This was my second event coverage under Sarawak Blogger and for someone who plays music, Music festivals are something to really look forward to and since this was the first time it was held here in Miri, I didn't know what to expect, what genre of music would be played or how the audience would be like. Thanks to Sarawak Bloggers and Sarawak Tourism Board, I was given the opportunity to cover the event under Media Pass. So in this my sharing and my point of view on the day itself.

As i was occupied that morning, i didn't managed to attend the tree planting ceremony and the press conference but I took the effort of coming early to the venue and see how things was going prepared before the actual event starts.

I arrived at the venue around 2pm and slowly people starts coming in to check out the booths,the logistics were busy with the instruments, the sound engineer was busy fine tuning the audio and visual equipment. Im impressed with Sarawak Tourism Board and EastWood management as there was so many things to do and everything was organized.

So after checking out the venue, met a few Radio Djs, Kiyoshi from Hitz.fm, Afick from Era and Daffy from Radio Brunei. Awesome people I must say! Chit Chat with them till it was around 4pm and after that Kiyoshi and Afick started to giveaway free 2 days pass to the festival, and us being the over-friendly bloggers, helped out.

As the sun sets, more and more people starts filling up the musical corridor,Bob Yusof took the stage and sang a few of his numbers. One thing i realized a bout Bob, He is much more smaller in real life then in TVs or pictures*hahaha*. His voice was superb and i love his quote which goes like this "musik itu tiada sempadan,dari mana pun kita, musik menyatukan kita" which translate to " Music has no boundaries, where ever we come from, music unites us". None the less, Bob Yusof is an all rounder, traditional music, pop, u named it, he can sing it.

First international band to go on stage was Soesah Tidour (Susah Tidur = hard to sleep) from Indonesia. Dangdut never sounded so nice till you heard it live. One of my favourite song played by them that night was Salome( Satu Lobang Rame Rame), i know it sounds kinda kinky in our language but I think it means something else*i hope*.. But the beat was catchy.. the song got stuck in my head for about a week.

Bringing the traditional music with a modern pinch was Tritha from India. Her music was something new to my ears, no its not the type of music you hear from the Hindustan Movies you watch on the weekends, Its very unique and at the very beginning of her show, i totally cant brain her music but after a few songs, u tend to get the vibe. To explain it here its totally impossible I must say, if you were there, you'll know what i mean. But if you weren't, too bad :P

Bembol Rockers with Kamal Musallam. I love this guys.. From the way they played their music, I can tell that their music was influenced by Elvis and talking about Elvis, U know its a taboo just to sit down and listen to it. U gotta get up and rock and roll! Double bass and semi hollow guitar to Elvis like music, what could go wrong?

Last performance of the night was Vstar from Korea. Who say u cant rock a modern song with traditional instruments? They played quite a number of Kpop hits such as  Nobody and Gee by Wonder Girls. They made a rendition of Let It Be by The Beatles which was totally awesome and got the crowd singing. And finally, they played one particular song that is well known all around the world and when you hear that song, u know its Korean. can you guess?   Check the picture below to find out. 

So for the 2nd day of the event, I attended the press conference  which started around 10am. After that it was free time so we decided to chill and checkout the preparations for the second day as it was a Saturday and we were expecting more crowds that day. As the sun slowly goes down the horizon, we can see more and more people coming in and checking out the booth, enjoying beer and good music..

Around 2pm, the Media was invited to attend the press conference with YB Lee Kim Shin,Mayor of Miri and Dato Rashid Khan regarding the future plans for Miri. The next big event thats has been planned for Miri is Country Music Festival which is going to be held on February 2014. They also mentioned that the country music festival would be an annual event and Miri will be the host for the event for the next 5 years.

Back to the main stage, the first band to perform on the second day was Mountain Wind Band which consist of 5 band members, playing country music. It didn't took that long before the crowd created a line and start a Poco - Poco dance sequence. 

Next up was another local Iban artist that goes by the name Melissa Francis. I've heard of her name but never really got the chance to listen to her music except during semi-drunk/totally drunk karaoke sessions back at the longhouse during Gawai or Christmas. Her voice really caught me by surprise as I didn't expect that her voice would go that high and still sounded good. 

Third up was the Starlets band. Yes, they performed on the second day too. Honestly, I didn't enjoyed the 2nd day performance compared to the first day. Maybe it was the song selection or my expectation was too high.

This is one band that I was looking forward to see was Fakhrul Razi and Camouflange. It was because I know the drummer and the keyboardist personally. I didn't knew who was Fakhrul Razi until I did some research when STB released the list of performers for the event and  I listened to one of his songs by the title "Salahkah Aku" and straight away fell in love with it. The best part of all was hearing him sing the song live. Literally just a few meters away from me. *hahaha..fan boyyy*

Up next was the Boy Thai Band. From the name you can guess where these boys came from. Delivering a super energetic performance and I can tell that the saxophonist was the favourite among the girls, judging on how the girls went crazy when he starts going down the stage, walking around the the musical corridor  engaging the crowd.. Some even took selfies with the saxophonist. That was something new..  One of my favourite performance by them was when the bassist starts to rap in Thai.  Although I have no idea what he said but it sounded gangsta. XD

The energy that the Boy Thai Band managed to transfer to the next performer, which was Anthony Dassan Yen Party. Indian music full of energy mix with over excited crowd and wallah! suddenly everyone knows how to do the Bhangra dance including me..Hahahaha..

 
And the last one to perform that night was Foxy Girls from Indonesia. First song that came out from the speakers was their rendition of Aku Yang Tersakiti by Judika. This song is one of my favourite song due to the lyrics. I can relate so much to this. Back to the main topic, Foxy Girls gave a superb dangdut performance paired up with the famous "gelek gerudi".  As the night comes to an end, double thumbs up to the performers for the memorable first ever Asia Music Festival.

Here are the main points that I would like to highlight during my experience as Media during the event.

• The distance between Media Center and the Main Event area is too far. Its really quite troublesome to move to one point to another point because of the distance.
• Limited Wi-Fi coverage. Usually I don't complain much on Wi-Fi coverage as I depend a lot on my mobile data but since during this event, my phone  was having issues with network coverage, I didn't managed to "tweet/instagram on the go" as Wi-Fi was only provided at the lobby area.
• Pit Pass - No security was seen at the pit area, public can easily go into the pit area without a pass and stay there as long as they want. We ended up asking the Schleppers to help up and asked the public not to enter the pit area as it was getting a little too crowded.
• Venue - I would prefer if the event was held in an open area similar to Rainforest World Music Festival and Borneo Jazz Festival as I find it quite scary/unsafe to organize an event on a floating platform. When the crowd starts jumping, I can feel that the entire platform was wobbling. 

Apart from those 4, i can still say that Asia Music Festival was a great event. As it was the first ever, there's still a lot of rooms for improvement for the event. Once again I would like to thank Sarawak Tourism Board and Sarawak Bloggers for this opportunity to cover this event. Looking forward to cover more events in the near future.


As for pictures,you find them HERE and HERE.

And finally.....

V.STAR, a young South Korean female group who were finalist in KOREA’S GOT TALENT of 2012 will be performing at the Asia Music Festival to be held on the 4 & 5 October in Miri, Sarawak.

This band has gained a reputation among the emerging South Korean young bands. Their style can be identified as the new traditional Korean mixture, as they play their music using traditional Korean music instruments, whether in original compositions or through new arrangements of famous Korean and Western covers. Their style is thus based on merging both Gugak traditions (Korean ethnic music) and modern sounds.

V.STAR comprises Gwan Jihye, playing the traditional Gayageum (Korean zither, modified into twelve strings), joined by the percussionist Kan Keun Hwa, playing Janggu (double headed drum with a narrow waist in the middle), Heejin Park playing the Daegeum (Korean flute), and Ellie Kim singing Pansori (Korean dramatic melodies), Ellie also plays a second Gayageum and the  keyboards in some shows.

The inaugural Asia Music Festival (AMF) will showcase no less than 15 really talented Asian artists. V.STAR will also feature Kamal Musallam, a prominent Middle Eastern artist. The partnership between Kamal and V.STAR has resulted in beautifully merging the traditional Korean music within a rich musical context full of elements from Asian music, Jazz and Rock and much more. All to bring the music to another Fusion level. The two groups of artistes wanted to show the world the power and beauty of Korean Gugak and how it can communicate with other musical traditions and styles.

Other than V.STAR band, the first edition of Asia Music Festival will also feature Bembol Rockers (Philippines), Anthony Dassan Yen Party Band (South India),  Orkes Soesah Tideor (Indonesia), Foxy Girls (Indonesia), Boy Thai Band (Thailand), Tritha (North India) and Fakhrul Razi (Brunei).

There will also be bands and singers from Malaysia and among them are Melissa Francis, Starlet Band, The Mountain Wind Band, Hevance Band and Sarawak very own Bob from the famous Malaysian TV program, Akademi Fantasia.

The tickets for the festival are now available from Sarawak Tourism Board’s offices or at its Visitor’s Information Centres in Kuching (+6082-410944), Sibu (+6084-340980) and Miri (+6085-434180). 

For enquiries, contact Sarawak Tourism Board at leisure@sarawaktourism.com or +6082-239171 or log on to www.asiamusicfestival.net and www.facebook.com/VisitSarawak for more updates.

Tickets are priced at RM30 per day for adult and RM15 per day for children or students aged between 3 and 18 years. Those below 3 years would be allowed in without charge.

Some of you might know that month (September), the first ever Asia Music Festival will be held in Miri. The inaugural Asia Music Festival (AMF) will be held on the 4th and 5th October 2013 at Eastwood Valley Golf & Country Club in Miri. It has been an arduous task for the organiser, Sarawak Tourism Board to select bands for this inaugural festival due to the tremendous interest expressed in this first ever Music Festival featuring only Asian bands. I am once again, honored to be given the task to cover this event under Sarawak Bloggers.

One of the bands expected to attract attention is Anthony Dassan Yen Party. Originating from Reddypalayam, a small town in Tanjore, Tamil Nadu, Anthony Daasan is a real folk artist. He is not just a singer for the group but also dances on stage, acts, juggle, does acrobatics and even plays a few instruments. He has his own style and wherever he performs, be it in international festivals all over the world or in villages, his unique style draws people to him.

Anthony travels and performs with his Band "Anthony in Party". The performances in their song and dance, which incorporates the Folk music of Tamil Nadu conjures images of the flowing Vaigai and Poigai rivers and of rich rice harvests brought into the granaries in carts.

Anthony usually sporting his characteristic bandana and urumi (a traditional double headed folk drum from Tamil Nadu) on a sling will always prove that he is the man of the show with his dance-music performance, cheeky onstage banter and infallible energy.

To enhance the music at the upcoming Asia Music Festival (AMF), Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) will showcase an award winning Indonesian band, the FOXY GIRLS. FOXY GIRLS is a vocal group that performs a unique genre, R&B Pop Malay and members comprise 3 beauties.

Foxy Girls band started off as a group of 4 girls or rather models who were trained as singers. However, the current members of the band have evolved and are now represented by Jessie, Moza and Jeje. The band has often performed in many events like product or hotel launches as well as events produced by private television stations.

The band have also won many awards namely the AMI Awards 2012 in the category of Best Group, Best Dance Production Work and Best R&B production work.

If you were a huge fan of Elvis, the Rat Pack, Louis Armstrong, Thelonious Monk and Plas Johnson or if you want to try something new, then check out the Bembol Rockers at Asia Music Festival (AMF) held at 4th and 5th October at Miri, Sarawak.

This band from Philippines formed since the Summer of 2006 consisting of Marc Liwanag on guitar and vocals, Lakshmi Kirtan das Ramirez on upright bass and vocals, Archimedes Archie Lacorte on tenor and alto sax, and Steven Hamilton Vasquez Mora on drum.

The music that they create, that is what making them so special. A lot of other bands tried to do jazz or rockabilly, but no one tried to combine these two types of music and that is exactly what Bambol Rockers do. A lot of music that they are playing are originals. They use the superiority of sound of their kundiman-rockabilly mish-mash and adds a element of Filipino pride.

But their main goal is to go back to the classics they all love and recover a new appreciation for it in light of today’s world. Their intention is to influence the younger generation to take a look at the past and see where their music comes from, to create a renewed interest in the Golden Fifties. Not just for the music, but the lifestyle, the dancing and the vintage attire, as well. They also want to make their mark on the Original Pilipino Music scene and help raise its level of artistry. They want to be remembered for music that is positive and fun.

Boy Thai Band developed a modernized Thai sound, by mixing western rhythms with the sounds of classical Thai music. Their music showcases Thai instruments such as the Thai xylophone (ranad), flute and Thai percussion but played with a very upbeat manner, fusing influences ranging from samba, bossanova and modern jazz. Within a very short period of time, this group of young musicians with different backgrounds succeeded in changing the common perception that traditional Thai music was conservative, boring and outdated. Their music became a sensation with younger Thais and praised by critics, who remarked that Boy Thai music “was the most innovative thing to have hit the Thai music scene.”

They have performed at many international music events in Japan, Italy, U.S.A., China, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand. One of Boy Thai’s original members, Sekpol Unsamran (aka Koh Mr.Saxman) has become one of Thailand’s most accomplished artistes and performed at the Borneo Jazz in Miri in 2012 and was a big hit with the crowds.

The band is made up of 6 talented musicians, Saranyu Suwannasoonthon (Saxophone), Paron Yuenyong (Ranad–Thai Xylophone), Pakee Navee (Bass), Ekkapong Saelim (Drums), Weerasak Hambubpaka (Keyboard) and Arnon Suttjaridjun (Thai Drums).

Melissa is involved in the music scene since she was 8 years old. She participated in the first singing contest in the Federal Territory of Labuan in 1994. She has won the second runner-up against several competitors. Melissa has attended to a basic workshop of drama, television, film and theater by FINAS and Saba-F production in Labuan Financial Park somewhere in 1997.

Melissa was also a singer in the group Hairee and Angelo. She was attached to the early establishment of this group in 2000, but after a while she stepped out of the group and became a solo artist in 2003. Since then, she continues to be a recording artist for a local record company. In August 2012, Melissa has set up her own company, which was called Platinum World Network Sdn. Bhd.

After 19 years of singing, Melissa received several awards for her dedicated work in this industry. Among the many achievement are the Best Female Singer (IBAN), Dayak Music Awards 2008, Winner of the Most Popular Songs SMS voting (Mutus Ati), Rhythm Champion Award Ruai, Cats FM 2012; Best Female Singer, Dayak Music Awards (DAMA) year 2012.

Melissa is scheduled to perform on stage at Asia Music Festival on the second day of the festival, Saturday 5th October at 5pm.

There will also be bands and singers from Malaysia and among them are Starlet Band, The Mountain Wind Band, Hevance Band and Sarawak very own Bob from the famous Malaysian TV program, Akademi Fantasia.Besides the music, there will be fringe events like the Big Bikers Charity Event, Tattoo exhibition and many more. It is set to be a weekend of fun, so don’t miss the excitement.

Join the upcoming Asia Music Festival. The tickets for the festival, priced at RM30 per day for adult and RM15 per day for children or students aged between 3 and 18 years are now available from Sarawak Tourism Board’s offices or at its Visitor’s Information Centres in Kuching (+6082-410944), Sibu (+6084-340980) and Miri (+6085-434180). 

For enquiries, contact Sarawak Tourism Board at leisure@sarawaktourism.com or +6082-239171 or log on to www.asiamusicfestival.net and www.facebook.com/VisitSarawak for more updates.

Welcome back for another round of DIY (do-it-yourself) post. This time its not a DIY on my own car but a friend's car. It was an honour to be trusted painting a set of rims and the steps was similar to the valve cover except its in a bigger scale and more complicated because of the rims design.


But before you start, please keep safety in mind. Always make sure the handbrake is engaged or use a brick, tyre stopper before you jack the car up and make sure you jack the car on a flat surface.

As for the items needed/ used, the list is as follows.

1. 3 tonne jack stand (1 pair at least.. but if you have 2 pairs, even better
2. 2 cans of Hi temperature paint
3. 3 cans of paint (colour of your choice)
4. High pressure water jet.
5. 2 decks of playing cards (i'll explain on this later)
6. Sanding paper
7. Paint remover
8. metal brush (berus dawai)
9. other items related to removing the tires from the car.

I started the project on Thursday night, right after work. the owner drove over to my place and we took out the 2 front tired and start removing the paint. The rims was previously painted 4 different times with 4 different colours and removing the paint was an exhausting task.

After removing the tires, apply a generous amount of paint remover on the paint coating. Be extra careful not to get the paint remover on the tires as it can and might cause leaks. Leave the paint remover for a bout 3-5 minutes before removing it. You can choose to use water and the brush but it will definitely take some time. Since I have the high pressure water jet, we decided to use that. Repeat the steps on all four rims until you get a clean, paint free surface.

A close up view of the paint remover effect on the paint. At the end of the night, We only managed to remove the paint from the front wheels. Around 1130pm, we put back the wheels of the car and rested as we need to go to work the next day.

As I was on half day leave on Friday, I continued with the project around 3pm. Jacked the car up, removed the wheels and start applying paint remover to the remaining paint. After successfully removing about 98% of the paint, I proceed with the rear wheels. Lesta came to help after he finished work and around 6pm, I set up some lighting so that we can continue till late night.

somewhere around 8 or 9pm, Fabian came over with some food. We were so caught up and excited with the project, till we forgotten to eat. And not long after that, Raihanah came to chill for a while.

The makan buddies came to help out with the rims. And yes that a lady in the blue t-shirt.

We finally removed the paint off all the wheels around 1130pm and not long after that, a fellow friend called for happy hour. :P

So the next morning (Saturday) we started jacking up the car around 9am, removed all the wheels and started wet sanding. The purpose of wet sanding here is to remove the tiny bits of paints that was still on the rims and after the sanding, wash the wheels with dish washing detergent. 

Put the rims under the sun to dry it up and let the sun to heat up the rims. the paint dries faster this way.
 

This is where the playing cards came to use. To avoid paint spreading to the tires, place the playing cards between the lip of the rims and the tires. Apply the card until the whole wheel is covered. Another alternative of doing this is by using masking tape and news papers but that would consume a lot of your time.

As for these rims, I applied 3 thin coats of high temperature  paint and let each layer dries up for about 10-15 minutes. Flip the rims over and apply the same amount of high temperature paint on the rims.Once you are satisfied with the paint coating, apply the colour coat of your choice. As for these rims, I applied 3 layers of matte/flat black paint. 

Mari kita tolong menolong..

Once you are satisfied with the paint coating, apply the colour coat of your choice. As for these rims, I applied 4 layers of matte/flat black paint.  and like the high temperature coat, leave the paint to dry up before applying another coat of paint. And finally apply 2 even coats of clear paint. As we wanted retain the matte looks, we applied the clear paint from a distance- roughly 1 meter from the rims (if you apply the clear coat like the normal paint, you will get a glossy finishing)

Finally, put the wheels back on the car and you are ready to go!

Alright readers, this will be my first 'How To Guide: DIY" post and hopefully won't be my last. 

For this first DIY post, i'm gonna share with you on how I painted my valve covers. FYI, I have 3 valve covers in my possession up-to-date all painted by me. :D 

For this DIY, the tools needed is as follows

1. Spray Paint (the colour of your choice)
2. Masking tape
3. Paint remover
4. Brush
5. High pressure water jet/ pressure pump
6. Abrasive paper AKA sand paper (400 and 800 grit)
7. Gasket maker/gasket glue
8. Rubber gasket (optional)

First of all, remove the valve cover from your engine bay,(in my case, i purchased another valve cover from one of the Facebook page and got it posted over-no removal required.) and prep it for paint removal.. When i got the VC, it was already painted black by the previous owner and the paint had a few scratches and chips at the edge(I'm guessing that the previous owner didn't use high temperature paint as base coat and it has already been painted 3 time previously - red,blue and black)

To remove the old paint, I used this paint remover which can be purchased at most hardware store. Please be extra careful when using this product as it is extremely acidic. Use it in a open area where you have good ventilation and avoid direct contact with the liquid.

Apply the paint remover using a small brush and leave it for a few minutes until you see the paint start lifting itself from the valve cover. Remove the residue using flowing water or using a high pressure water pump/water jet. You may need to repeat the steps until all the paint has been removed from the valve cover.

Next step is to sand the valve cover using the 400 grit abrasive paper and prep the valve cover. cover all the holes that you do not wish to paint using the masking tape. and apply 3 even coats of high temperature paint as the base coat. I recommend using high temperature base coat as the valve cover tends to get hot and without the high temperature base coat, the paint will chip and cracks over time.

After the high temperature paint dries up, its time to spray the valve cover with the colour of your choice (I chose metallic purple). LIke the other valve covers i did previously, I applied 3 even layers of paint coat. Wait 10-15 minutes for each layer to dry. 

After the paint dries, I prepped the valve cover for another round of sanding. Taped up the side of the letters to protect the paint just in case you over shoot the sanding process. Using a flat block of wood wrapped up with the 800 grit abrasive paper, rub away all the unwanted paint until bare metal is exposed. I suggest you use the wet sanding technique. 

Finally, spray 2 layers of clear paint to protect the newly painted valve cover. Re-install the valve cover on the engine. Don't forget to apply gasket marker along the sides of the valve cover and the spark plug holes. If the valver gasket has hardened, replace with a new valve gasket which can be easily purchased at auto part shops.

the other 2 valve covers that I painted using the same steps as above. 

- the blue(top) has been resprayed to candy purple. Currently on my engine.

- the blue/gold broke when i got into an accident last year.

Hopefully this DIY project of mine can help and guide you with your valve painting project. Till next time! Chio~

Day 1 was extremely fun and i was excited for day 2 of the Borneo Jazz Festival. It was an early start for day 2 as we attended the last press conference at the Lambir Hall. I also took the opportunity to take some pictures with Suchen, the official photographer.After that, Raihanah, Eileen and I took our new friend, Rayyan Harries on a personal city tour and to get some Mee Pok (was suppose to bring him for Mee Kolok but unfortunately they ran out of mee kolok. Poor Rayyan.

So after brunch, went to Bintang Megamall for a little shopping and around 230pm, we were back at the hotel for the official media city tour. The main reason i wanted to go for this city tour was to visit the two temples(Taoist and Buddhist temple located in Krokop). Mind you, I was born and raised in Miri and yet I've never been to any one of these temples. So We boarded the bus at 3pm together with local and international media guests. 

The 3rd stop was Miri Handicraft Center. This was my first time coming here too. Like any other people, we tend to ignore what's behind our backyard.. At this stop I was surprised when I saw Ryuta (journalist from Japan) picked up a Sape and start tuning it and eventually played it. At first I thought he picked it up out of curiosity and just to get the feel but when he started playing, he sounded like he's been playing that instrument as long as he had been consuming sake.

The fourth stop was The Grand Old Lady.. It was a perfect sunny day that day and we decided to loosen up a bit and have fun.The Sarawak Bloggers together with Air Asia Travel Blogger having some some in the sun. 

The last stop was the Luak Esplanade but we asked the bus driver to drop us off at the hotel as we promised Rayyan to get some Lalapan for dinner. Went for dinner and after that we prepared ourself for another awesome jazzy night.

First up on stage for Day 2 was the Asian Jazz All Stars Power Quartet. Asia's top jazzmen coming from Hong Kong, Philippines  Singapore and Thailand. A mixture of old school and new school jazz as the appetizers. 

The second band that was performing that night was Hazmat Modine from the United States Of America. Based in New York and has been touring internationally for the past six years at in over 30 countries worldwide.(excerpt from Borneo Jazz Booklet). Earlier in the show, Gavin Hope from The Nylons made a special appearance with this band which made the night more interesting. 

Third Band for that night was Mo' Blow From Germany with their "Gimme The Boots" release concert. A band which describe as one of the hottest club band(by Berliner Zeitung) with soul and funk element added into the music. No doubt their performance was brilliantly energetic which got the crowd up and dancing in the rain.(yes it was raining.. it started off with a slight drizzle but towards the end of the night, it was raining heavily) . And one more thing, from certain angles, the saxophonist looks like Adam Levine. Seriously!

 The last performance that night wasn by Jump4Joy from Sweden. Their performance kept the crowd dancing in the rain. A high energy performance i would say. I know it got me tapping my toes and swaying my body from left to right.

After the latt performance, the night didn't just end up like that, the crowd proceed to the Pavilion to the after party with DJ Uno  of PopShuvit on the decks for 2 hours together with Dj DoubleD freestylin MC on the mic. The beat was too hard to resist not to dance along to. So I put down my camera bag and started dancing with random people till 2am. I guess I partied too hard till i didnt realize my tongue stud went missing.(no, no kissing was involved. I guess I must have accidently swallowed it.)

Well, thats about it. I must say my first time attending Borneo Jazz Festival is truly amazing and definitely an eye opener. For someone who always thought that Jazz is a boring genre, boy I was proven wrong. Very wrong.. For those who thinks Jazz is boring, please do attend Borneo Jazz Festival and like me, you'll be surprised with what jazz have to offer. If I were ask to cover this event again next year, without hesitation, I would say Yes! For those who missed it this year, don't worry, Borneo Jazz will be back again next year.

And before I end this post, I would like to say Thank You to Sarawak Tourism Board and Sarawak Bloggers for giving me the chance to be part of the team. 

p/s: If you wish to see more pictures, click on the link below :D
~ Facebook ( Day 1)
~ Facebook ( Day 2)
~ Facebook ( Behind The Scene)
or you can check out them out here.

First of all, I wanna say,Borneo Jazz Festival 2013 was the BOMB! A gazillion thanks to Sarawak Tourism Board  for giving me the opportunity to cover the event under Sarawak Bloggers  and thanks to Abang Joe and  Ladybird Eileen for your guidance.

As I mentioned in my previous post, this was my first time attending the Borneo Jazz Festival and at the same time given the chance to cover the event, I was very excited and nervous at the same time. I seriously didn't know what to expect. But I'm glad I was selected as one of the blogger to cover this event as it changes my perception towards Jazz music. All this while, I just couldn't take in Jazz music. Those who thinks Jazz music is boring, you should go to this event. I kid you not, you will never think the same way again. The amount of "feel" the performers put in their music was indescribable. Here are some of the photos I took during the event. (just teasers, the full album will be uploaded soon in the "Photos" tab)

Attended the Press Conference at Meritz Hotel together with members of the Media(local and international) on Friday (10th May 2013). The second press conference for the Borneo Jazz. The first one was the day before at Parkcity Everly Hotel.

Members of the media given a tour of Meritz Hotel by the Executive Chairman, Dato' Lau  Siu Wai. Seen in the picture is Dato' Lau explaining the infrastructure of the M Ballroom (Equivalent to one football field) which can cater up to 1,400 person at any time making it the largest indoor banquet hall in Miri

After the press conference and a short Q&A session with Datuk Amar Abang Haji Abdul Rahman Johari Bin Tun Haji Openg,Minister Of Housing, Minister of Tourism and YBhg Dato' Rashid Khan, Chief Executive Office, Sarawak Tourism Board, members of the media was invited to attend the cocktail reception at the Sky Garden Outdoor Dining which is located at Level 17 of the Hotel.

After the press conference and  media cocktail reception, we headed back to the hotel and prepare for the Day 1 of Borneo Jazz Festival 2013. I managed to spot Dato Rashid Khan at the ticketing counter as seen in the picture.

First up on the stage that night was West Jazz Band. Representing Malaysia! A local jazz band from Sarawak. One of my personal favourite that night. I just love how the present Jazz music with a Sarawakian twist to it. I never knew "liling" and "Semina Duduk Berimbai" by Anderson Ngalai can be Jazz-erzied (if there's such word). But nonetheless, I loved their performance. First band for that night to get an "encore" from the crowd.

The last band that performed for Day 1 was The Nylons from Canada. Another one of my personal favourite. This acapella group got the crowd dancing with their opening act "Spiderman! Spiderman!" in jazz and a pinch of reggae too. They also did a cover of "I'm Yours" By Jason Mraz which got the crowd singing together with them.. You can find a snippet of the vid from our fellow Blogger, Abang Joe, in his Youtube Channel here. They also did a cover of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", a famous soundtrack  from The Lion King. You can find the Youtube version of this song here but i guarantee you that if you were there to witness their performance that night, you had the time of you life.

The night didnt just end like that, after all the Jazz performance, the crowd went up to the Pavilion for an afterparty with DJ Uno  from PopShuvit spinning on the decks.

Thats all for my Day 1 Borneo Jazz Festival 2013 experience. Stay tuned for part 2 of the event. For now, gotta get back to editing the vids and pictures I took during that 2 days. Latersssss! :D

The long awaited Borneo Jazz Festival 2013 is just around the corner and I'm all excited! Its this weekend to be exact. Tonight I'm going to introduce to you more performers for Borneo Jazz Festival 2013! First up is Jump4Joy!

'Let’s literally jump for joy at Borneo Jazz 2013!. Yes there will be popular high-energy entertainment with a strong New Orleans flavour when Swedish band, Jump4Joy performs at the jazz festival this year.

There will be feel-good, energetic and toe-tapping sounds.Two of the musicians, UlfSandstrom and Bo Gustafsson, have both been nominated for their contributions to Swedish blues by the Scandinavian Blues Association with the Janne Rosenqvist Memorial Prize and in 2008,Bo received the Prize.

Ulf and Bo deliver a one hour round trip to New Orleans as a duo, mainly in a theatrical setting or at festivals like Borneo Jazz. Intimate and fun. They have performed over 3000 gigs, with standing ovations in Paris, Moscow, London, New Orleans, Berlin and Helsinki.

Jump4Joy is an extraordinary band and one that will keep you spellbound. Their concerts are always a sold out.

HAZMAT MODINE is a New York based band that has been touring internationally for the past six years in over 30 countries world wide. Malaysia is not new to them as they have been performing at Genting Highland Festival few years ago.

The band is a hard edged blues and jazz fusion driven by a pair of dueling harmonicas, backed by tuba, drums, guitars, and a horn section.  They recently completed their long-awaited follow-up to their first CD Bahamut. 

The CDtitled CICADA reached number one on the World Music Charts summer 2011 in Europe and was voted number 2 for all of 2011 out of over 800 nominees and 150 finalists.CICADA also received the Charles Cros Grand Prize  in France for Best Blues Record in 2011.  They are just one of the 8 award winning bands at Borneo Jazz next coming weekend.

Other than Malaysia, Hazmat Modine also visitedwell known festivals around the world such as the Berlin Jazz Festival, Pori and Tempari Festivals in Finland, Stockholm Jazz festival, Copenhagen Jazz Festival, Sinnes Festival in Portugal, Womex in Spain, the Wings Festival in Moscow, the Sayan Ring Festival in Siberia, The Vienna Jazz Festival, Killkenny Arts Festival in Ireland, Trowbridge Festival in the UK, Chicago World Music Festival and the Montreal Jazz Festival.

Borneo Jazz 2013 is pleased to welcome another GRAMMY® Award winner, The Scott Martin Latin Soul Band from west coast of USA, in Miri, Sarawak next coming weekend. They will make their appearance at Borneo Jazz on the first night show, Friday (10 May), which scheduled at around 10pm.

Scott Martin is exploding on the scene as a leader of his own band, after more than fourteen years of playing with the GRAMMY® Award Winning Poncho Sanchez Latin Jazz Band. He was an influential part of the Poncho Sanchez Latin Jazz Band winning a Grammy with the band for 'Best Latin Jazz Performance'.

Hehas recorded with Ray Charles, Billy Preston, Sam Moore and many other soul greats.They also won 2 Billboard Music Awards, and embarked on countless World and Nationwide tours.

Scott’s numerous compositions have been featured on Poncho’s recordings, as well as on TV shows such as “Sex and the City”, “The Jimmy Kimmel Show”, “As The World Turns” and more.

The Scott Martin Latin Soul Band has performed at venues and festivals all over the world in the last couple of years. They performed two tours of Japan, a tour of Canada, they played at the Hawaii International Jazz Festival, Temecula International Jazz Festival, KSDS ‘Jazz Live’ from the Seville Theatre, Brea Jazz Festival, Oxnard Jazz Festival, San Jose Jazz Festival, MOCA Jazz Series and many more concerts, events, and jazz clubs.

Scott Martin Latin Soul Band are just one of the 8 award-winning bands at Borneo Jazz. So don’t miss the excitement. 

Have you gotten your tickets? 

Entry tickets to Borneo Jazz priced at RM60 per day and RM100 for 2 days for adult and RM30 per day and RM50 for 2 days per child aged between 3 and 12 and can be purchased online at www.jazzborneo.com.

Tickets also now available at all Visitors’ Information Centres in Kuching, Sibu & Miri. Call them at +6 082-410944 (VIC Kuching), +6 084-340980 (VIC Sibu) and +6 085-434180 (VIC Miri).