KUCHING: This year edition of RWMF is proud to host Oki Kano representing the Ainu (Japan) for the first time ever. Growing up in Japan, Oki graduated from the Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music. He moved to New York in 1987 where he worked as a special effects artist on film productions and returned to Japan in 1992. The multi-talented musician Oki never knew he was part of a “vanishing” race as many in the tribe chose to keep their h...

KUCHING: There is no doubt that Latin and music from the Spanish-speaking world is far outpacing many other genres on the world music stage. There has always been a Latin group thrown in the mix at the Rainforest World Music Festival and at the 22nd edition this year there will be two bands – La Chiva Gantiva from Colombia who will provide an insight into their roots with their sensual, upbeat, danceable and contagious music and Ana Alcaide from ...

RWMF 2019 is proud to present two very similar cultures but very different acts from the most South-eastern point of Oceania, the Chilean island of Rapa Nui and the South-western Pacific nation of Aotearoa (the Maori name for New Zealand). There is always a ripple of excitement going through the crowds when Polynesian bands from Oceania perform at any music festival around the world. Whether it is the exotic, beautifully sensual nature of the ...

Kuching has been awarded the status "World Craft City" by the World Crafts Council. The city has the reputation of being the hub and gateway to the crafts of the indigenous tribes of Sarawak and entire Borneo. These crafts are testaments to the wealth and diversity of their traditions and cultures in the forms of textiles, fibres, ceramics and wood. Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said t...