By Wilfred Pilo
KUCHING, June 30: Local band The Fingerprints won the Busker Raya Borneo 744 competition held at Borneo 744 Bintawa on Saturday night.
The band comprises young Iban and Bidayuh musicians and singers, namely Ally Spencer, Hazel Mazel, Deck Zeke and Milson Chong. They won the competition with two medleys; the first featuring ‘Puteri Santubong’, ‘Berkikis Bulu Betis’ and ‘Balik Kampung’ and second featuring “Madu dan Racun” and “Syantik”.
The enthusiastic band brought home RM1,000 in prize money, a trophy and a certificate of participation for their efforts.
Second place went to all male band Rawi while third place went to another all male band the Afterfall .
They received RM750 and RM500, trophies and certificates of participation respectively.
Tupong assemblyman Fazzrudin Abdul Rahman who was the event’s guest-of-honour presented the prizes to the various winners.
The competition also featured five other talented individuals and groups, namely Semadoh-Sarikei, Abang, Obnoxious, The Paulus and female ukulele musician and singer Sam.
Earlier, Busker Borneo 744 kicked off with an opening act by locally renowned Pinanak Sentah.
The family band aims to educate the younger generation on traditional music through contemporary modern fusion music, while assuring the traditions of the older generations are being passed on.
Pinanak Sentah band has been invited to play at a selected local venue in the city as a prelude to the Rainforest World Music Festival 2019 before the event is staged at Sarawak Cultural Village from July 12-14.
The judges for the competition were Red Kadri fom Majlis Seni Sarawak, producer and artist Zah Amirul and Instagram influencer Iqbal Harun.
The event organised by Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity (MaGIC) aimed to nurture and connect local talents aside from providing Sarawakian youth and emerging artists with a platform to showcase their creativity to other art enthusiasts and the general public.
