By Brad Rantayy
MIRI, Nov 23: The 5th Miri Country Music Festival (MCMF) to be held here tomorrow hopes to attract at least 1,000 music enthusiasts.
This year, the festival will feature seven local and international bands.
In revealing this, Assistant Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture Datuk Lee Kim Shin said taking to the stage would be Delilah Rose and The Gunslingers from Australia, Mel and Rani (Singapore and Indonesia), Joe Ferdinands F&F (Singapore), Raggy (Penang), Ady Wow and Maha (Sabah), Mountain Wind Band (Sarawak) and Country Road Band (Sarawak).
The venue for this year’s edition is Miri Coco Cabana, and the festival is scheduled to kick-off at 4pm and last till midnight.
Lee hoped the festival could help put Miri on the international tourism map.
“Miri as a resort city has a wide range of places of attractions for tourists. We have plenty of national parks and beautiful natures for them to explore,” Lee opined, adding that the festival formed part of an effort to promote the state.
“MCMF is a unique music festival for Miri. We want to see this festival grow bigger and upgrade it into an international brand that is well known all over the region,” he told a press conference here today.
The festival advisor, Gracie Geikie, said the event was the only one of its kinds in South East Asia.
“We bring in performers from all over the globe on top of highlighting our local talents. We hope to encourage and nurture more local country music performers and give them a bigger platform to showcase their musical talents,” she added.
The first MCMF was held in 2014, and since then, it has been featuring a myriad of multi-talented country and western performers and musicians from all over the globe, including from Australia, the United States, Singapore, Indonesia Czech Republic, and European expats working in Asia.
Gracie disclosed that 40 per cent of the tickets booked were from outside of Sarawak.
Festival-goers can get their walk-in tickets at RM50 each. Entrance is free for children aged 12 and below.
Online tickets are also available at www.miricountrymusic.com or country music lovers can call up 082-555189 or 019-8478751.
On next year’s edition, Gracie said it would be held for two days from Nov 22 and featuring 12 bands. But it would still be at Miri Coco Cabana. — DayakDaily
