RWMF 2025 kicks off tomorrow with global line-up, green mission
Members of the local media fraternity pose for a group photo during a walkabout at the Sarawak Cultural Village to observe ongoing preparations for RWMF 2025. – Photo by Roystein Emmor
KUCHING (June 19): The highly anticipated Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF) 2025 is set to kick off tomorrow, promising an immersive celebration of musical diversity from around the globe.
Final preparations are underway at the Sarawak Cultural Village (SCV), where organisers, vendors, and volunteers are putting the finishing touches ahead of the festival's 28th edition, taking place from June 20 to 22.
The Sarawak Tourism Board (STB), organiser of the event, is leaving no stone unturned to ensure a smooth and memorable experience for festivalgoers.
Its team, alongside volunteers and vendors, has been working tirelessly on-site to ready the facilities and logistics for the thousands expected to attend.
A visit by The Borneo Post to SCV today observed workers setting up food and merchandise booths, finalising the main stage structure, and marking out visitor pathways around the festival grounds.
Technical crews were also seen testing audio and lighting systems in preparation for tomorrow's opening performances.
Meruked rehearsing in high spirits as they prepare to showcase their talent to the world. – Photo by Roystein Emmor
This year's edition will feature over 170 musicians from 20 countries, showcasing a wide range of world music genres.
Headlining the festival is the legendary Earth, Wind & Fire Experience by Al McKay, set to electrify the main stage.
Other international performers include Seppuku Pistols from Japan, Rob Ruha from New Zealand, The Paradise Bangkok Molam International Band from Thailand, and the Siberian-Russian group Otyken, known for their powerful fusion of traditional ethnic sounds.
Local acts will also take centre stage, including Sarawak-based groups At Adau, Meruked, and Buluh Berkocak, who will present their own renditions of traditional Bornean music in contemporary arrangements.
In line with its sustainability goals, the festival has announced that plastic beverage bottles will not be allowed within the grounds – part of a broader effort to reduce single-use plastics and promote environmental responsibility.
RWMF 2025 is expected to draw thousands of music lovers to the foot of Mount Santubong for three days of performances, cultural exchange, and eco-conscious celebration.
Technicians doing some final touches to the main stage. – Photo by Roystein Emmor Rainforest World Music Festival rwmf SCV
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James handing over his new book to the columnist during an outing. SARAWAK-born writer, heritage advocate and former business consultant James S.L. Yong has just added another title to his accreditation, a poet, by publishing his latest book called 'Rhyme & Reflection in the Rainforest – A Poetry Collection inspired by Life in Sarawak, Malaysia'. I was honoured to be one of the first recipients of this work, his fourth publication since 2003. James' previous works are 'E-Government in Asia' (two volumes: 2003 and 2005) and 'Padungan: History and Humanity in a Heritage Precinct of Kuching, Sarawak' in 2023. On Monday, I met up with the author, whom I have known since we became friends on Facebook more than a decade ago, but only met in person after he had returned and retired from his consulting career work in Singapore sometime in 2015. I reminded him that it should have been the 'Kai Joo Lane' book, which he had been working on for the past two years, that he should be launching. 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The book will also be on sale at this weekend's Rainforest World Music Festival in Sarawak Cultural Village in Santubong – specifically at the stalls run by Meritin Hotel and Telang Usan Hotel. James' latest book is a 106-page hardcover publication, now available for purchase. James' latest book is a very personal collection drawn from a lifetime of experiences from a happy childhood in multicultural Kuching, his late teenage years spent in England and a later career in management and public sector consulting throughout Asia. His influences, according to him, have ranged from nursery rhymes and Malay 'pantun' (rhyming verses) to Shakespeare, Seuss and poets like Pam Ayres and Brian Bilston. His book is divided into five sections: 'Kuching Then & Now' (which is also the forum that he has successfully promoted and administered on Facebook since 2017, and has attracted 90,000 followers to date); 'Sarawak History & Heritage'; 'Food & Festivals'; 'World Views'; and 'Personal Reflections'. He writes with a fluidity and such ease that the readers, in turn, are rewarded by what I would term as 'easy reading' in the same wavelength as those who love their music and songs listed under 'easy listening'. With his obvious wealth of experience and accrued intellect and various scholarly achievements one would have expected a writer more inclined to use bigger words and write in a more academically uppity tone, but no – lest you be turned away (or indeed turned off) by any such expectations. James writes for the everyman. That's the most difficult thing to do, which just shows how accomplished a writer he is. There are many pages, themes and subjects that would appeal to children; some to teenagers; and many more to adults – but they all dwell on topics and subjects close to our personal experience and would be of universal interest. Most of his poems and writings are on local people going about living their ordinary lives; there are history and geography, and there are topics light and heavy. I especially enjoy the ones about people's behaviour, the places and the food, the sights, sounds and personal recollections of Kuching through James' own experience which, although he is almost a decade my junior, does nudge at my nostalgic memory as well. The book is very well illustrated – the drawings by Gabrielle Lim are beautiful, albeit fundamentally basic, in colour and black-and-white, while the photographs are well selected and serve their purpose well. There are pictures on almost every page and besides being a treasure trove of personal anecdotes, the 3R book is a worthy gift for anyone from the age of 10 to 90. Yes, it's that good! I have my own personal favourite parts of course. I find his re-imagining of the popular song 'My Favourite Things' from the musical 'The Sound of Music' rather delightful. I can actually imagine children singing it on a stage at a school concert. Its opening goes: 'Belacan with Midin and Hong Boi for dinner, 'Lau Ya Keng porridge – always a winner, 'Kolo mee from a Sin Ban Chong stall, 'Madam Lau's Laksa, I'll savour them all!' Then there is a poem that he calls 'The List', which reminds me of what my sometimes OCD nature would inevitably be at work (truth be told, I've always loved and enjoyed lists). James has it down pat with his writing here: 'Many lists now govern my day, 'They smoothen life in countless ways, 'Ensuring that tasks are seen to the end, 'Fewer 'oops I forgot' emergencies to attend.' At a certain age, lists assist no end to ensure all appointments and tasks are met! James and his wife Jacqueline Voon with the columnist, seen at a recent event in Kuching. At the end of the book, on Page 102, James' epilogue 'Is that it?' gives us his own reflection on life in general, which echoes through my own mind as it poses the same old eternal question. It's a perfect ending to a beautiful work of poems by an accomplished writer. James founded the Facebook public forum called 'Kuching Then and Now in 2017, which serves as a living digital archive of Kuching's history and cultural memory and has attracted almost 90,000 followers to date. When not writing, consulting, travelling or pursuing his pet heritage causes, James can be found walking his five dogs, exploring the 'kopi' culture, or fine-tuning a stanza. His interests span history, travel, genealogy, theatre, music, poetry and tech gadgets – proving that life after corporate boardrooms can be both rich in reflection and satisfying in variety. I have no reservation to recommend his latest book to anyone who loves reading. * The opinions expressed in this article are the columnist's own and do not reflect the view of the newspaper. James Yong Kuching poetry Rhyme Sarawak heritage
