KUCHING: A four-day Sape Camp, from June 19 to 22, will bring together fifteen participants from Sarawak, Sabah, and Peninsular Malaysia, representing diverse races, to foster their passion in music.
The camp, which is put on by Yayasan Perpaduan Sarawak (YPS), has as its theme “Unity Without Borders.”
From June 19 through 20, the camp will begin in the Lime Tree Hotel here and on June 21, it will move to the Lan E Tuyang homestay. On June 22, a mini-unity concert will take place at the Kuching Waterfront Amphitheatre after the camp’s closing ceremony at the Borneo Cultures Museum.
Renowned Sarawak sape legend Matthew Ngau, sape master Jerry Kamit, composer Narawi Rashidi, and senior lecturer in the Music Programme at the Faculty of Applied and Creative Arts of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) will be in charge of the Sape Camp. UNIMAS academician and researcher Dr Connie Lim will also be there.
According to YPS chief executive Datuk Aloysius J Dris, the renowned native instrument of Sarawak, the sape, which is frequently linked to the Orang Ulu community, would be the centrepiece of this camp.
“Sape is now being played by professional musicians and enthusiasts of all races, and its popularity has brought fame to this indigenous musical instrument at both national and international levels,” he said during a news conference at the Borneo Culture Museum here yesterday.
The Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF) had helped the sape achieved prominence on a global scale besides acting as a bonding agent for the attendees.
The camp’s major goals are to unite young people of all races in order to teach them in-depth information about sape playing, including its origin and history, musical composition, and industry appreciation, as well as to expose them to sape-making and design considerations.
The campers will graduate as YPS Sape Ambassadors, jointly committed to choosing the sape as their instrument of choice and sharing their musical experience with others.
Head of state and chairman of the YPS Board of Trustees, Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud is expected to be present at the closing ceremony on June 22 at the Borneo Cultures Museum.
The hour-long mini concert will include the sape ambassadors dressed in their individual traditional garb, and it is open to the general public.
“We want for this camp to become an annual event and maybe extend to include additional instruments in the future,
“We hope that musicians all over the world will discover and learn the sape, fostering the spirit of unity through music, maintaining interest, and keep entertaining the world,” he added.
