Reviewed by
Ray Smith, Sunday 12th March 2017.
The third day of the
WOMADelaide Festival opened to a threatening sky and the Bureau of Meteorology warning of a potential storm over Adelaide. Did the potential for bad weather affect the attendance numbers? Not at all.
The Piyut Ensemble from Israel took to Stage 3, assembling as an unbroken line of men across the back of the entire stage. The 14 piece group featured an oud player, two percussionists, a flute player and 10 singers. The exuberance of the singing, clapping, dancing and playing was infectious as the voices chased each other around the stage in the manner of the Carnatic singing of South India.
Rather than having a principal singer leading a choir of voices as is commonly the case in liturgical singing, the "triggers" seemed to come from random members of the ensemble who would sing a line solo to then have the choir repeat it. This could, of course, be just excellent rehearsal and preparation and not random at all.
Occasionally the performance would break down to a single voice or a brief instrumental before swelling back up into a joyous crescendo of voices. It was quite beautiful and hypnotic.
Bokante played their second WOMADelaide show on the Foundation Stage.
I had seen glimpses of them in their earlier performance on Stage 2 but it was so well attended that I could see very little detail. The USA/Guadeloupe group is headed by Michael League,
Chris McQueen and Bob Lanzetti of Snarky Puppy fame and is brand new. So new in fact that their final show for the festival was their third show ever!
In order to pull off such an audacious coup requires courage, self-belief and extraordinary musicianship and this outfit has all of those things in spades. Jamie Haddad, Andre Ferrari and Keita Ogawa handled the three percussion positions while League, McQueen and Lanzetti shouldered the guitar and bass parts,
Roosevelt Collier played lap steel guitar and the tri-lingual vocalist Malika Tirolien fronted the band.
The guitars sang in unison with Zappa like precision while the percussionists melded into a single, subtle rhythmic force. Collier's slide was busily searching for notes never before heard while Tirolien channelled
Angelique Kidjo and
Grace Slick. It was incredible. Many contemporary ensembles use the term fusion in their press releases, this ensemble defines it.
On Stage 3 a large and complex set up heralded the arrival of Archie Roach for his only performance at this year's festival and this beloved Australian icon was greeted exuberantly by an enormous crowd of fans for this seated show.
The drizzle turned into heavy rain, the seating became small pools of water amongst the sodden grass and the thousands who had gathered stayed where they were as an emotional Roach blessed them all.
The deeply personal and highly emotive songs told of big losses and small gains, huge defeats and tiny victories, a misspent youth, and the growth into wisdom and dignity. He sang of stolen children and the broken lines of family that are so difficult to trace, of his country, his community, his friendships, his dreams and, most often, the children. A recurring theme in his writing.
He was supported by a strong ensemble of skilled and empathetic musicians and backup vocalists and was joined by his old friend the actor, Indigenous Elder and quiet activist Uncle Jack Charles for one song together.
The esteem in which Archie Roach is held has to be experienced to be believed and that respectful notoriety crosses generations and was ably demonstrated when Roach welcomed the young Aboriginal Rapper, "Briggs" to the stage for the final song. Briggs, inspired by Roach's stark song of tragedy,
Took the Children Away has written a sequel that offers hope and a sense of celebration squarely aimed at a new generation of First Nations people entitled,
The Children Came Back.
The performance was stunning and if anyone spotted a dampness around my eyes at the end of the show they should put it down to sitting in the rain for an hour or so being beguiled by the best storyteller Australia has to offer.
DD Dumbo appeared on Stage 2 for their only performance but it was all but impossible to get within 50 metres of the stage. I caught glimpses of an electric guitar, a bass clarinet and a drum kit but could not find a good viewpoint anywhere. The main reason for my discomfort was that the performance was really good and attracted a great crowd so I found a handy tree and sat down to listen.
I got the impression that quite a deal of looping was going on as the guitar would solo over its own motifs as the drums pounded and the clarinet interjected. The vocals were clear and had a "pop" which put me in mind of the voice of early Sting recordings.
The songs were strong, quirky and intelligent and the three players can handle their instruments alright although I think that some of the sounds I was hearing were in fact samples. There was a Tanpura drone that seemed to be running along with everything else, I could hear some form of flute that seemed to not be independent of the guitar and I distinctly heard a Willow or Harmonic Flute that must have been played by the clarinettist.
I hope they play in Adelaide again, I would like to see them.
The
Philip Glass Ensemble assembled on Stage 2 to deliver one performance to accompany the screening of Godfrey Reggio's classic film, Koyaanisqatsi. The film was the first in the Qatsi Trilogy in 1983 and was followed by Powaqqatsi in 1988 and Naqoyqatsi in 1999. The composer,
Philip Glass, celebrates his 80th birthday this year.
A very large, seated crowd appeared a good 30 minutes before the scheduled start of the show, many of them sitting rather guiltily on chairs purloined from around the food stalls in the Global Village. Well, it was rather soggy underfoot.
The performance was pretty much what I had expected since I know the piece and the film very well but I think it came as a bit of a shock to others as people started leaving about half an hour into the show much to the disgruntlement of the huddled masses. There were a few mixing issues but all in all an excellent performance.
Obviously, seven stages are not enough for a 25th anniversary WOMADelaide, so an eighth one was added.
The Attractor Stage is custom built for dancers and Dancenorth, Lucy Guerin Inc., and Senyawa took to it at 10.15 pm.
Dancenorth is a contemporary
Dance Company based in Townsville in Tropical North Queensland and this series of performances saw them collaborate with choreographers Gideon Obarzanek and Lucy Guerin, and the Javanese trance duo Senyawa.
The choreography was brilliant and the
Dance Company itself has a well-earned reputation for innovative and exciting works that goes back decades.
Senyawa made some extraordinary sounds on some very strange instruments.
The whole effect was quite surreal and dreamlike, but I was soaked to the skin and frozen to the bone, so I squelched off into the night in search of sustenance.
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