Reviewed by Ray Smith, Saturday 11th March 2023.
Day 2 of WOMADelaide 2023 was always going to be a shorter one for me, having been invited to see the Australian Dance Theatre's opening night of Daniel Riley and Rachael Maza's Tracker on the same day, an experience I simply could not pass up, but that's another story, and another review.
WOMADelaide is many things. It's a smorgasbord of international music, dance, culture, food, politics and sometimes a fusion of any or all of the above, but what the brochure doesn't tell you is that it is also a four day hike, with an eclectic soundtrack, and an exercise in serious decision making. Do I pack a lunch and walk the 4,000 kilometres from Stage 3 to Stage 7 through 20,000 people all heading in the opposite direction in order to see [insert name of act] or do I head for the Global Village, buy a hat and some falafel and see if there is any space amongst the accessible seating near the Foundation Stage and wait for [insert name of act]?
I always enter the site from the Frome Road entrance, which places me very close to Stage 7, so that is my usual first port of call.
Ailan Songs Project were to play there at 1.00pm, which the WOMADelaide blurb describes as, "... a contemporary exploration of historical songs from the Torres Strait in the Coral Sea", which sounds a little dry but, when you hear what indigenous singer and producer Jessie Lloyd has done in this collaborative work, it is anything but dry. As a lover of traditional music from my own Anglo-Celtic background, I am always keen to hear other traditional music, music that has been passed down from generation to generation, shifting and morphing over years, decades, centuries. Ailan Songs (Ailan translates as island) are folk songs, sung by ordinary people as part of their ordinary lives, in local languages and dialects. They are historical documents, not just of the movement of peoples or their daily activities, but also of attitudes, concerns and beliefs at the time that these songs were first written. It is utterly beautiful, and deeply moving.
Quinteto Astor Piazzolla were playing Stage 2, which is not too far from Stage 7 and is on the way to the Global Village for lunch anyway, and it would be late enough in the day for the queues to have shortened. Quinteto Astor Piazzolla are wonderful musicians, and they are brilliant promoters of the work of the late Astor Piazzolla, who is said to have revolutionised Tango. The Bandoneon parts alone are enough to stop a passer-by in their tracks but, while I'm as revolutionary as the next guy, as long as the next guy is also slightly to the left of Che Guevara, when it comes to Tango, I'm an Osvaldo Pugliese kind of chap. "Pugliese! Pugliese! Pugliese!" as an Argentinian musician friend of mine is likely to bellow at any given moment, in praise of the composer and his recognition as the Saint of Music. My dear friend Franco even sent a photograph of Pugliese to keep in my instrument case. "No harm will come to you as you play, when Pugliese is watching" he explained.
The food stall queues were just as long as yesterday.
MEUTE were opening on the Foundation Stage but their uniforms and uniformity left me cold. Great individual players without a doubt, but it seemed lifeless to me.
NSS is a newcomer to WOMADelaide. In 2020 the WOMADelaide Foundation partnered with Northern Sound System (NSS) in Elizabeth, to the north of Adelaide. When I was teaching instrumental music in the area a few years ago, NSS was on every student's lips, and the excitement amongst the senior students was palpable. This is a brilliant initiative, and one that will actively and culturally support emerging young artists, particularly those of multi-cultural or First Nations backgrounds. It's like the University of WOMADelaide, a stunning idea made real.
Bab L'Bluz on Stage 3 are an amazing example of why WOMADelaide and WOMAD anywhere exists. Moroccan psychedelic rock? Yes please!
The opportunity to dip a tentative toe into the music and language and traditions of another culture is the opportunity of a lifetime, and is really only affordable to the wealthier folks among us, who can choose to travel to distant places and experience all that those places have to offer. WOMADelaide brings the World to you.
Buy your tickets early, because there is a reason that it sells out so quickly.
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