Sarawak’s iconic Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF) is back in its 23rd consecutive year from 10 to 12 July 2020, aiming to gather festival-goers from near and afar to experience a celebration of music, arts and culture.
The premier event will be held at the Sarawak Cultural Village with expansion of events at the Open Air Amphitheatre and Hero’s Monument, Kuching.
We are also pleased to announce that the RWMF 2020 line up will feature 56 bands, more than the previous years, from over 30 countries.
This represents 19% of the 195 countries coming to Sarawak, for this three-day music celebration.
Some new participating countries include Argentina, Cambodia, Cyprus, Faroe Island, Flores, Kurdistan, and Venezuela.
A fresh approach to this year’s RWMF will be the expansion of the event to the city, as a potentially permanent feature.
This includes the “Rainforest World Music Festival Fringe” at the Citystage from 3rd to 15th July 2020 and the “Rainforest in The City” from 30th June to 9th July 2020.
“This iconic festival which unites the different sounds from all continents, creates a great platform for our local music to shine, act as a wonderful and unforgettable ‘Ambassador’ for Sarawak, delivering the sounds of Sarawak in a big way, for the ears and hearts of music lovers, worldwide.
“We shall continue to enhance this pride of Sarawak which showcases diversity in music genres, cultures and heritage and offers interactive music tutorials, arts and crafts workshops among others.” said Sarawak Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, YB Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, during the launch of RWMF 2020.
According to Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) Chief Executive Officer, Pn Sharzede Datu Haji Salleh Askor, “RWMF 2020 is taking a unique approach for festival-goers to experience 4 core emotive states of being including: “Liberated” – to release inhibitions to the rhythm of the rainforest; “Loved” – let love transcend language, to meet many tribes and connect with new cultures; “Immersed” – be immersed in the event, and allow oneself to fully enjoy the experience; “Inspired” – Illuminate your imagination, satisfy your native spirit and reconnect with your roots; and “Entranced” – be captivated by colours, crafts and cultures from across the world.”
“The RWMF is a powerful platform that embodies the thrust of “Experiential Tourism”, to create unforgettable experiences for festival-goers to carry the experience and memories of Sarawak and the RWMF back to their homelands, with an embedded the desire to return, in the future,” she added.
“Sarawak has always been an advocate of “Responsible Tourism”. While celebrating all the music, culture and nature, we will continue to emphasize on sustainability and preservation.
“Our “Green Initiatives” will be a core aspect of the festival, which will advocate a “single-use plastic” practice and to eliminate the use of all plastic water bottles throughout the festival grounds, among others,” she added.
“While looking forward to this event in July, we remain vigilant of the challenge posed by the outbreak of COVID-19. Sarawak has taken steps to collaborate with our health authorities to strengthen our capacity to monitor and respond to this challenge.
“Some of the measures to be implemented include distributing face masks for free to everyone, placing hand sanitizers around the festival venues and offering health screening or thermal scans at the festival entrance besides giving precautionary information via various communication mediums.
“We will ensure that the Health Department and medical team will be on stand-by at the event venue. There will also be daily disinfection exercises carried out, working closely with the State Disaster Committee,” said Datuk Abdul Karim.
The RWMF 2020 is indeed the best gateway for music lovers to soak in the spectacular beats of local indigenous musicians and world-renowned musicians from many continents while indulging the senses in the heart of nature.
If you need tips on the RWMF 2020, check out what we have to share on the festival by tapping the link below.
For more info on the RWMF 2020 and pre-sale tickets, kindly visit https://rwmf.net/
