Rainforest World Music Festival Will Present a Welsh Band for the first Time

For the first time in its history, the Rainforest World Music Festival will feature a Welsh band. Contemporary folk band Jamie Smith’s Mabon is scheduled to appear at the 17th edition of the internationally admired festival to be held in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia on the island of Borneo June 20-22, 2014.

Sarawak Tourism Board, Malaysia Major Events and Welsh band Mabon jointly announced the booking of the band at the World Music Expo (WOMEX) 2013 recently held in Cardiff, Wales. Mabon is delighted to accept this invitation which tops off a remarkable year of shows across Europe and precedes the band’s headline ‘Taith Adre Tour’ across Wales in November. “Being invited to this festival is a great honor for the band, its status as one of the great festivals in the world is already well known. We certainly look forward to performing to a completely new audience and making many new friends in a different part of the world,” said Jamie Smith, Mabon’s composer and accordionist.

Jamie Smith’s Mabon is an award winning Welsh based band that performs original InterCeltic music, travelling beyond borders to explore the forms and styles of the Celtic traditions and work them anew. The band combines traditional instruments and a modern rhythm section, performing original compositions.

In 2011 Jamie Smith’s Mabon was awarded ‘Best Instrumental Album’ by online folk and roots magazine Spiral Earth. Since then the band has played sessions for BBC Radio 2 and Radio 3, headlined shows for Celtic Connections, WOMAD (UK), Interceltique du Lorient, Het Lindeboom (France), Music Meeting (Netherlands) and a host of high profile Festivals across Europe. In 2013, Jamie also won the competitive accordion competition at the Festival Interceltique de Lorient.

“The announcement of the Welsh band Mabon performing for the first time in the Rainforest World Music Festival 2014 exemplifies the success of the festival. This will further add another milestone to this renowned world class event and elevate the growth of the festival in attracting new world music talents and fans. This is in line with our aspirations to highlight Malaysia as a hub for major events in the region. Mabon will create an opportunity to market the festival in Europe and attract more international attendees to the country for the much awaited Visit Malaysia Year 2014. We applaud Sarawak Tourism Board in continuing to create different elements every year for world music fans from all over the world to enjoy,” said Tony Nagamaiah, General Manager of Malaysia Major Events. Malaysia Major Events is a division of Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB) an agency under the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Malaysia.

The Rainforest World Music Festival has been voted for the fourth consecutive year in 2013, as the top 25 international festivals by Songlines, one o the leading world music magazines. The festival has also won the BrandLaureate Country Branding award by Asia Pacific Brands Foundation for 2012-2013.

”The Rainforest World Music Festival is a signature tourism event in Kuching and has no doubt brought Sarawak into the limelight. Sarawak Tourism Board is honored to continue to present such great events to entertain and enthrall people from all walks of life, from all over the world,” said Angelina Bateman, the Director of Corporate Communications who is also the Project Director of the festival. She reiterated that the Board has started planning for the festival in 2014 and is delighted to have a Welsh band to confirm for the first time its participation.

More about the festival at http://rwmf.net