Uniting Dayak Entertainers Under One Community

TALENT hides within, if we do not look for it, how shall it be discovered? Dayak Entertainers Community is a community based in Sarawak and its objective is to unite dayak entertainers in Sarawak. According to its founder Collin Michael Duk, “The community accepts any dayak entertainers, and we currently comprises of music crew, band, artistes, magicians, clowns and even an Elvis Presley impersonator. “As long as you are a dayak entertainer of any sort, you can join this community”, added Collin.

Started in June 2015, the community’s emphasise on protecting the interest of dayak entertainers. “And it seems that nobody is protecting our interest because we perform in entertainment outlets,” an enthusiastic Collin said.

“We protect the interest of the soundman, sound engineers, and even the driver who drives the entertainers,” Collin also mentioned. Other than that, the community’s other purpose is to promote events played by each of the members of the community. “Let’s say I perform at a venue next week, I would upload it into our community’s Whatsapp group chat – it serves as a platform of promotion for them”, Collin disclosed. Collin who is also an entertainer himself, reiterate the need to create awareness regarding the Dayak Entertainers Community. “We would like our local musicians to be highlighted in Kuching instead of foreign bands”.

Aside from performing in entertainment outlets, the musicians within the community is also available to perform in various functions and celebrations. Among the events co-ordinated by Dayak Entertainers Community was the Elvis Presley Tribute held at ChinaHouse, Old Court House last October. The Elvis Presley of Kuching is impersonated by Adrian@Lgotho, who is also a member of the community. Among the bands under the wings of Dayak Entertainers Community, is the band Flyhigh which consist of 6 musicians.

The members age ranging between 23 to 33, plays in entertainment outlet and at various functions – strums the music and tune in the Iban language. During the day, there are ordinary punch-card workers, however at night, their talent revealed itself.