By Neville Timothy Sanders and Annabell Naja Tommy
KUCHING: Accomplished Kelabit singer-songwriter, Alena Murang, and her band of sape players are having butterflies in their stomach thinking about going up on stage.
It’s been a while now – two years in fact, no thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic – since they have performed before a live audience.
But the stage is set at the 2022 Rainforest World Music Festival taking place at the Sarawak Cultural Village and Alena knows the score.
“We are nervous because it’s been a while since the last time we did it in front of our fans but we will do our best,” she declared, keeping her fingers crossed that they will win over the crowd.
“Before this, we were only able to perform hybrids and we could not feel the energy from our audience because it could not be done physically.”
Alen and her bandmates will perform nine songs in a 40-minute show including a solo performance from Nikita Sarna.
“Other than playing the sape and singing, our band will also use a Chinese traditional music instrument call “guzheng” alongside Kelabit accessories,” she revealed.
Alena is proud to be part of the music festival which has put Sarawak on the global music scene.
