KOTA KINABALU 29th April 2008: Sabah’s very own Kinabalu Merdu Sound will perform at Penang’s second World Music Festival on the 4th-5th May this year. This unique band that plays Sabahan ethnic music with bamboo musical instruments will be one of the 11 international and 4 local bands performing at this music festival which is expected to attract more than 5000 international and local traditional music fans.

The band’s roots began in 2001 with a humble group of 5. To reach its objective of reviving traditional ethnic music at the brink of extinction due to modernization, the band aimed to recruit the youth and school children as its members. The Kinabalu Merdu Sound’s efforts have been rewarded as the group has now grown into an assembly of 600 musicians.

This group has now performed all over Sabah and Kuala Lumpur and there have even been performances in Jakarta, Korea and Japan. This group has emerged as champions in the national level ‘Ilham Desa’ (loosely translated it means ‘countryside inspirations’) competition  which was organised by the Ministry of Rural and Federal Development held on the 14th June 2007 at UPM in Selangor. The group has also produced an album entitled ‘Muzik Tradisi Instrumental’ which features instrumental traditional music.

In May this year 11 performers from Kinabalu Merdu Sound will be converging with bands from all over the world to perform at Penang’s spectacular World Music Festival. Here traditional music instruments become the focal point, emphasizing on ethnic nuances and unique musical trademarks. Kinabalu Merdu Sound’s performance here is set to grant the group the opportunity to present themselves as well as the traditional sounds of BorneoFrance, Reunion Island, Mexico, Iran, India, Denmark, Kenya, Tibet, Canada, the USA and Croatia. to the world. Among the lineup of the 3-night event are music performers from

The use of the bamboo as a musical instrument in traditional music had its beginnings in 1945. Among the earliest instruments were the Tagunggak (percussion instrument), sompoton (wind instrument), bungkau (Jew’s harp) and gendang (drums). However, traditional music played with bamboo instruments was not the music enthusiasts’ cup of tea at the time because it was a farmer’s past time and was played only during harvest festivals. The group has undoubtedly succeeded in changing this conception and begun to raise a widespread admiration towards the once-unloved bamboo melodies.

The Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment, Yang Berhormat Datuk Masidi Manjun stated that Kinabalu Merdu Sound’s talented musical expressions will certainly capture the world’s heart, establish Sabah’s valuable musical heritage in world music and offer another peek into our unique traditions which will certainly entice more visitors to come here to witness Sabah’s well-preserved tapestry of wonderful practices and customs.