SEPILOK, the Sabah nature preserve immersed in the wonders of nature and its pristine rainforest, is the dedicated home to the great apes, the magnificent orang utans.
The Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre, a 43sq km centrepiece, is globally renowned for protecting and safeguarding these endangered primates. Nestled in the Kabili-Sepilok Forest Reserve and administered by the Sabah Wildlife Department, the centre also rehabilitates and provides a safe haven for 20 orphaned and injured orang utans. Complemented by an animal clinic, a treatment ward and nurseries, it is a wondrous sanctuary for other animals, too.
So, imagine the surprise when Sepilok became associated with, of all things, jazz — a festival for the past three years and lately, the inaugural Bakat Sepilok Jazz talent contest.
The contest spotlights budding musicians in a place far removed from the jazz scene, usually imagined as a dimly lit night spot smack in the middle of an urban jungle shoplot. Devoted musicians experiment with jazz sub-genres like bebop, cool or fusion, an adventurous amalgamation that has its roots in the harmonic shouts and hymns of American Black slaves, shackled then to labour in the cotton fields.
Now, more than century later, jazz flourishes in labyrinthine melodies, frenetic signature tune and chord changes, complex improvisation and eclectic chops. Not once would the majestic orang utan resonate in this worldly jazz ambience, but that's the point and novelty of Bakat Sepilok Jazz, and the winners will be showcased at this year's Sepilok Jazz next month.
The jazz festival continues its altruistic mission, raising urgent funds for sea turtle conservation at the Walai Penyu Conservation Park on Libaran Island, off Sandakan. In an era hampered by climate crises and slow government response, Sepilok Jazz strives for a celebratory blend of nature and community in the spirit of its living forest, seas and animal kingdom.
This is uniqueness beyond the archetypal jazz image: conservation campaigned in the classic jazz trio of piano, acoustic bass and drums, textured with tribal percussion, whistles, chants and traditional and exotic instruments.
While the peninsula has its fair share of jazz festivals — the Malaysian Jazz Piano Festival and the Royal Selangor Jazz Festival to name two — they are serenely "conservative", compared with the natural vibe and resonance of Sepilok Jazz.
While its remote venue may deter ardent fans from venturing a costly trip to Sandakan, improvisatory jazz needs a receptive harbour wherever they are performed, whether nurtured in urban locales or incubated in dense rainforest in the heartlands. Far from the cultural graveyard of ultra-conservative suffocation of performers and performances, jazz, Sepilok style, is the reverberating feedback to this conundrum.
With its rich cultural and whimsical backdrop, Sepilok's jazz will highlight sparkling instrumentalists acting not only as the genus' flame keepers but also championing for conservation and animal survival.