KUCHING: The sape has now become an iconic global instrument, thanks to Sarawak’s Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF).
With its fame, young musicians are now building international careers playing this traditional Sarawakian instrument.
William Dharmawan for instance said he has been playing the sape since he was eight years old.
“Sape has been my music for life because I was raised in a small village at Sanggau Regency where the majority of the people are Dayaks.
“Every weekend, the children or teenagers in the village will come to a place similar to a stage in the village and play the traditional instrument.
“I thought it would be a waste to not learn something that I listen to everyday, so in 2011, I took up sape and learned it myself,” he said after his performance at the just concluded ‘Forage@The Hills’ food festival.
“The furthest that I have ever gone to perform was at Chiang Mai, Thailand. Back then, my school organised a humanitarian trip there.
“As we had to perform something from Sarawak, I tried to introduce the sape to them. For me, sape is the icon of Sarawak and is a unique Sarawakian music.
“That is why I brought my schoolmates to Chiang Mai to play sape,” he said.
The 19-year-old said he has learnt to play multiple songs on the sape ranging from old songs to the current generation’s genre.
“I create the cover of the songs myself. For a song that has been around and I have listened to before, it will take me at least one day to come up with its chords.
“However, if it is a new song or if it was my first time listening to it, it will take me about a day and a half to fully learn it using my sape,” he explained.
According to him, the most requested song played (when he performs) is Lan E by Jerry Kamit.
“Other than that, I would also usually play the contemporary songs that are requested by the people. If they like Taylor Swift, then I would play songs by Taylor Swift using my sape,” he said.
He advised the younger generations who are interested in learning to play the sape to keep on going despite it being hard.
“I know that learning this instrument is tough at first but once you find your passion for it, it will all be worth it.
“So for people contemplating whether they should learn this instrument, I highly recommend that you do as it is a very unique instrument.
“Moreover, the future of this instrument depends on you (the younger generation). Continuing to learn it means that you are one of the cultural guardians of this culture forever,” he emphasised.
In light of this, William recommends that those who would want to learn the sape from scratch can join the programme offered by Persatuan Anak Seni Sape Kuching (PUSAK).
“In PUSAK, we offer sape classes and sape related programmes. Though I have been playing sape since I was very young, joining them since last year made me realise that there is still much to learn.
“And for PUSAK to offer such a programme to the public, it is really an opportunity that should be taken up by musicians,” he said.
