Miri International Jazz Festival 2008

Miri, 10 May 2008 -- The Miri International Jazz Festival 2008 attracted a record amount of visitors - 6,020 people, a big jump from their 4,000 visitors of last year, and even slightly exceeding their target of 6,000 visitors. The general feeling was that this year's line-up had an excellent mix of performers from various jazz genres and everything was well organised and coordinated.

Opening the second and final day show tonight was Malaysia's sole band representation, Borneo Jazz Quartet of Kuching who became an instant hit with the crowd. Perhaps it has something to do with the strong family ties that bind them and makes them groove well together -- 19-year old extraordinarily talented drummer Azim Ali who formed the band, roped in his father (Ali Hairani) as bassist and brother (Kazlan Ali) as guitarist. Or perhaps it has to do with them playing original material composed from each of the band members with titles like 'Bario' (name of a highland in Sarawak) and 'Inga' (which starts out breezy and ends up angsty, apt for a word that means 'annoyed'). The tunes were funky - reminiscent of the 70's blues and jazz scene in Malaysia. But it's also most likely because they were so good and passionate in their music -- giving it all they've got -- and being proud of their Borneo heritage, infusing sounds and melodies of traditional musical instruments into their composition that made them so popular. The band may be a year old, but these guys (including guitarist Mark Langub who completes the quartet) are clearly destined for greater heights.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Miri
• International
• Jazz
• Festival
• 2008
• sarawak
• virtual
• malaysia
• borneo

[gumekkify]

will u r on there u r famous !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!