KUCHING: Busking Festival (KBF) 2023 director Mike Lim did not quite expect the kind of success the inaugural festival would reap.
An avid fan of street/busking performances, the 74-year-old former national news director had staged the festival in Kuching out of interest and to also give performers a platform to showcase their talent.
As a result, over 30 buskers participated in the three-day event from Sept 15-17 in the city.
As things turned out even Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Minister Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah felt the festival could grow into a significant event, much like Sarawak’s homegrown Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF).
In an interview with New Sarawak Tribune, Mike talked about the inspiration behind the festival, future programmes that he wants to organise and his hopes for Kuching Busking Festival going forward.
For starters, he explained the reason why he picked Tamworth Country Music Festival as his inspiration for KBF was due to its success, considering Tamworth is among the smallest cities in New South Wales, Australia.
“It is about an hour’s flight from Sydney to Tamworth and every year in January, for 10 days since its inception in 1972, they would organise the country music festival.
“And every night during the festival, there would be major performances from some of Australia’s biggest names in country music.
“During the day, the main street in Tamworth is full of buskers. They started small, but now it has turned into one of the major music festivals in Australia,” he said.
Due to his family lives in Australia, Mike stated that he often goes to Tamworth just to visit the festival.
“There are times I am here in Kuching, and there are times I am in Tamworth. And the population in Tamworth is very small, about 60,000 people.
“But because of the music festival, the number shoots up to hundreds of thousands because it is so famous, people from all across Australia, are willing drive for miles and miles and take part in the music festival as well the busking festival,” he added.
Mike decided to creating a similar music festival and hold it in Kuching.
“It is something I thought we could do and we did it for the first time, successfully,” he added.
Mike added that Abdul Karim was very supportive of the music festival from the moment he presented the idea to him.
“He told me to go for it, and together with his ministry and other agencies and organisations, they helped us a lot in making sure the music festival is a success.
“Looking at the participation and response we received for KBF 2023 it indicates the festival has potential to become one of the major music festivals in Sarawak.
“If next year we can make it bigger and likewise the year after, why not right? Even RWMF started small back in 1997, and look where it is now,” he said.
Mike and his team’s dream is for KBF to not only attract locals but also those from outside Sarawak.
“Our doors are open for the people in Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and other countries to participate.
“If the other agencies in Sarawak could continue to assist us in that matter and promote the idea overseas, I would not be surprised if KBF becomes as big as RWMF.
“The sky is the limit, and we will try as best as we can to make people from all around the world to come to Sarawak and see the beauty of it,” he stated.
On this score Mike is holding out hopes for a second edition of KBF in 2024.
“Our team has started to plan now, and we are looking for a suitable weekend for it to be held.
“We have already pitched the idea to Abdul Karim and his Ministry.”
Mike said this year several organisations including Sarawak Energy and Rotary Club of Kuching City had agreed to be among the main sponsors of KBF2023.
“And we hope that more organisations will come forward and help us into making our dream come true for next year’s KBF,” he added.
Mike is driven by a desire to provide a platform or avenue for performers to showcase their talent.
“Our job is to create a place for anybody who wants to perform and show the people their talents or skills.
“There was a child aged seven who performed ethnic contemporary dances during KBF2023, and he was fantastic in it, and he won in the dancing category,” he added.
Other than providing a platform for performers, Mike said KBF is also about experiencing the atmosphere and the ambience of the city.
In this respect he is hoping next year’s KBF can take place in areas such as Carpenter Street, Gambier Street ot even Kuching Waterfront.
“Of course, we would like to extend the festival to other streets, provided we have enough buskers.
“Still, it is so good to see the people dancing and enjoying the street performance, despite the weather,” he added.
He is glad that events like KBF help to make the city livelier than ever.
“How often do we see people across the street dancing and singing, and enjoying the music,” he said, illustrating his point.
“Kuching is of course a great city, but can we make it even better? I am sure we can, especially through music, dancing and performing arts,” he added.
