By Lee Shaw Wei & Ma Chee Seng
KUCHING: This year’s Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF) at the Sarawak Cultural has come and gone. Public response was good, especially on the second day on Saturday, with visitors from all walks of life and many different countries thronging it. Some were first time festival goers while the rest were returning festival-goers.
Three returning-goers here share their views of the festival which returned after a two-year hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Claudius Mitchell, 29
This is my second time here. The festival lives up to my expectations. I am enjoying myself right now with my friends and the vibes and the atmosphere here are so vibrant and exciting. I am outside the performing arena but I can tell from the big screen and the public’s reactions that they are really happy about it. I did not come early enough to be in the arena which is so jam-packed at the moment. I am not so worried about COVID-19 anymore as most of us are fully vaccinated. I believe it is much safer right now compared to the time when we were not vaccinated.
Al Nazirul, 26
After two years of COVID-19 pandemic, this is probably the best RWMF I have been to. Basically, I have been to three RMWFs but this is one of the best, if not the best, RMWFs. I can see that everyone is having fun in the current phase of transitioning towards endemic phase. The RMWF this year has definitely lived up to my expectations, especially on the second day. There were a lot of people even during the day but at the night, wow, the crowd really started pouring in.
Wendy Lee, 37
This is my second time here and yes, I am enjoying myself so far. The music festival has exceeded my expectations. Since this is the first time we are back here after the COVID-19 pandemic, I never thought that there would be so many people, especially since we are still transitioning into the endemic phase.
