Welcome back readers, sorry for the late update as Telekom Malaysia wasn't being so nice to me for the past few weeks.
First and foremost, I would like to thank Sarawak Tourism Board and Sarawak Bloggers for giving me the opportunity once again to cover this prestigious event. Borneo Jazz Festival 2014 is my third event coverage under Sarawak Bloggers umbrella.
First and foremost, I would like to thank Sarawak Tourism Board and Sarawak Bloggers for giving me the opportunity once again to cover this prestigious event. Borneo Jazz Festival 2014 is my third event coverage under Sarawak Bloggers umbrella.
Again this year I missed out on the Tree Planting Ceremony due to work commitments. The tree planting by the performers and media was held at Tenby International School which was located in Senadin, just outside Curtin University.
Later that day, At 2pm, was the Local and International Media registration at Lambir Hall, ParkCity Everly hotel where we were given the Media Kit and Media briefing. Briefing ended around 3pm and after that, we get to mingle around with other medias that we're covering that event.
Later that day, At 2pm, was the Local and International Media registration at Lambir Hall, ParkCity Everly hotel where we were given the Media Kit and Media briefing. Briefing ended around 3pm and after that, we get to mingle around with other medias that we're covering that event.
Around 6pm, we were brought to the Sky Garden in Meritz Hotel for Media Cocktail reception where we get to see the overview of Miri City.It was rather cloudy that day but it didnt stop us from enjoying the spectacular sunset. This is one of the reasons why I love Miri so much. I can never get tired of the sunsets.
The night ended with a souvenir presentation to the sponsors and performers accompanied by the Leleng Dance.
The official event day started early for us Media, attending the Press Conference. This year, STB included 2 new elements to the festival, which was a dedicated slot for the DJ and an acapella group. Previously, the DJ would be playing in between or during performance break but this year, the DJ would be hitting the decks for the after party (midnight onwards). The press conference ended around noon and we were free to do our own this until 5pm before we were brought over to Marriot for a press conference with the Minister of Tourism and a Sunset Cocktail reception.
With other bloggers and journalist from different part of the world.
The 1st night started off with the Chung Hua Brass Band performance playing to the tunes of oldies and modern song from different genres. I took the chances of walking around event ground, checking out the food stalls and merchandise booth as well.
Not long after that, the 1st performer for Borneo Jazz Festival 2014, Sarawak's very own jazz singer, Diana Liu. She sang a few of her chinese numbers as well as her english ones. She started off a little low on the beat and slowly increase her beats as the night goes by. Small sized lady with a very powerful voice if i may add.
Next in line was Mario Cononge all the way from Martinique which delivers a super energetic performance and got the crowd wooing. I just love seeing the energy that he brought along during the performance and how his fingers danced on the piano. He was basically jumping up and down from the piano seats, definately "in-the-zone" moment which is similar to guitarist opening their mouth wide open and making funny faces during their solos.
Coming back to our very own Malaysian group, the JunkOFunk. This group was one of my favourite group that night the moment they started playing. Jazz with a twist of funk (u gotta love funk). After the energetic performance by Mario Cononge, and this band playing right after that, the crowd just went from crazy to over the top.. I really felt like dropping my camera and joined the crowd dancing.
The last performance for that night was an acapella group, Vocal Sampling from Cuba. The moment they hit the stage, their first song really caught my attention. The sang Tian Mi Mi by Teresa Teng (call me old school but I love this song :P). Their performance just keeps going and their version of Hotel California really got the crowd.. Imagine that guitar solo, but in an acapella style. If you were there, I kid you not, it was eargasmic! hits you right on the spot! This group reminds me a lot of last year's group, The Nylons.
Day 1 didn't just end like that. Right after the main stage performance,its time DJ Roundhead to hit the decks and start rocking the crowd. Unlike previous years, this time around, the DJ was given their own slot instead of playing in between the groups. As usual, the crowd started off quite slow and by the time I was about to leave the event grounds, the Pavilion was basically packed with people.
Day 2 started with off with press conference in the morning and after that we were free to do anything we want until the event starts. The Sarawak Bloggers Team decided to chill at Seahorse Marina 2 which was nearby the hotel grounds with other medias. Accompanied by a few drinks and some evergreen hits, we got to talk about the current issues and gossips until we didn't realize it was almost the start of the event.
Rushed back to the hotel, cleaned up and we were welcomed by this lovely smile by one of our students, who was also one of the volunteers in that event.
Similar to Day 1, the evening kicked off with the performance by Riam Road Secondary School band, during their performance, I basically caught myself nodding and swaying left to right to their music. Accompanying that brass band was a majestic sunset over the horizon.
Back to the main course, the minute the sun was no longer visible, a group of men in their brightly colour outfit and head gear took over the main stage. It was the YK Samarinda from Indonesia! The minute he plays the "sape", im deeply mesmerized by the sound of it. But the highlight of the this group was the drummer and his solos paired up with some bass slappin by the bassis. what a way to start the evening eh?
Next up was Iriao from Georgia. Armed with their folk Georgian instruments, and amazingly powerful vocals, they rocked the crowd. Whoever said that traditional music is boring, you should come to events like this and after that, let me know how was your experience :P
When this group started performing, I was inside The Pavilion with fellow bloggers and I didn't pay much attention on what's going on stage. As I was slowly loosing focus on what my friend was saying and paying more and more attention to the sound coming from the stage, I told my friend to stop talking and said "listen to this guy. He sounds exactly like Michael Buble". That was the time I realized it was Anthony Strong from United Kingdom. I rushed out, got into the press-pit and started taking photos. If you were there, you would agree that he sound like Michael Buble. Anthony Strong has this very calm soothing voice. After his performance, its you can see the crowd starts to rush back stage and the artist booth to meet up with him up close.
Last one up for day 2 was the Brassballet. U know what they say, save the best for the last. The name of the band says everything about them Yes, dancing and playing instruments at the same time. This band was one of the group I was looking forward to see as I myself, plays the guitar and when I'm playing, there's no way I can move around as much as these group did. Even a tiny dance could mess up my chords (pretty noob eh?). This group pretty much used up the entire space on the stage with their "Micheal Jackson" moves. As the night comes to an end, all the performers was invited to go up on stage one last time and Jezza did the closing of the Borneo Jazz 2014.
But wait?! It didn't end up just like that. As part of the new changes STB made, apart from the DJ slots for both night, there's a jamming session with the bands at Ruai Lounge so you can choose between partying hard at The Pavilion or just sit back, relax and enjoy good music with the bands at Ruai lounge I didn't stayed up long as I was pretty much tired after being at the event ground since morning.
Before I end this post, I would like to make some "my point of view" comments on the event it self. In terms of crowd, the crowd was better then last year, the moment the event started, you can see the crowds starts to head to the stage and rocking it out. Sound system was very impressive but i still like the idea of the Live Feed cameras with booms by the stage as they have wider coverage. I was very disappointed with the lighting though. I couldn't take much pictures as the stage lighting, especially the blue,green and red is always on and it kinda spoils the picture..Especially the blue lighting. Most of the pictures, came out the performers looking like a character from the movie Avatar. Other then that, I can say this event was a really good one.. I would like to this opportunity to Sarawak Tourism Board, Sarawak Bloggers and the sponsors for making this event a successful one. I'm already looking forward for the next event, which is the Asia Music Festival.
More pictures are available in my Photo Album (Day 1 and Day 2) or you can drop by at my fellow bloggers that covered this event as well. Listed down are their blog links.
Pei Pei's Blog
LadyBird's Blog
Angelina's Blog
Abang Joe's Blog
Fabian's Blog
More pictures are available in my Photo Album (Day 1 and Day 2) or you can drop by at my fellow bloggers that covered this event as well. Listed down are their blog links.
Pei Pei's Blog
LadyBird's Blog
Angelina's Blog
Abang Joe's Blog
Fabian's Blog
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