WOMADelaide 2006 Review

WOMADelaide 2006






There's no music festival that offers such a complete satisfactory experience than WOMAD does. The WOrld Music, Arts & Dance-festival offers a broad selection of worldly flavours in all these areas. Australia's version, WOMADelaide has been around since 1992 and is being held at the Botanic Gardens near the city centre.
Surrounded by large Moreton Bay fig trees it is a beautiful, peaceful setting for hundreds of stalls, 7 stages and lots of free space to roam about. Not only do acts from all over the world play music, there's also space for performing arts and artistic exhibitions, contemporary dance on the smaller stages and a lot of other things- a Healing Village, many stalls with food and drink from all over the world, stalls from various charitable organisations giving information about certain worldwide problems and demanding your attention and ask help in addressing those issues. There are dozens of little shops where you can buy anything from witches' hats to drums, a Kid's Corner and also a special stage where artists hold workshops, mostly doing a performance, answering questions from the crowd and inviting to join them.

The atmosphere is fantastic. There's (of course) a hippie-like communal spirit wandering around, judging by the large number of long-haired, colourful creatures wandering about and dutifully reflected in the goods sold in the shops. It extends also to the colourful decorations in the trees to the fact that everyone cleans up their rubbish and hardly any mess is left on the grounds. All the collected trash is being split, recycled and used for the trees in the park- that way the festival boasts a zero procent waste-disposal.
To describe what it looks like is tough. At times I felt like I was in the middle of a Cirque Du Soleil-performance. In the dark, light-giving balloons with circus girls dangling underneath them lifted up, one giant tree all of a sudden sported a enormous smiling face, courtesy of a light-projection on it and there were performing artists dressed up from monkeys to spouting water on stilts, which was very handy on the Saturday when the quicksilver hit almost 40 degrees. During the day you share the park with about 40.000 people, varying from tourists, the elderly (most of them with their portable mini-deckchairs), the young families and even the artists, mingling along with the crowd. Totally enjoyable and the reason I'll be a visitor for many years to come.

WOMADelaide strives to give a comprehensive program that reaches beyond the big names in world music and introduce the people to a scala of traditional music. This year it seems that the organisers have put rhythm on a high pedestal as there are many performers working with percussion- since rhythm speaks a very universal language that people can understand it is logical but in retrospect it makes this year's festival slightly unbalanced to the previous ones.


Not enough time to see everything as three or four bands/artists start performing at the same time. Many great highlights of which I distilled the top twelve in a countdown:


12. Eitetsu Hayashi (Japan)


He has the difficult task to open both the Saturday and Sunday-shows at mid day on the large Stage One with people still pouring in. It was no mean feat for Hayashi and his four band members to open proceedings and warm them up for a long day ahead. Three big taiko-drums demand the attention but the longish drum-heavy pieces are interspersed with meditative moments, courtesy of the shakuhachi (long bamboo flute with a full, rich sound) and koto (stringed instrument), played by the four regular members of his band. But the stamina of the taiko-drummers certainly was tested as the continous action took them to physical exhaustion, not being helped by the hot weather. Perfect timing but nothing clinical about this performance. Very inviting welcome to the day.


11. The Renegades Steelband Orchestra (Trinidad/Tobago)


There's a whole lot of cheese involved as this 16-man-and-women-strong orchestra pound the steeldrums and deliver classics like In The Mood, No Woman No Cry, I Will Always Love You (!), Can You Feel The Love Tonight (!!), Mas Que Nada and many more classics in a purely steelband-way. Their saving grace from being ridiculed as being just some dislocated Caribbean tourist attraction is their professional play, arrangements and their indomitable exuberance as the band members bob up like pingpongballs on stage, even play hide 'n seek behind their instruments and spur the people on to clapping, waving and dancing. Just a whole lot of fun.


10. DOCH (Australia)


This young Australian band had the young uns dancing in front of the stage with their mostly self-penned mix of Eastern-European gypsy, klezmer and jazzmusic. Not eschewing the offbeat rhythms this music sometimes offers, there's a talent at work that sounds so effortless. Tuba, clarinet, fiddle and harmonica duel it out in furious phases. Deserve to become as big as Taraf De Haidouks or Klezmatics!


9. The Dhol Foundation (India/UK)



The dhol is a big Indian wooden drum with two surfaces and five big blokes are pounding the skins so hard it's like a hoard of mammoths thundering over the plains. Using bits or rock, bhangra (complete with a Punjabi MC-like track) and dance-rhythms to complete the overall sound. Some of the lead-off rhythms offered by a drumkit sound a bit samey, like the rhythmtrack off Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's Mustt Mustt but the hyped up crowd keep on dancing through any objection you might throw at them. The boys certainly know how to entertain and that's enough for now.


8. Miriam Makeba (South Africa)


Mama Africa gets an emotional, respctful farewell from the Friday-night crowd. At age 74 her voice in the spoken word is shaky but the growls and clicks are masterful as ever. She is at her best in the uptempo-pieces as the band adds loads of dimension to the classics she brings to the audience. It's only in the ballads where it gets cringeworthy as the Kenny G-like saxophone drags the tracks to a real low. It's Makeba's maternal, warm presence that is the real magnet to this show. Not just the memory that we might never see this wonderful artist again but the awe she inspires by singing, talking to the crowd and her obvious love for Africa and its heritage to the world shines through in every minute of her performance. An universal lesson.


7. Dr. L Subramaniam/Amjad Ali Khan & Friends (India)


There's two ways of enjoying this late nigh Friday concert- watching and be amazed by the technical prowess of Amjad Ali Khan's play on the sarod, his partner on tablas and, later on, the languid, beautiful violinstrains of another master of his instrument, Dr. L. Subramaniam. Or lay back, gaze at the stars and let this music that heaves and swells come over you and feel interconnected with space, time and music. it felt that way. Just like last year when Kronos Quartet played the evening session, this was one perfect meditative moment, away from all heavy percussion and electronica, just masters of their craft weaving that spell. Amjad Ali Khan's concert is mostly taken from his last album Moksha and he interprets freely Indian classical themes together with tablas and santoor, before Subramaniam lets his violin sing in many languages. Split because the incompability of the styles being played by Khan and Subramaniam prevents a jamsession but it's not necessary to deem it a shame. Going on well beyond midnight with the sky turning overhead it's a gorgeous trip for the senses.


6. Evelyn Glennie (Scotland)


She's one of the few solo-artists at this festival but you wouldn't notice it. Talk about respect- A Scottish woman, profoundly deaf at an early age because of an illness and here she is, many years later, an expert in percussion, owner of over 2000 instruments, multi-Grammy Award-winner and respected throughout the whole music community, from the classical world to the rock-universe. She plays anything from a marimba she just had picked up in Adelaide (intriguingly triggered with some keyboard-pads which deliver some cascading noise), all types of hand percussion, snaredrum, an extended drumkit to even the floor. The whole spectrum of percussion rages by in just under an hour, from building up slow rhythms to belting the wholy bejeesus out of a pair of bassdrums, almost equalling the noise of the taikodrums heard earlier. With a friendly, humourous explanation of the works she performs (from improvisation to a classical piece written by an Icelandic composer especially for one snaredrum), it's a masterful class which should people like Neil Peart make sit up and take notice.

5. Ba Cissoko (Guinea)


Ba Cissoko surprised me the most. His latest album sounded more extroverted than what he showed at the small stage on Saturday afternoon, but what I heard was brilliant. His acoustic kora measured up against the elctric kora, some sensous bass play and very understated, muted percussion. It made sure of the koras taking front stage, tangling with each other at times and making people nod with the groove. But it's when the electric kora goes into fuzz-overdrive, the flame hits the oil- like the Jimi Hendrix of koradom he takes front stages and causes excitement. Cissoko is an engaging frontman who is quite content to share the stage with the band.


4. Wicked Aura Batucada (Singapore)


Batucada or the art of Brazilian carnival percussion. More big drums played by a big orchestra, more enthusiasm from the crowd. The interesting thing about this mob is that not only typical Brazilian sambas are played but it also dabs in African, funk and even hiphop-rhythms. The reason why they get my nod here is not only for their enthousiastic performance but because this band leads the so-called Ashanti-parade through the grounds with hundreds of kids in tow, with many other percussionists added for a rumbling long ribbon of drumming weaving through the crowds. Now that's a real carnival.


3. Ravibandhu Vidyapathi & Ensemble (Sri Lanka)


Of all the strictly percussive acts, this was the one that offered the most diversity, style and presentation-wise found a perfect mix between technical prowess, enthousiasm and presentation. Classical dance (with the help of three beautiful young ladies from the State Dance Theatre Of Cambodia) mixes well with his art of Kandyan drumming and the orchestra is tight, colourful and well balanced in its delivery. The five young drummers sing and dance simultaneously in a whirl of colour. Definitely a musical style that deserves a wide audience- the public here was very enthusiastic to hear this artful masterwork in amongst the more commonly known traditional rhythmical exponents.



2. Orchestre Baobab (Senegal)


Orchestre Baobab are almost the Buena Vista Social Club of Senegal. Veterans of the African rumba-scene, this tight and remarkably loose-jointed band gets everyone's bootie shaking during both an intimate workshop-session on Saturday afternoon and later on, on the big stage, turns up the volume, charm and band power. The band has so many songs yet only a handful of albums (there's a new album on the way which, according to the band will be released around July) but even though they play most songs from these releases, the longer jams, complete with great guitar solo-work from Barthelemy Attisso. Amazing that this band once disbanded and once was discarded as old and uninspiring. Not tonight. This reformed band, named after a mighty bulbous-looking tree has its roots firmly planted; the Cuban rumba-rhythms shine through, there's fine percussional work, great (Wolof) vocals and a stylish, highly enjoyable performance. Not for nothing they declared that their band didn't employ tradition sounds from Cuba; it is the Cubans that stole this music from Senegal!


1. La Bottine Souriante (Canada)


I first heard this French-Canadian band 9 years ago at the renowned folk festival Dranouter in Belgium and they left a deep impression on me. The music was catchy as hell, steeped in Celtic tradition with elements of jazz, cajun and French chanson in traditional chant and response-form. It was a remarkable concert which rolled from amiable drinking songs to fired up jigs, courtesy of Yves Lambert's accordeon, Michel Bordeleau's piano and tapping feet (the tic-a-tac is the major source of rhythm in the songs) and a small brass section, adding a shot of jazz in the full arrangement. A great gig which was halted at midnight by one of the organisers explaining that the time was up and consequently was bottled offstage so that the band had to reappear and play some encores.
None of the original members of the band remain in this year's outfit and since the band has been around for over 30 years it's not unusual. After tonight it is not even important who used to be an original member. Still they're not forgetting their traditionalist roots and the rich ancestry as most members are second or even third generation musicians in their respective families.
The new generation of La Bottine is led by three youngsters: Andre Brunet, Pierre-Luc Dupuis and Eric Beaudry. They take over the lionshare of vocals and feature instruments as they handle the vocals, guitars, accordeon, violin, harmonica and, most importantly, the tic-a-tacs. And most of all bring a whole new enthousiasm to the performance as that is what La Bottine has become first and foremost- a complete entertainment package. That starts with the three lead-Bottines up and moving onstage to gee up the crowd, ably assisted by Sandy Silva, a 45-year old dancer who adds her tap-like dancemoves to the tic-a-tac-pattern and the 3-man brass-section, who at times move to the front and act out a Memphis Horns-like routine. The tunes are reinforced by having two lead instruments play the main melody and while the emphasis is on high-octane jigs and reels, there's quieter moments as well as the acapella-song Adieu Virginie gives the band a bit of a breather. Together with a enormously enthousiastic crowd it makes for a full hour of highlights of which their cover of Penguin Cafe Orchestra's Music For A Found Harmonium takes the honour of best moment at the festival.


Special mention for Talvin Singh who's DJ-set (the first one ever done in the history of this festival) spawned some great ethnic fusion, Australian bluesguitarist Jeff Lang who added a dash of, well, blues to the day, The Musaphir Gypsies Of Rajasthan who in true Tinariwen-desert nomad-style bring their folkloristic classic music with intricate dancers as well, Cape Verde-singer Lura who brought the Cesaria Evora-feeling onstage with allure, sentiment and freshness, Kanda Bongo Man who closed off the saturday night with lengthy soukouss-rhytms, very sexy dance(rs) and lots of fun and Farida & The Iraqi Maqam Ensemble who brought their form of Iraqi maqam-vocals with lots of passion.