Sape, with alias names of Sampet, Sampeh and Sapeh, is a traditional musical instrument of the Borneo tribes. Sape is more popular among the Orang Ulu.

Initially, sape was a 2-strings with 3 frets plucking instrument, and it has evolved up to 5-strings or 6-strings with a range of more than three octaves today. Modern sapes nowadays also exist in the form of electronic one.

Personally, I love the sound of sape, very Asian and ethnic. You can actually watch live sape performance here in the Sarawak Cultural village.

To read more about Sape, find out here.
By the way, there’s an international sape player which I’d love to mention here. He is Jerry Kamit. You can catch him this coming Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF 2007) as he will be performing on stage too!