Reviewed by Ray Smith, Friday 11th March 2022.
For the first time in over two years, the flying foxes of Adelaide's Botanic Park had to share their glorious space with the great many-headed, as we finally were able to gather under their shady trees, to celebrate the biggest festival of world arts, music, and dance on the Australian calendar.
WOMADelaide was back.
The Foundation Stage, the Festival's largest and most central stage, was host to Narungga and Kaurna man, Jamie Goldsmith, who was to welcome us to country, just as his late father had for many years before. He greeted us in the musical, 'water tumbling over stones', Kaurna language of this particular part of the country, before cutting the air with the leaping tones of a didgeridoo.
He then addressed us in English, as another man blew scented smoke towards us from the stage, and he introduced the songs and dances that would welcome us to Tainmuntilla, the Kaurna name for where we were gathered, which translates as Mistletoe Place, a name that I very much prefer. His voice rose and fell as he began singing the first song, his clapsticks beating out the rhythm as four dancers entered the stage, their feet pounding the boards in time with them, and it was then that we all knew that we were home, and we were welcomed.
The first utterance of WOMADelaide 2022 was an impressive one, as Cairo-born Joseph Tawadros appeared centre stage to present some of his compositions for the oud, along with his brother James on percussion, and a 54 piece Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. The sound was astonishing, as Tawadros' hand flicked almost carelessly over the fretless fingerboard of his oud, guiding the string sections of the orchestra away from the comfortable and familiar world of equal temperament, and into his world of notes between notes. Conducted by Benjamin Northey, the orchestra took up the challenge eagerly as the music moved from the gentle, lush and meditative into furious, exciting crescendos as West and East met in a collaborative embrace that embodied the very spirit of WOMADelaide.
Stage 2 was given over to Mutti Mutti man, Kutcha Edwards, who has carved an international career as a songwriter and reconciliation activist. A survivor of the Stolen Generation, after being taken from his mother at the age of eighteen months, Edwards is well known for his ability to tell the stories of his life, and that of others who have suffered similar injustices, with clarity, humour and music. Rock/Reggae outfits Blackfire and the Black Arm Band formed parts of his launch pad and were the seeding grounds for his own Bidgee Blues style.
The Foundation Stage exploded as Danzal Baker, also known as Baker Boy, filled the stage with a tightly choreographed performance of his unique take on Rap. From the remote communities of Milingimbi and Maningrida, Baker Boy conveys his message in English and the Yolngu Matha language of Arnhem Land, and while his brand of music is not at all to my taste, I have to concede that this was one of the most crafted live performances that I have ever seen at WOMADelaide. The audience adored it.
One of my favourite stages at WOMADelaide, is the Moreton Bay Stage. Tucked neatly beneath the sprawling, gnarled and ancient Moreton Bay Fig trees of the Adelaide Botanic Park, the venue offers an intimacy that all other stages lack and is run with razor sharp precision.
Today it was the venue for the first live performance of a new venture by Parvyn, the Punjabi-Australian singer, songwriter, musician, and dancer made famous for her work in the cult psychedelic band The Bombay Royale, who took Bollywood off the screen and onto stages all over the world. No stranger to live performance, Parvyn began her career in her father Dya Singh's band as a child, and is an accomplished classical singer and dancer within the Punjabi tradition, but today's show was something entirely different and yet was so deeply resonant of her background in Sikh devotional music.
Her debut solo album, Sa, is a very personal exploration, and involves the risky and complex marriage of the contemporary western forms of pop, jazz, and electronica with the classical Indian music and dance that she was immersed in from birth. It was a marriage made in heaven and we were invited to the joyous reception.
It was utterly entrancing as we watched this extraordinary artist bear her soul on stage, accompanied by a group of highly acclaimed musicians, including her multi-instrumentalist husband, Josh Bennett. Such was the power of her performance, I could not bring myself to listen to anything else that day, and left the park with her soaring, spiralling voice still ringing in my grateful ears. I simply have to buy the album, and I am already looking forward to her next performance, for the first one was a major triumph.
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