Sigordo

On the first weekend of July, I was on my way to Kuching from Kuala Lumpur with newspapers being my only companion for my 1 hour 45 minute journey. The newspapers were filled with articles having their fair share of arguments and debates on why Spain and the Netherlands were in the final and not England, Brazil, Argentina or the defending champions Italy. Some were claiming that some football stars are overpaid and no longer had passion to play for their country, which translated into a lethargic and a half hearted performance in the World Cup.

Fortunately for me, I was on my to Kuching for the 13^th Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF) where passion, superstars, fun, good music and a vuvuzela was there at the Sarawak Cultural Village in Santubong.

Set adjacent to the sea, at the foot of a mountain and with a forest as backdrop, the three day festival was a manifestation of cultural mélange as well as a musical one.

We saw the Marranzano from Italy played by I Beddi and we had the Musafir Gypsies of Rajasthan from India play their Murchang. Although both are from the other ends of the world, the Marranzano and the Murchang are respective jaw harps from Italy and India;  where the sound is generated by a vibrating air column, the frame is held against the performer’s teeth, using the jaw and mouth as a resonator which greatly increasing the volume of the instrument.

I guess that’s the beauty of the festival when we are able to witness numerous similar instruments with similar sounds but to each have its own story and significance.

Apart from the jaw harps, there were other similar instruments which sound alike like the two-stringed dombra, a pear shaped long necked lute of the Kazakh people of Central Asia brought to the festival by Yerboli Ahmethan of Yerboli and the sound of the oud (also a pear-shaped stringed instrument commonly used in Middle Eastern music) which was played by Mustafa Daood of Debu from Indonesia. Looking and listening to the two closely, both the dombra and the oud also has a resembling sound to the gambus which is the most common lute found in a variety of styles in Malay folk music.

This year’s festival also seemed to be featuring an array of bagpipes. From Italy to Portugal to Iran to Bulgaria to Russia; all had their own form of bagpipes. Saeid Shanbehzadeh from the Shanbehzadeh Ensemble even joked about his bagpipe. “The bagpipes are made of goat skin, what’s the point of killing the goat to make an instrument that sounds like a goat?” he said during his performance, second day’s opening of the festival.

Although the World Cup had glittering footwork displays of the Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Kaka and other stars, in RWMF, we had another kind of footwork. It was not side stepping the ball or fancy trickery that we’re used to in the World Cup but what we had was thousands of people having their own fancy footwork; moving their feet to the beats of the awesome sounds of world music.

Oh, speaking of Cristiano Ronaldo, who is often called a cheat for his dubious diving; diving at the festival was cheered as the rain made the Cultural Village a mud fest.

I was also fortunate enough to mingle with the stars of the festival. At times, I get goose-bumps not because i’m star struck but when I see and listen to the performers at the workshop jamming together and even at the hotel, which brought my music appreciation to another level.

However, these talented musicians have remained grounded as Leila Negrou from Reunion Island said, “There are no superstars here, no one is up there, and we all mingle and hang out together.”

With that, I learned that RWMF to be a  unique festival that brings informative workshops, ethno-musical lectures, jamming sessions and renowned world musicians from all continents and indigenous musicians from the interiors of the mythical island of Borneo together.

Well after all the rain, the dancing, the great music, inevitably, the festival had to end. However, some continued celebrating as soon as the festival ended, we watched the Spain winning the World Cup 2010 for the first time in their history.

Here are some photos I was able to take before my camera went bonkers.

Reelroad'b from Russia

Oscar Jimenez of Watussi

An animated Davide Urso of IBeddi from Italy

Why were you in Aceh? Isn’t it dangerous? Wouldn’t you be cane there? What if Aceh gets hit by the tsunami again? Those were the questions bombarded me when people learned that I was in Aceh.

I must admit, at first, I was wary while I was packing for my trip to Aceh; I was contemplating on whether or not to pack my shorts. I was guilty of letting rumours affect my trip as they were saying I’ll get cane if I was caught wearing shorts and women would be caught and punished for not wearing a tudung or hijab (headscarf) in Aceh. On top of that, there were also those who said that Aceh is hostile and infested with rebels and terrorists.

But those fears were quickly quelled as soon as I arrived in Banda Aceh. There was no problem about wearing shorts there and not all women there were wearing a tudung or a hijab, so in other words, it is just like any other city with a Muslim majority population and no, I was not caned. But the fact remains, if you visit a place of certain rules and customs, it is best to respect it. Just like in Thailand, where religion and culture is very much intertwined (just like in Aceh), one would need to take off their shoes to enter a temple in Thailand but in Aceh, instead of taking something off, you put something on. At the end of the day, it all boils down to respect.

Next up, about the rumours of terrorists, militias and separatists, I didn’t meet any of them (even if I did, they didn’t tell me so). But I did visit the forest where it used to be the hideout of the now already dissolved Free Aceh Movement (Gerakan Aceh Merdeka, or GAM). So now, I can scratch out the terrorist and separatist from my fear list.

On that note, one good thing about GAM using the jungle for their hideout is that the forests in Aceh were protected. During the conflict nobody dared to come to the forest. But nowadays people have come back to the forest to cultivate their land where most land is used for agro-forestry.

A beautiful day in Aceh's paddy fields

Consequently, the Governor of Aceh, Honorary Irwandi Yusuf is committed to a greener and more prosperous future for the people of Aceh. Understanding the need for holistic strategy to rebuild the economy of Aceh, the Governor is orchestrating comprehensive efforts to ensure the preservation and protection of Aceh’s natural resources, watershed and marine reserves to safeguard the province’s assets and the sustainable development of future generations. With that the Governor’s office came up with the Aceh Green to fulfil this vision. The Aceh Green strategy is to generate revenue for the province and employment for rural communities.

Thus, with all the buzz about going green, I was in Aceh to cycle. Since cycling is usually known to give low impact to the environment and travelling with bicycles protects fragile and pristine green areas. In fact, that is exactly what Nanggroe Aceh Darus Salam need.

Aceh is quickly becoming the ultimate eco-tourism destination for those who care for the environment and nature enthusiasts. I was then introduced to Lieselotte Heederik or better known as Lisa who runs Aceh Adventure. In my bid to be a responsible traveller in Aceh, I figured Lisa would be the best person to ask about cycling in Aceh especially with her experience being in serious cycling tours since 2002.

Lisa recommended me to go on the Rice Field and Village tour to experience the ‘greenness’ of Aceh.

With the tour having a relatively light route over flat terrain, I thought to myself how interesting can this rice field tour be? The route leads you over small tracks through rice fields and traditional Acehnese villages but much to my surprise, within the 15km of pedalling, the landscape of the rice fields kept changing; giving me a picturesque view of every village I went passed. I went passed fabulous locations giving me the opportunity to experience firsthand the different landscapes, people and also food.

From Jambatan Ulee Kareng, I cycled to see farmers sowing, weeding or harvesting the rice. Initially, I was quite bashful passing through the villages; seeing how hard these Acehnese was working while I was nonchalantly enjoying my bicycle ride.

In the beginning, I felt uneasy when curious stares were prevalent but after my guide, Tardi who hails from Bandung informed me that greeting the locals should be the wave of the right hand as waving with the left hand is considered rude.

From then on, we were greeted with a sea of smiles from the locals who are indeed very warm and welcoming whenever we need to find shelter if it was raining. Then after a few hours into the journey, I then suddenly found to be trailed by a group of local young boys making it a brief mini ala Le Tour France. The boys kept cheering us on with “Let’s go!” and took turns overtaking us to greet us with “Good Morning!” with smiles so wide as wide as it was from Sabang to Merauke.

It was heartwarming when the children said 'Abang, please come again ya' as I was about to leave their village

After completing half of the tour, my initial bashfulness has become a distant memory as Ifound Aceh to be blessed with a beautiful country and filled with gorgeous people. I was touched with the children and their enthusiasm towards visitors.

An Acehnese being playful when photographed

Lisa said, “The Acehnese people are very friendly and heart-warming towards foreigners too. If you are an open-minded person and interested to learn about other cultures and religions Aceh is the perfect place to go.”

Having said that, it was a true blessing for me personally to be able to visit Aceh and hassle-free I must add. I also found out that Aceh has a vivid night life; all the coffee houses are full during the night. After a few coffee sessions with locals, I find Aceh to be very relaxed and nothing ‘threatening’ about it.

They have signs around on directions to tsunami evacuation centres; basically, they are prepared to face another tsunami. But many heart-wrenching and poignant reminders of the devastating tsunami still remain just and seeing them going about their everyday is simply inspiring.

“Aceh has been very safe and don’t always read second hand accounts unless you experience the story first hand. Now is the time to visit if you want an authentic, untouched destination in South East Asia,” said David Shirley of the UNDP.

Now that I’m back from Aceh, people have asked how it was and I answered, it was awesome. Did I wear shorts there? Yes, I did. Didn’t you I caned or fined or caught by the moral police? No. Isn’t Aceh dangerous with all the terrorists and separatists? No, I didn’t get a chance to meet up, even if I did I wouldn’t know if they were terrorists and no, it is not dangerous. Instead, I got a warm welcome by the Acehnese people instead. Since the name of Aceh Darussalam means welfare and peace, I guess it is safe to say that Aceh is indeed what the name suggests.