World Music Festival...

Well attended the world music festival at Quarry Gardens, (Taman Kuari) Pg. It was real fun although it rains like cats and dogs! Phew........ guess it takes a muscle or two to really be persistent in supporting the local event! Why they choose to organise it during the rainy season?!?

ENSEMBLE KABOUL - Group from Afghanistan, Its music is made up from different cultural sources – the Pashtuns and the Tajiks, the Uzbek, Hazara, and more. There are even Indian influences especially in the rhythms and percussion. Music was banned during the Taliban regime, but now the ban has been lifted, the music are once again being performed. But there are still problems of some instruments that no one know how to play.

Well, get a glimpse at the live show here....... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F89VTfieJs8

AFRICAN PERCUSSION - Group from Africa, they were singing and dancing, music were so lively that you can dance with them too. One of their most well known instrument – their percussion on tama (the talking drum), djembes and baras. The group has indeed made the crowd become lively and people start to dance with their beat.

Another highlight: INKA MARKA - from South America, a band of five young men whose music alternates between slow sweet and hauntingly nostalgic songs as well as lively folk dance music. They blow the panpipes as well while playing the string instruments. They are some among the incas, who still values their music, as they now resides in Australia.

Most Favourite band of the night, the Throat singers from Tuva, Russia; HUUN HUUR TU / MALERIJA. This will be a fusion of ultimate traditional culture with 21st century dance pulsations. The contrast is electrifying and mind blowing – both visually as well as aurally. I would shout out a big WOW..... and thumbs up for this group of people. They really made the crowd go wild! I thought I want to leave the concert earlier but in the end, we call for an encore and the band impress us all with the perfected and the most incredible vocal technique where they can produce 2 or 3 different layers of sound at any one time by one person.