Musicians see light with more public and social events

 By Olivia Miwil - May 15, 2022 @ 2:10pm

Jesseltone Project band heaves a sigh of relief to get more gigs as the country is moving towards endemic phase..Picture and video by - NSTP/Olivia Miwil.

KOTA KINABALU: Local band, Jesseltone Project heaved a sigh of relief as the country moves into the endemic phase.

Its spokesperson Nik Mazrun Munap said some of the band members were struggling financially during the two-year movement control order as public and social events were restricted.

"Four of our band members are full time musicians, including myself as a busker.

"It gets better now, we have gigs as there are more events requiring performances," said Nik, who played the guitar during a harvest festival organised by a brewery at Riverson, The Walk here last night.

Known as Cahaya D'folk in 2010, the band has been incorporating fusion folk music concepts in their performances. During that time, they included Kulintangan, Malay and Brunei drums, as well as the violin.

Nik added that such a genre could show people that traditional musical instruments could also blend well and produce melodious contemporary music.

They rebranded themselves three years ago as Jesseltone Project after merging with Sarawakians to showcase performances with more Borneo musical instruments.

Sarawakian Daniel Felix James, who plays Sabah's sakafi, said it is a traditional instrument for the Lundayeh people in Sabah in Sipitang.

"The instrument is 'dying' (less known by the people) already. The same goes for the sundatang.

"Through our performances, we hope more people would know there are instruments similar to those in Sarawak," he said, adding both the sape and sakafi have differences in the way they are played.

Daniel hoped to bring more traditional musical instruments to Sabah to be played at festivals.