Two weeks ago, the Jeff and Vida Band performed at the 12th annual Rainforest World Music Festival. The festival is on the northwest tip of the island of Borneo, outside of Kuching, the capital of the Sarawak region of Malaysia. They host just one string band each year, and we were fortunate enough to be selected for this year’s festival.

Jeff Burke and Vida Wakeman have performed and toured actively as a duo for the last 8 years and most recently they recorded Selma Chalk, (to be released 10/1/09) with a Colorado-based band. The group includes myself on 5-string banjo, Justin Hoffenberg on fiddle, Greg Schochet on mandolin and archtop guitar, and Will Downes on bass.

The festival takes place at the Sarawak Cultural Village, an interactive center with exhibitions on the more than 20 local Borneo tribes, and over 20,000 attendees came to the festival. We were the only group from the US, while the rest came from Chile, Portugal, Poland, Hungary, China, Korea, France, Tanzania, Morocco, Finland, Indonesia, and Malaysia

The band made the 36-hour journey to Borneo, flying from Denver to Los Angeles to Taipei to Kuala Lumpur to Kuching and a bus to Santubong Resort. At the end of this journey we enjoyed the sunset while swimming in the South China Sea (still oblivious to the numerous stinging jellyfish in the area), a dinner of unpronounceable and unrecognizable local dishes, and a few pints of Tiger beer.

The festival begins each afternoon with a series of workshops, and each band member was placed in eclectic settings ranging from 10 guitarists in one group, or 12 women vocalists, or all the tiniest instruments at the festival (including a mandolin, a Brazilian cavaquinho, a Chinese pipa, an Andean charango, and more). “Funsionistas” was my first workshop and included a local tribesman playing a sape, a Malaysian percussionist, a Moroccan on Stratocaster, an Aussie guitarist, and a Korean man playing a clangy cymbal. We each discussed the history of our respective instruments, either in English or using a translator, and played a short solo piece. Then we tried to make music as an ensemble.

While the potential for disaster was close at hand, most of the four workshops I participated in had some genuine moments of cohesiveness and fun. In the “Strings with Energy” workshop, Jeff and I played 9 lb Hammer over a Moroccan percussionist followed by a traditional Chinese melody entitled Kangdang Quingge with two members of Red Chamber (I was familiar with the tune from Abigail Washburn’s Sparrow Quartet album of 2008). One of the best moments was watching Vida sing Take This Hammer at the “Women’s Voices‚Ķ..” workshop and with 2 of the Zawose sisters (from Tanzania) clapping and dancing along.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Not to discount the notion that music as a universal language, as the workshops illustrated. As did the late-night jamming. Groups from 5 continents found much musical common ground and shared tunes to the wee hours. We played Polish tunes in 7/8, Hungarian gypsy tunes played traditionally, and then jamming on them through the gypsy jazz filter with the French band Poum Tchack’s, alongside our Big Sciota and Y’all Come.

One of the highpoints was getting to hear Kumar Karthigesu from the Malaysian group AkashA take a sitar solo on Lady Be Good. Though maybe the Maori tribesman singing Harper Valley PTA takes the cake, yet the Finns and Poles attempting to sing the Star Spangled Banner as we climbed on the bus to make the 36-hour journey home was quite hilarious.

Sunday’s grand finale was a spectacle beyond belief. The Zawose Family from Tanzania laid down a drumbeat, and each of the 17 bands came out one at a time and performed a short piece over their groove. I think I can safely say there has never been a Muleskinner Blues performed quite like that. The extravaganza culminated with all 17 bands on stage playing and jamming for a solid 20 minutes of pure unadorned rhythmic dance party.

One of the most moving moments of the weekend happened during the final moments of the finale, and is an image that sums up the experience. At the front of the stage was a Moroccan man in traditional dress, a New Zealand Maori man in a grass skirt, a New Wave Korean percussionist, and a Tanzanian woman, all unabashedly dancing and gyrating together with 100 musicians from all over the planet behind them, and 10,000 adulating fans in front.

Jake Schepps

Jake tells us that a number of acoustic string acts will be showcasing as well this year, including Abigail Washburn’s Sparrow Quartet, Laurie Lewis and the RIght Hands, Bill Evan’s Soul Grass with Sam Bush, Bearfoot, and more.

A full conference schedule can be found online.

The music is adventurous and challenging, and will appeal strongly to fans of modern banjo music – and banjo players who pursue this style themselves. Among the more ambitious tracks is a Schepps string quartet, written for banjo, violin, guitar and bass.

Audio samples from several of the pieces can be found on Jake’s web site, where orders for Ten Thousand Leaves are being accepted now.

In addition to the players mentioned above, the new release also features Ryan Drickey on violin and Adam Aijala on guitar.

Jake also has a YouTube clip of himself and his band (Expedition) with Matt Flinner guesting from a show earlier this year.