At Adau

The 20th Rainforest World Music Festival, which started July 14, successfully brought several people of different background, culture, language, religion and tradition together with the aim to make them enjoy and help them stir towards the preservation of nature and environment. In fact, according to the festival organizers, nature is the main root and music starts from nature. Who better to represent nature than At Adau.

At Adau is a local group from Sarawak, one of the performers at Rainforest World Music Festival, whom I had the fortune to interview after the Press Conference held at the Media Centre of Damai Beach Resort. Representative Meldrick Udos told me: “We really appreciate the jungle. As boys, jungle was our playground, we played hide and seek in it. It is for this reason we came to appreciate it so much”.

In tribal Bidayuh ethnic language, ‘At’ means ‘root’, while in Orang Ulu ethnic language, ‘Adau’ is an old tree used to make the Sape instrument. At Adau simply means the ‘Root of the Adau tree’. Meldrick told me the name was chosen because of their love to nature, and as a symbol to tell people how much nature helps you to be who you are.

The At Adau performing at the Rainforest World Music Festival was a group of 7 young men – the new generation of Sarawak musicians – who define themselves a “experimental world music band”, as they will play a mix of traditional and contemporary music.

At Adau was put together in Sarawak in 2014, and their main music instrument will be, guess, the famous Sape, which is real music coming from nature. The Sape can only be found in Sarawak and its music is played for healing the body and soothing the mind. For a taste of their tribal music, listen to their studio album entitled ‘Journey’.

At Adau presented an amazing performance where the Sape sounds mixed well with other ethnic instruments from tribes like the Iban, the Bidayuh and the Orang Ulu. It was especially for this festival in the land of the hornbill that they created a happy atmosphere that reflects the bond Sarawak people have with nature. Their experimental songs was driven by ancient tunes played with Sape and Perutong, and mixed with contemporary rhythms played by tribal drums, electric and bass guitar as well as an interesting mix of traditional instruments from other parts of the world.

Members of the audience described their music as healing and rejuvinating. At Adau has managed to use the power of roots music to overcome cultural, gender, age, language and ideological barriers, and to represent and reflect feelings of peace, serenity and appreciation for people from all over the world and for nature, the leitmotiv at the Rainforest World Music Festival.

We thank At Adau for these amazing feelings.

Check them out at http://www.atadau.com/about.html

Listen to their music here: http://www.atadau.com/ourmusic.html

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