Borneo Jazz Festival 2022 in Miri, Sarawak

Jazz Borneo 2022

After a two-year hiatus, the Borneo Jazz Festival 2022 is back once again. This event brings musicians of diverse cultural backgrounds together to celebrate jazz music and empower the local community.

This time, the festival will be themed “Jazz in The Jungle” and held from 24 to 26 June 2022 in a hybrid format to reach the greater jazz-loving community worldwide. The physical jazz event will occur at Coco Cabana in Miri, while viewers can livestream one-hour blocks of their performances from home.

Borneo Jazz Festival 2022 in Miri, Sarawak

Copacabana Borneo Jazz 2022
At the last jazz festival in 2019 here.

With musical content curated by No Black Tie Presents, Malaysia’s foremost jazz promoter, the 17th edition of the Borneo Jazz Festival will offer a spectacular mix of jazz and hip-hop, tribal vibes, world beats, and electro-jazz grooves.

Watch out for an eclectic mix of jazz musicians, rappers and DJs from the USA, Hungary, Singapore, France, Malaysia and more lighting up the Borneo Jazz stage to celebrate cultural diversity, tradition and innovation.

Sarawak Arts Council’s band, Sarawak Symphony Orchestra (SONS), will also take to the Borneo Jazz stage for the first time in continued collaboration with the Sarawak Tourism Board, intending to lift Sarawak’s local music scene.

Borneo Jazz Festival 2022 Performers

While an impressive list of performers and artists has been confirmed, below is a screenshot of them;

Borneo Jazz Performers 2022
Some of the performers for the 2022 Borneo Jazz Festival.
Artists Borneo Jazz 2022 Festival
The second set of artists and performers for BJF2022.
Performers at Borneo Jazz 2022
More performers for BJF2022.
Borneo Jazz 2022 Artist
Artists at the jazz festival in Miri.

The announcement of the highly anticipated annual event was made on the 20th of April 2022 by;

  • Yang Berhormat Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, the Minister for Tourism, Creative Industries and Performing Arts
  • Yang Berhormat Datuk Sebastian Ting Chew Yew, Deputy Minister of Tourism Sarawak
  • Yang Berhormat Mr. Dennis Ngau, Chairman of Sarawak Tourism Board
  • Mr Hii Chang Kee, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism, Creative Industries and Performing Arts Sarawak
  • Puan Sharzede Datu Haji Salleh Askor, Chief Executive Officer of Sarawak Tourism Board
  • Captain Nasaruddin A Bakar, Chief Operating Officer of MASwings representing Malaysia Aviation Group
  • Stephanie Kuan, representing artistic director No Black Tie
Launching Borneo Jazz Festival 2022
Dato Karim made the announcement for the jazz festival.

During his announcement speech, Yang Berhormat Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, the Minister for Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts, said,

“With the theme “Jazz in the Jungle”, this year’s Borneo Jazz is about rejuvenating the jazz scene while being surrounded by the wonders of nature that are in abundance in Miri, the gateway to Northern Sarawak.

As we all know, artists and musicians have all been affected by the lockdowns, so Borneo Jazz festival serves as the perfect platform to rejuvenate, rediscover, rekindle and rebuild the jazz connection that was interrupted for the past two years.”

“The hybrid concert is the best way to go this year based on the positive response we have received from the Borneo Jazz Virtual Experience last year in 2021.

For the record, the Borneo Jazz Virtual Experience 2021 three-day journey garnered 244,637 online viewers from 43 countries. This year, we hope to have a wider outreach to international audiences encompassing more countries.”

Announcement Borneo Jazz Festival 2022
Organisers and sponsors of the jazz festival.

Chief Executive Officer of Sarawak Tourism Board, Puan Sharzede Datu Haji Salleh Askor said,

“We are pleased to once again bring music lovers in Malaysia and around the world physically back to Borneo Jazz festival in Miri, the northern gateway of Sarawak”

“Last year, the music festival reached a broader audience given the virtual format, and we hope to continue this traction once again this year. Our goal is to provide our Sarawakian artists with an even bigger platform for their artistry to be recognised around the world.”

9M-MWF Fokker MasWings Aircraft
MasWings staff among the rest of the organisers and sponsors.

Chief Operating Officer of MASwings, Captain Nasaruddin A Bakar, said,

“We are delighted to support and celebrate the world’s culture through music by transporting travellers from all over the globe to the Borneo Jazz festival this year. Travellers will be able to experience Malaysia’s proud history of its warm hospitality the moment they step onboard through our service and offerings that embody Malaysia’s incredible facility, capturing its rich traditions, culture and cuisines throughout their journey with us.”

The announcement was followed by the unveiling of Sarawak Tourism’s ‘More to Discover’ livery on three (3) MASwings ATR 72-500 aircraft as part of the one-year collaboration with the Sarawak Tourism Board.

The interior of the aircraft is also decorated with images of Sarawak’s tourist attractions, such as events, food and culture, and ecotourism destinations.

Captain Nasa, who expressed his pleasure for MASwings to be the airline bearing the special livery, added,

“We are pleased to work together with Sarawak Tourism on the campaign which is expected to provide great visibility to promote Sarawak to the domestic market. Being the Pulse of Borneo, MASwings serves a specialised market, meeting tourists’ travel needs in terms of connectivity and affordable transportation.

With the launch of Sarawak Tourism’s ‘More to Discover’ campaign on our turboprops, we trust that it will certainly help fulfil the government’s agenda to stimulate growth in tourist visits through tourism.”

Building up Sustainable Musical Tourism in Sarawak

Miri Cococabana
Cococabana is the official venue for the jazz festival in Miri.

Evelyn Hii, the Artistic Director of the Borneo Jazz Festival 2022, said,

“Our focus apart from positioning Borneo Jazz as a top-notch Jazz Festival in the region is to empower and raise cultural awareness through Borneo Jazz Talent Search and Borneo Jazz FAB LAB platform, providing performance and networking opportunities, giving awards and recognition, as we strongly believe in promoting sustainability in the growth of arts & culture within the local community, and the importance of cultural exchange in fostering greater understanding between people of different cultural backgrounds which aligns with the STB’s and the state’s sustainable journey.”

Borneo Jazz will feature performances by the nationwide Borneo Jazz Talent Search winners launched on April 1 for DJ, Jazz, and Open categories. Together with Borneo Jazz Festival FAB Lab 2022, aspiring musicians will be given a chance to grow their musical talent alongside renowned local and international artists while also contributing to the growth of Miri as the region’s jazz centre.

The Eco Drum and Eco-Art projects will be additional activities around the Borneo Jazz Festival. Both aim to raise awareness of the need to create a more eco-friendly and sustainable city.

Borneo Jazz Festival Ticket Promotions with Malaysia Airlines

To drive visitors and inbound traffic to Sarawak, Malaysia Airlines, the national carrier under Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG), has been named the official airline partner of the Borneo Jazz Music Festival.

As the official airline partner for Borneo Jazz 2022, Malaysia Airlines, supported by its sister company Firefly, will offer attractive deals of up to 15% discount on flights from Peninsular Malaysia, London, Australia and some ASEAN destinations to cities in Sarawak. Firefly will fly passengers from Penang to Kuching via its jet operations.

To enjoy the discount, music lovers joining the Borneo Jazz Festival must insert a unique promo code (BORNEO22) between 25 April 2022 and 15 May 2022 for travels between 1 and 30 June 2022 to enjoy significant savings. These deals are available exclusively for those purchasing the standard pass to the Borneo Jazz Festival through the airline’s websites.

Jazz in the Jungle
The official poster for the event.

Borneo Jazz ticket prices

Jazz music lovers can purchase BJ tickets starting 22nd April 2022 from the website jazzborneo.com.

Borneo Jazz 2022 tickets for the public category

  • 1 Day Pass is priced at RM128 per ticket
  • 2 Day Pass is RM228 per ticket
  • 3 Day Pass is RM338 per ticket

Borneo Jazz 2022 tickets for students and senior citizens

  • 1 Day Pass is priced at RM88 per ticket
  • 2 Day Pass is RM128 per ticket
  • 3 Day Pass is RM188 per ticket

For those who want to enjoy BJ virtually, tickets are RM25 per one-hour block. Visit BJ’s official website for more information on the Borneo Jazz Festival 2022.

Karim also unveiled the “Sarawak More to Discover” display on MASwings’ luggage compartment for the ATR 72-500 aircraft. Sarawak’s visibility, seen in three aircraft, showcases elements of the five pillars of Sarawak tourism – Culture, Nature, Adventure, Food and Festival (CANFF).

Jazz Festival Miri Sarawak
A photograph from the 2019 jazz festival here at Cococabana in Miri.

Conclusion

This is one event that jazz lovers should not miss, especially if you live in Malaysia or from neighbouring countries. I have attended many of the jazz events held here since 2013, and the only time I could not participate was during the last two years due to the Covid pandemic.

My last experience was during the Borneo Jazz Festival 2019, the second time it was held at the new venue of Cococabana. It was also the 14th year for the event. The Borneo Jazz Festival 2022 is one of the premier music festivals in Malaysia. It has been around for over a decade and is highly recommended to experience.

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