MIRI, April 21st : Borneo Jazz Festival resuming in-person this year after two-year Covid-19 hiatus.
The sound of saxophones is expected to draw tourists to the Coco Cabana in Miri on June 22 to 26.
Theme ‘Jazz In The Jungle’, the festival will witness performances from more than 60 artists from around the world, namely from the United States, Hungary, Singapore And France. The lineup of stars for this year’s festival has been unveiled.
Minister of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts, Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said the event has a lower capacity than usual this year due to Covid-19 restrictions with a maximum of 3,000 people.
“The maximum number of attendees is 1,000 per night, so since it’s a three-night festival, we hope to meet a target of 3,000 attendees,” he said.
At the same time, he assured that the government will also monitor the number of online attendees.
Karim pointed out that last year’s Borneo Jazz Festival held virtually with an audience of 200,000.
Numbers this year are expected to lessen as this year online viewers are required to purchase tickets, compared to last year when it was staged for free.
In the meantime, Karim hopes that neighbouring country, Brunei Darussalam would consider opening its border when the festival takes place.
“Since this concert is going to be held in Miri, we do hope our border with Brunei will open by then. Because I believe there are a lot of jazz lovers on the other side who would love to come over,” he said. – TVS
