KUCHING: Some 60 international and local performers will take the stage - either physically or digitally - in the upcoming Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF), which will be held as a hybrid event for the first time.

       Gracie Geikie, the director of co-event organiser Place Borneo, said 18 to 20 bands will perform live at the festival from June 17-19 at the Sarawak Cultural Village.

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       "We will have 12 international bands from countries such as Australia, China, Indonesia, Singapore, India and Korea.

       "We also have bands coming from within Sarawak as well as Sabah and Kuala Lumpur," she said at a media update on RWMF here on Friday (April 29).

       Gracie said the rest of the bands would perform on a digital stage via pre-recorded content curated specially for the festival.

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       "A lot of the digital performers are international. We're also going into areas in Sarawak where local musicians are and recording them in their natural surroundings.

       "Because many of these performers are solo musicians who can't stage a full set, this is an opportunity to bring them together and put them on the screen," she said.

       Festival content director Karen Shepherd said the festival's hybrid format allowed a mix of curated and live content for a varied programme that would be different from previous editions.

       She said the show would alternate between live and digital performances, with the digital content featuring world musicians in their own environments.

       "They've been sending us original musical material that they have recorded from wherever they are.

       "This works also for our own indigenous musicians. We've been going around Sarawak recording local musicians and their instruments and we're now able to show them in their indigenous environment," she said.

       Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) chief executive Sharzede Salleh Askor said the hybrid format would be the way forward for RWMF as it would extend the festival's reach to a wider audience.

       "The idea is to put our musicians on this platform to reach out to multiple countries and showcase Sarawak's rich diversity," she said.

       Early bird tickets are available until May 14 for physical festival goers, priced at RM150 for an adult one-day pass, RM375 (adult three-day pass), RM80 (child one-day pass), RM155 (child three-day pass) and RM400 (one-day family package for two adults and two children).

       The physical tickets can be purchased at rwmf.net.

       Those watching from home will get a two-hour show each night on the festival's dedicated platform, combining a livestream of the action at the Sarawak Cultural Village and curated digital content.

       Online viewers can buy virtual blocks at RM25 per hour depending on their preferred line-up, as each block will feature selected Sarawakian and international artistes. The virtual tickets will be sold at a later date to be announced soon.