Borneo Jazz Festival kicks off at Coco Cabana tonight
MIRI: Borneo Jazz Festival is back for three nights at Coco Cabana here starting today ( May 11).
Assistant Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Datuk Lee Kim Shin said the festival will be held at a new venue after having been held at Parkcity Everly Hotel for the past 12 years.
First staged in 2006, the Borneo Jazz was originally called the Miri International Jazz Festival until 2011, when it was rebranded.
“The festival was first organised to create another international music festival in Sarawak as well as to promote Miri as a resort city. It has then become a well-known addition to the myriad of festivals that Sarawak has to offer,” Lee told reporters in a press conference here yesterday.
Lee said Borneo Jazz is now a niche event that appeals to jazzloving audiences, especially among the expatriates working in Sarawak and neighbouring countries.
Last year, Borneo Jazz recorded an attendance of 4, 000 people, with an estimated economic spinoff of RM7.8 million.
Lee said the festival was covered by local and international media, which generated a media mileage of RM6 million from the 94 attending media personnel from Singapore, Indonesia, UK, Germany, Brunei, Philippines, China and Peninsular Malaysia.
“There was an estimated crowd of 40 per cent non- Malaysians coming to the festival in 2017,” he added.
Borneo Jazz is wholly owned by the Sarawak Tourism Board, organised by No Black Tie with AirAsia as the official airlines partner.
Meanwhile, the Borneo Jazz Talent Search is being held for the first time ever this year. Three sets of auditions took place in Miri on March 4, April 28 with the final audition set on May 13 at the festival, to determine the winner of the talent search.
The jury for the talent search is made up of Zainal Abidin, Tony Lakatos, Michael Veerapen, Zee Avi and No Black Tie founder and festival director Evelyn Hii.
“The talent search aims to create a platform for emerging bands from all over Borneo, create an appreciation for jazz amongst the younger generation as well as discover up and coming talents among the musicians in Borneo,” Lee explained.
The champion will walk away with a cash prize of RM1,500 while first and second runner-ups will bag home RM1, 200 and RM1, 000 respectively.
Meanwhile, winners of Best Performance ( solo) and Best Original Composition will receive a cash prize of RM1, 000 each.
A panel discussion themed ‘Connecting Europe & Asia through Jazz’ will also be held during the festival.
This panel will discuss European and Asian elements in jazz, the flexibility of jazz in incorporating disparate elements for diverse cultures and the collaboration in jazz between Europe and Southeast Asian musicians.
The panellists will include Tony Lakatos from Germany, Benjamin Low (Singapore), Grzegorz Karnas ( Poland), Steve Nanda ( Malaysia) and Tay Cher Siang ( Malaysia), who are selected based on their experience with jazz in Asia while also having the experience of performing or studying jazz in Europe.
The 13th edition of Borneo Jazz Festival will feature 30 performers which include solo singers and bands. The festival has two stages, the Fringe Stage (outdoors) and the Main Stage (indoors).
Nightly jam sessions will also be held after the final performances.
Also present at the press conference was Sarawak Tourism Board acting chief executive officer Mary Wan Mering.