MIRI: The annual Miri Country Music Festival (MCMF) is back again this year, featuring a total of seven talented bands, scheduled to perform on Nov 24 (Saturday) at the Miri Coco Cabana. “MCMF is a unique music festival for Miri, we want to see this festival grow bigger and upgrade the event into an international name that is well known all over the region,” said Assistant Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Datuk Lee Kim Shin at a press conference held yesterday at Mega Hotel.
The event, which is already in its fifth year, will see line-ups of seven local and international bands performing original numbers and greatest country music hits. The line-ups are Delilah Rose and The Gunslingers (Australia), Mel and Rani (Singapore and Indonesia), Joe Ferdinands F&F (Singapore), Raggy (Penang), Ady Wow and Maha (Sabah), Mountain Wind Band (Sarawak) and Country Road Band (Sarawak). “MCMF has been deemed Malaysia’s only country and western music festival, and some say that it’s the only one of its kinds in South East Asia,” said MCMF festival advisor Gracie Geikie.
“We bring in performers from all over the globe on top of highlighting our local talents. We hope to encourage and nurture more local country music performers and give them a bigger platform to showcase their music talents,” she added. First created back in 2014, MCMF has seen a myriad of multitalented country and western performers and musicians from all over the globe showcasing their music in Miri, some from Australia, United States, Singapore, Indonesia , Czech Republic and even European expats working in the Asian region. This year, the organiser has targeted to rope in 1,000 festival goers.
“We have 40 per cent of the tickets booked from outside of Sarawak. “For next year, the event will be held for two days and feature 12 bands. The venue will be the same (Coco Cabana),” added Gracie. Next year’s event will be held on Nov 22 and 23. “We recognise country musics, and starting from next year, in Kota Kinabalu and Miri, we will initiate a talent search, to be held in July, August and September. The grand final will be in October and winner of the talent search will perform at MCMF 2019,” said Gracie. Meanwhile, the walk-in ticket for MCMF 2018 is priced at RM50 per person and entrance is free for children aged 12 and below. The event will kick off today (Nov 24) at 4pm until 12am. Online tickets are also available at www.miricountrymusic.com or country lovers can call up 082- 555189 or 019-8478751.
