible Tourism’ is being incorporated into the RWMF – 20 water dispensing machines have been stationed throughout the festive ground to reduce the usage of plastic water bottles.
“That’s the reason why we have all this water dispensers. We encourage visitors to come and bring their own bottles. As much as possible, we try to avoid generating too much plastic (waste),” said Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Sarawak Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah when met by reporters yesterday.
Abdul Karim also said the private sector should work closely with the Sarawak government in efforts to inculcate more environment-friendly practises in the people towards creating a sustainable future for Sarawak.
The first day of RWMF 2019 concluded with a lively performance by Macka B, a British-born Jamaican reggae artist and performer, at The Big Tent in SCV.
The annual RWMF is an international music festival that celebrates the diversity of world music – ranging from traditional to contemporary.