Royal Belum World Drums Festival 2012 Preview at the Taiping Sentral Mall

The Natig Shirinov Rhythm Group at Taiping Sentral Mall

The Natig Shirinov Rhythm Group brought a lively and fast-paced traditional 'nagara' drums performance directly from Azerbaijan that captivated Taiping folks in an hour-long preview performance of the Royal Belum World Drums Festival 2012, held at the Taiping Sentral Mall on 21 February 2012. This "Beat The World" festival is to showcase Malaysia to the rest of the world.



The Natig Shirinov Rhythm Group was one of the three international drum groups that took part in this eye-opener event and Taiping was the first stop of a six-day event that also includes the prestigious Royal Belum Forest, in Perak, Malaysia.

The Royal Belum Forest contains the largest contiguous expanse of unprotected forest in Peninsular Malaysia. It is also one of the world’s most biologically diverse regions and Asia’s highest priority areas for biodiversity conservation.

The leader of the group, Natig Shirinovis is an Azerbaijani percussionist and the greatest nagara player who revolutionized nagara percussion technique by experimenting with measures and hand drumming styles. He holds the title of Honored Artist of Azerbaijan, one of the highest musical awards in Azerbaijan, by the decree of the President of Azerbaijan.

The group has received world acclaim and won numerous awards playing classical Azerbaijani traditional tunes and rhythms in a modern folk setting and sometimes with contemporary jazz for a unique fusion of Eastern and Western music.

The other two international groups were Vietnam and Thailand. Vietnam was represented by the Bonita group which gave a very entertaining and lively performance in their traditional costumes with music provided by beats using bamboo and drums and wind instruments.



The Absolutely Thai group from Thailand was dressed in Thai national costumes and provided a colourful and fast drum beats performance and the crowd really enjoyed it very much.



The other international drum troupes are from Japan, Indonesia, Singapore, India, Ghana and Brazil. The final performance of the Royal Belum World Drums Festival 2012 will be held In Gerik on the 26 February.