All systems go for NusaFest concert despite setbacks, Wings, Search and Butterfingers headliners

Arif Zikri
·4-min read
Malay Mail
Malay Mail

KUALA LUMPUR, June 28 — The upcoming NusaFest 2023 is bringing in the top guns of the local music industry as headliners for their two-day arts and music festival happening July 8 and 9.

With less than two weeks before the main event taking place at Bandar Malaysia in Sungai Besi, NusaFest has confirmed that legendary local bands Search and Wings as well as Butterfingers are set to rock the crowd next weekend as headliners.

According to organiser Shiraz Project’s director Shirazdeen Abdul Karim, it’s been a long time (almost ten years) since Search and Wings shared the stage together and it was the perfect time to bring the legends back.

Butterfingers has also been included back in the Nusafest lineup after being first announced in the 2020 concert announcement, despite the original Nusafest lineup being rejigged due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Butterfingers’ last concert together was in 2019 which was their Transcendence 20th Anniversary Concert in Stadium Melawati, Shah Alam which saw them electrifying over 8,000 fans.

Local grunge band Butterfingers last concert was in 2019 during their Transcendence 20th anniversary concert in Shah Alam. — Picture by Ahmad Zamzahuri.
Local grunge band Butterfingers last concert was in 2019 during their Transcendence 20th anniversary concert in Shah Alam. — Picture by Ahmad Zamzahuri.

Local grunge band Butterfingers last concert was in 2019 during their Transcendence 20th anniversary concert in Shah Alam. — Picture by Ahmad Zamzahuri.

NusaFest, which aims to bring forth talents from the Nusantara in a massive festival with 24 artists from Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, had faced setbacks previously.

The concert was initially supposed to be held in 2020 but was cancelled due to the pandemic and was re-announced to take place in February this year with a new lineup, but was delayed again to July due to complications.

“The second time we announced, there were a lot of problems such as with the Central Agency for Application for Filming and Performance by Foreign Artistes (Puspal).

“We’ve received a lot of late passport submissions from the artists and we just didn’t have enough time to get all the approval from Puspal. Another reason for the postponement was (the lack of) sponsors.

“To postpone the event yet again was indeed a very hard decision for us,” Shiraz said at the Nusafest’s headliners announcement press conference yesterday.

Shiraz added that the lack of sponsors and support for the event had made it more difficult for them, revealing that they had presented NusaFest for the Digital Music Content Fund (DKD Muzik) and claimed it was approved during the meeting.

However, they did not receive any funding until now.

“I don’t want to look down at other organisers and I’m not trying to bring them down but out of all those who have received (the DKD fund) I think we deserve it more,” Shiraz said.

The full and confirmed lineups for the upcoming NusaFest 2023 happening this July 8 and 9 at Bandar Malaysia in Sungai Besi, Kuala Lumpur. — Picture courtesy of NusaFest.
The full and confirmed lineups for the upcoming NusaFest 2023 happening this July 8 and 9 at Bandar Malaysia in Sungai Besi, Kuala Lumpur. — Picture courtesy of NusaFest.

The full and confirmed lineups for the upcoming NusaFest 2023 happening this July 8 and 9 at Bandar Malaysia in Sungai Besi, Kuala Lumpur. — Picture courtesy of NusaFest.

Shiraz pointed out that the reason he was willing to take the risk in proceeding with NusaFest is because he saw it as an opportunity to strengthen the fanbase of local musicians as it was vital for artists to get invited to perform internationally.

Another reason he is doing this is because no one else is willing to do it.

He added that NusaFest is only the beginning as they’re planning to bring the RM4 million festival to Indonesia and Singapore, however, this can only happen with the support from the government and the success of this upcoming Nusafest is crucial in determining its future.

At the moment, although ticket sales for Nusafest are slow, Shiraz is confident it can cater to the 15,000 crowd expectation for the festival with fifty per cent of the current ticket sales from international concert-goers.

Legendary rock band Search will be performing around seven songs at NusaFest. — Picture by Ahmad Zamzahuri.
Legendary rock band Search will be performing around seven songs at NusaFest. — Picture by Ahmad Zamzahuri.

Legendary rock band Search will be performing around seven songs at NusaFest. — Picture by Ahmad Zamzahuri.

Meanwhile, according to Search frontman, Datuk Amy or his real name Suhaimi Abdul Rahman, it didn’t take them long to decide to join in the lineups of NusaFest as he sees the potential in the festival.

“I just hope all parties involved give a good campaign because this NusaFest involves a lot of things not just music but food, arts and culture - it this involves the collaboration between three countries as well.

“This is definitely something new, hopefully all those involved can give a good campaign so the brand can grow to be a success.

“And their target is not just to end it here but it can grow even bigger. For example they can bring it to Jakarta or Singapore and that’s very important. We can showcase what we have to offer and that is very healthy for the scene,” he said.

There will be a total of 12 local bands along with 11 bands from Indonesia and one band from Singapore who will be entertaining crowds at the two-day festival.

Amongst the artists that will be performing next weekend includes Iqbal M (Malaysia), Fourtwnty (Indonesia), The Pinholes (Singapore), Efek Rumah Kaca (Indonesia), Salamusik (Malaysia), MonoloQue (Malaysia) and many more.

NusaFest will be a celebration of music, arts and crafts with not just two stages but also a marketplace called Pasar Nusa where they will be selling arts and crafts from the Nusantara region.

Food and beverages will also be available at their Warung Nusa.

Tickets for the festival are priced from RM200 for two days, for more information on NusaFest, click here.

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