Minister of Tourism and Heritage for Sarawak, Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Dr George Chan, who announced this, said the rationale for the name change was to capitalise on the destination Borneo, a name which is associated with the images of a magical destination and to reflect the vibrancy of this festival altogether.
STB is now in the midst of reorganisation to further improve its overall tourism activities and see BJ become a viable commercial venture.
Effective 2011, BJ will be managed by STB subsidiary STB Leisure & Properties. With this move, STB will focus on the marketing and promotion of the event itself and tourism.
It has kick-started BJ’s transformation by extending the festival to become a three-day event with its Opening Night on Friday (12 May) having new features with activities happening around a few venues in the resort city of Miri.
The epicentre of the BJ’s happenings remains at the Parkcity Everly Hotel from 13-14 May. There will also be musical meetings on the Saturday afternoon of the festival followed by a Sunday Matinee.
According to STB chief executive officer Dato’ Rashid Khan, the board aims to attract 10,500 visitors to BJ with 60% of the crowd expected to be foreigners.
“STB is working with the private sectors to design tour packages to attract jazz enthusiasts from Peninsular Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Australia and Europe.
“With these packages, the visitors would be able to attend the festival at night, while during the day they can visit places of interest or participate in the local activities.”
Besides good jazz music and great company, he added, “We will also have stalls selling a wide variety of local and fusion food and beverages as well as festival memorabilia at the venue”.
BJ will have performances from various countries that will feature a wide range of jazz genre from gypsy jazz to traditional jazz. Grammy nominated Maria Muldur from the United States will be main attraction among the BJ performing groups.
Other selected jazz groups are Cunha & Piper from Brazil, SIU2 from Hong Kong, State of Monc from Holland, Les Doigts De L'Homme from France, Yuichiro Tokuda's RALYZZ DIG from Japan, Dhruv from India, Miri born Victor Yong, the Electric Carnival from Malaysia/Canada and C'QUENCE, a mixed group from Malaysia, Columbia, Venezuela, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
With BJ expected to be “sold out” music festival, it is advisable to book your admission tickets and confirmed your accommodation early to avoid last minute rush and disappointment.
Visit www.jazzborneo.com, email info@jazzborneo.com or call the Miri Visitors Information Centre at +6 085-434180 / 81 for more details.
Tickets will also be available at the Visitors’ Information Centre in Kuching, Sibu and Miri from March onwards.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Borneo Jazz 2011 - Hello Borneo Jazz, goodbye Miri International Jazz Festival
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Resort World Genting presents "Glitz"
"Glitz", comprising magic, acrobats and sand animation artworks
For whatever reasons when you are drawn to Genting Highlands, treat yourself and your loved ones to its resident show, Glitz, which is held nightly at the Pavilion in First World Plaza until end-April.
This three-part stage show comprises a magic act by Charles Bach, an acrobat show by the Puyang Huachen Acrobatic Group and sand artworks by Daria Pushankina.
Members of GLITZ with Kelvin (forth form left) posing for the media
A 14-dancers troupe, in colourful costumes, performs dance movement in between these three main acts.
Charles, who hails from the United States, is a renowned magician, illusionist and escape artist, who had entertained audiences worldwide, including Hollywood, Las Vegas, Norway, England, Taipei and on cruise ships such as the Norwegian Cruises.
He has also made many television appearances on international entertainment TV channels such as Discovery Channel and E! Entertainment.
Charles performing the illusion of the lady floating in mid-air on the sharp tip of an Excalibur sword
Among the illusion acts the Charles performed was his special cordless floating light bulb besides having a lady floating in mid-air on the sharp tip of an Excalibur sword. Others include flying kite, cutting a woman in halves and projection on the white screen tick.
His last act was escaping from the straight jacket where Charles invited two members from the audience to strap him and shackle his ankles. After which, he was lifted up towards the ceiling of the auditorium to be suspended upside down at about 10 metres from the stage!
The stage assistants getting ready to hoist up Charles who is shackle up-side-down
The challenge is for Charles to free himself as quickly as possible before the rope that is holding him is being burned to the point that it will snap.
This act is modified from other magicians’ normal performance, which was made famous by the great Houdini where he was strapped in the same way in the straight-jacket but lowered into tank filled with water.
Whenever we have a chance to be on the beach, most of us will build sand castles, write or draw something on the sand. Daria from the Ukraine will amaze you with her sand art animation.
Daria from the Ukraine show you the way to play with sand The excess sand is carefully removed by her fingers with drawn lines to enhance the details of her image creations all done within a minute or two.
The images are projected onto a large screen by a projector similar to the one used for presentation in meeting rooms.
Daria can transform form one scene or image with her hand movements on the sand to form a different story board or images. To enhance her sand art performance, she would select a piece of background music to synchronise with the story board, theme or message.
This segment of Glitz should not be missed as it is the best of all the performances. Daria has performed in various international concerts and festivals. Her recent performance was with an international symphony orchestra in Day of Lvov with a Swiss conductor.
China’s Puyang Huachen acrobatic troupe, comprising a mixed of young and not so young acrobats who perform in flexibility with their nimble bodies. They have been performing in over 40 countries with different acts to suit the audiences.
Their first act was a skipping rope routine while their other acts were based very much on their synchronised legs work in passing various sizes of drums using only their feet.
In one of the stunts, they even spin their partners with their foot works. They did a formation of human pyramids by hanging precariously in the air, balancing on their teammates’ body while those on top of the pyramid were juggling and spinning a large drum in the air with their feet in perfect balance.
Dances performances in between main acts
According Kevin Tan, Genting Malaysia Bhd’s assistant vice president of the promotions and entertainment department, said Glitz is a family show that will be on for six months until end April. The all in cost to produce this show is about RM5 million. Efforts will be made to constantly change their show’s acts for better perfection and accommodate repeat visitors to Genting expectations.
The show tickets are priced from RM70 to RM100 for adults and RM35 to RM50 for children.
There will be an automatic upgrade to VIP Seat with no additional charges exclusively for Maybankard credit card members
Ticket Price:
Type Adult Child
VIP RM100 RM50
PS1 RM70 RM35
The tickets are sold at Genting WorldCard centres, Box Office at Genting International Showroom and The Pavilion.
For enquiries and bookings, log on to www.rwgenting.com or call the hotline 03-2718 1118.
Terms and Conditions include:
- Automated upgrades are applicable at 6pm onwards on the show day and subject to available seats
- Tickets are not refundable
- Seating arrangements are automated by system
- Automatic upgrade seats for Maybankard holders are not applicable with other ongoing promotions or discounts
