WOMADelaide 2008

Friday March 7

If you are allergic to hippies, please look elsewhere. They are everywhere, man.

WOMADelaide is being held at the Royal Botanic Gardens, a beautiful spot where the huge trees form the decor (and a welcome source of shade) of the festival. There are 7 stages- one main stage, seconded by two smaller ones. The four others are very small to miniscule- the latter is being used only for interviews with artists and a host and creates a very intimate atmosphere which is the real force of the festival- I always say that those small stages yield the biggest surprises. There's about two to three gigs on at the same time every hour- it means being selective and hope you catch what you miss on one of the other days.

The temperatures in the last few weeks have been soaring into the high 30s Celsius and the ground is bone dry. Everywhere around Adelaide the grass has died- the lush grass in the Garden hangs on, but barely. There's naught but sand in front of the main stage which gets kicked up by the thousands of attending people, creating a permanent haze of dust around the area- I quickly dub this year's event 'The Festival In The Desert...'
The temperature hits 40 on Sunday. It's a bit unreal to see big empty spots in front of the stages with all and sunder retreating to spots where shade falls. Every single outline of shade is being filled with flesh. Fortunately ther's free water around, kids love to splash around in it, the older folk guzzle it like they would a beer on Saturday night.

The crowd is yer usual mixture of young and old, many folks with children. It's a children-friendly festival too, with a Kids Zone. Next to that is a Healing Village where all your troubles and ailments will be spirited away (just in case- there's an ambulance post about 100 metres further downfield), tents where Tibetan monks and Tiwi-women show their arts and crafts, a large food and drink-area, catering for all your worldy food-needs- one tent sees some of the participants cook one of their traditional recipes for the guests. And of course there's a huge beertent but with the prices of 6 bucks for a plastic glass of lager, not exactly the spot to have a good pissup. Finally there's a music tent where CDs are sold and virtually all acts show up to sign CDs for the adoring faithful.

Traditionally the festival starts on Friday night at 6pm with the official welcoming and invitation by Aboriginal elders from the Kaurna-tribe to the gathered masses. Make no mistake, we are on Aboriginal land wherever we go and this is not a token gesture- there is song and dance from an invited dance group to flesh out the proceedings. Usually the crowd responds very appreciative to the welcome but there's an added twist, as one of the elders speaks out a message, voicing her appreciation of the recent declaration by the Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd who has said 'sorry' to the whole of the Aboriginal world for their treatment in past and present by governments...-a landmark declaration for previous PM John Howard refused to do so- instead of the respectful applause the elders get a standing ovation.

Opening act on the main stage is Farafina from Burkina Faso- extremely danceable on the back of some fine percussion and two balafons (wooden xylophones). The crowd seem to like it but not to the point where the enthousiasm reaches boiling point. Traditionally the heavily percussion-orientated ensembles do well with the crowd, Farafina's funk is more understated and works the best on the back of the snakelike riffs the balafons throw up. The band plays a tight uptempo set and do their best to win the crowd over which only succeeds partly. Pity for them.

Since one of the mkain reasons I'm here is the king of kora, Mali's Toumani Diabate I amble towards Speaker's Corner (stage 7) for an hour long tete a tete between him, an interviewer and the smallish crowd. It's a pleasure to hear him speak of the line of 71 generations of Djeli (as the griots in Mali are known as, he tells about their continuing influence on daily life and politics as that's how high their influence goes) who have preceded him and how Gen 72 is being trained up as he speaks. There's a lot of respect too as he speaks about his friend, the late great Ali Farka Toure, the influence of West-African music (of the Mande-empire, as it once was known) on so many forms of contemporary Western music and the way he worked on the Mande Variations (comparing it with the way the classical world improvises on a theme). Diabate is engaging and open- as griot his door is always open and just by the stories he tells you could drop in anytime and sith there listening endlessly to him. It adds another dimension to his art for sure; can't wait for his gig tomorrow night.

On stage 2 the next highlight sets up; under direction from Aussie rock legend Shane Howard (hit: Solid Rock under the band moniker Goanna) and David Arden an Aboriginal 'supergroup' was set up under the name Black Arm Band. It features contemporary Aboriginal artists who have been very influential in the Australian music scene over the last couple of decades- Kutcha Edwards, Stephen Pigram (of the Pigram Brothers), Archie Roach, Ruby Hunter, Joe Geia and many others. It's a large line-up of proud stars who sing about the treatment of their kin by uncaring politicians and bureaucrats, highlighting the days of protest, trying to reclaim land rights and justice for the 'stolen generation' (the era in which Aboriginal children were forcibly taken from their parents and put into tutelage camps to 'safeguard their wellbeing'). The lyricism in the songs being chosen is direct- don't expect prose, these people will sing their anger in straightforward words. The largely white crowd respond wildly- it's an education lesson for the many as videoscreens underline the stories told and the music is upbeat. It's when the tempo goes down the most impressive the gig becomes- Kutcha Edwards' (a massive man with a Aaron Neville-tenorlike croon) Why Do You Treat Me So Bad goes for the jugular and legendary singer/songwriter Archie Roach's song Took The Child Away about the stolen generation brings back the same feelings as Lou Reed once did on Berlin's epic The Children chills the air down noticeably. The show finishes with perhaps the most wellknown Aboriginal hit Treaty (Yothu Yindi) and a gentle farewell in the form of Somewhere Over The Rainbow/Wonderful World in the same style as the big Hawaiian fella Israel Kamakawiwo'ole once did. This group will tour later on this year in the UK- definitely worth to take a look at if you're interested in their struggle.

Mavis Staples knows everything about struggle and as her latest album We'll Never Turn Back testifies, it's an amazing rich source for inspiration and passion. She peppers the times between songs with little anecdotes as she leads us to the late fifties and sixties, the time when the black generation in the USA demanded their freedom. Backed up by a small band and three back-up singers it's her voice that does all the talking- and man, does she talk. Her voice is slightly hoarse (methinks the kicked up dust didn't do much favours for her) and sometimes she tends to drag a bit on in the presentation but when she sings- whoo boy! The subject matters of Jesus and protest live very deeply in her and she delivers. Covers of Stop Hey What's That Sound, The Weight and Born On The Bayou do lighten up the offerings. She nails everyone to the floor with the ballad Waiting For My Child To Come Home, growls everyone into submission with the excellent Eyes On The Prize and rocks the lot with the closing I'll Take You There (of course with crowd participation). Great stuff from a veteran who still matters.

And after all that delight it's time to lie back on the grass, gaze at the stars and wander to galaxies far away as the Indian ensemble of Dr. Natesan Ramani ragas away, tumbling everyone into slumberland.