VIRGIN Communications
After
Sarawak’s successful run of the recent 25th edition of the Rainforest
World Music Festival (RWMF) and the Borneo Jazz Festival (BJF), the state is
now gearing up for the eighth edition of Miri Country Music Festival (MCMF),
which is set to return on 25-26 November at Eastwood
Valley Golf and Country Club in Miri.
At
a media conference held recently, Minister of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing
Arts, Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah expresses his
confidence that the MCMF will be able attract not only the local music festival
attendees but also from the surrounding regions as before the Covid-19
pandemic.
MCMF
used to attract festival seekers from nearby Bintulu as well as those in Sabah,
Peninsular Malaysia and regional visitors from Brunei, Singapore, Indonesia and
Australia.
 |
| Eastwood Valley Golf and Country Club |
The
local communities in northern part of Sarawak have an affection for country
music and the Mirians would don cowboy outfits in the past festivals.
Abdul
Karim commends MCMF organiser for staging the festival in Miri, the gateway to
Sarawak’s tourism attractions in the northern region.
By also partnering with its Sarawak Trade and Tourism Office Singapore (Statos) to market the event and coupled with the direct flights from Singapore, he urges special holiday tour packages that include MCMF tickets and two nights of country music fiesta to be created.
 |
Minister of
Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Sarawak Dato Sri Abdul Karim
Rahman Hamzah (4th from left) with Gracie Geikie (3rd from left), Dennis
Ngau (2nd from left) and Hii Chang Kee (extreme left) handing over the venue’s
plaque to Chief Executive Officer of Eastwood Valley Golf and Country Club Kueh
Chie Tiong. |
During
their stay here, festival goers can also explore the many tourism destinations
in Sarawak’s northern region such as the world heritage site Mulu National Park
and the Bario Highlands.
Over
the years, MCMF has featured many local and international bands with different
styles of country music, with foreign artistes from Singapore, Indonesia,
Australia, Britain, Germany, Czech Republic and the United States (US).
Abdul
Karim remarks, “It is good to see MCMF supporting both Malaysian and
international country music performers as this gives Sarawak’s own musicians a
platform to showcase and promote their music alongside their international
counterparts.”
Festival founder Gracie Geikie says, “MCMF 2022’s international line-up includes Tantowi Yahya from Indonesia; Johnny Loda Trio, a combo from Italy, Thailand and the United Kingdom; Cambodia Country Band from the US and Cambodia; and Ramon Cedillo from Singapore.
The
Malaysian performers are Kamal Bukhary, Lyia Meta and Miri’s own Sessions a.k.a
session: the Band, Country Roads and Mountain Wind.”
She
adds, “We have selected several corporate social responsibility (CSR) partners
to collaborate and work with for MCMF this year.
“They
are The Federation of Orang Ulu Associations Sarawak Malaysia (FORUM), Miri
Photography Society, Miri Performing Arts Association and Borneo Medical Centre
Miri.”
MCMF
performers and festival goers are encouraged to join its CSR initiative, The
Buku Project, by bringing their second- hand books to the event to be donated
to children and residents of Long Lama and Long Atip, to help educate and
improve the literacy in these rural areas.
MCMF
tickets are now on sale for early birds at RM80 for a day pass and RM120 for a
two-day pass.
Meanwhile,
also present the recent MCMF media briefing in Miri were Deputy Minister
Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts I Datuk Sebastian Ting; Telang
Usan assemblyman Dennis Ngau, who is also Sarawak Tourism Board chairman;
permanent secretary to Abdul Karim’s ministry Hii Chang Kee and Eastwood Valley
Golf and Country Club chief executive Kueh Chie Tiong.
MCMF,
which held its inaugural event in 2014 in Miri, is believed to be the first country
music festival in Malaysia that made Miri as its home ground.
#Country
Music Festival
#Miri
Country Music Festival 2022
#Eastwood
Valley Golf and Country Club
#Sarawak
Trade and Tourism Office Singapore
#Tantowi
Yahya
#Johnny
Loda Trio
#Tourism
Malaysia
#Sarawak
Tourism Board
#Miri
City
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