WOMADelaide 2010 part 4

Monday (the final day)


It's for the first time that WOMAD's been going for 4 days so this will be a new experience for tired limbs and a brain still trying to digest the first three days of amazing impressions..
The opening workshop Women's Voices is in celebration of today's International Women Day and features some of the singers at the festival, including Mariem Hassan, Marina Abad of Ojos De Brujo and Danielle Caurana (Mama Kin)...hosted by a radio-presenter it looks a bit dysfunctional as the interpreters are simply invited to sing a song one at a time- much later when there's an interactive piece performed on percussion, led by Hassan and two of her band members there's finally a feeling what this workshop was meant to be. The presenter points correctly out that these women probably never will share a stage again; had there been a little planning there would have been an unique cross-cultural event taking place amongst these fine artists. An opportunity missed.

In the visual and musical-art department you'll find Strange Fruit or the art of bell ringing on swaypoles. Perched atop 4 metre high flexible poles of original design, five members of the troupe deliver a sublime performance, bending and swaying in the air, captivating and engaging the audience, using mallets to ring bells and gongs attached to poles on a variety of distances away from the ringers who have to stretch and sway to reach them...it's mesmerising to see how the group reaches the bells in time with the music played on two xylophones situated on the ground below. Worthy of the mighty Cirque.

Tim Finn needs no introduction....this Kiwi's like an honorary Aussie and he brings the crowd many classics from the Split Enz/Crowded House-era with a good helping of some of his solo-material too. The crowd's swept away in the feelgood-tunes the same way the wind sweeps with gale force through the ancient trees in the Gardens....

An interesting combo follows....Japanese blues-slide guitarist George Kamikawa teams up with formidable shamisen-player Noriko Tadano. Both artists recently moved from their native Japan to live in Australia and their English communication with the audience is funny and entertaining...and they cap it off with some great interplay. The shamisen is a Japanese version of the banjo only with fewer strings and less notes to play with- it requires quite some improvisational skill from Tadano to play solos which she does incredibly well. Kamikawa is an excellent slide-player, complete with harmonica he rocks the crowd with classics like Shake Your Money Maker and his own songs like the delicately titled Sake Blues. The marriage gets really interesting when Tadano interprets classical Japanese music in this blues-style, creating a formidable hybrid that proves the adaptability of blues in many cultures. Highly entertaining and very danceable, rightly a hit with the ever increasing crowd at the stage.

One of the top attractions for the many young people in the crowd without doubt is Australian Xavier Rudd. A favorite with the many attending 'surfies' who embrace his Jack Johnson-like laid-back pop, combined with his skills on the didgeridoo and a tight band backing him up, the latter including bassist Tio Moloantoa and drummer Andile Nqubezelo of the late Lucky Dube’s band. There's a more percussive edge to his music as in relation to his studio albums which go well with the crowd, who swoon at everything he does...the boy can't do no wrong. Rudd has grown into a mighty performer, a social activist like compatriot John Butler and owning a great musical versatility that'll see him be one of Australia's biggest export products in the near future.

The highs Rudd reaches in his gig are tough to match but La Compagnie Transe Express manages that in a fascinating way....a seven man French drum band dressed up as Napoleon in green costumes sets out through the crowd, clowning about before returning back stage...and before the crowd has time to think that the act is over, up comes a crane who hoists the full ensemble high into the air where the act continues! Complete with one member who sits highest and performs a daring trapeze act without net this company has every neck craned to the sky in wonder. Definitely something completely different...

One of the main interesting parts of the last day is the All Star Jam- one of the international guests is being asked to host an hour of improvisational music with the help of a selection of musicians performing at the festival- this year's conductor is Ross Daly. Usually it works out like a loose-limbed, mostly percussion-based affair where spontaneous interplay happens between several artists- this year is quite different as Daly has a complete string band complete, consisting of his band, the Azerbaijani performers with singer Gochar Askarov, Finnish duo Lepisto and Lehto, members of the Hungarian gypsy-fusion band Besh O Drom and Japanese shamisen-player Noriko Tadano. All people on stage are involved in playing set pieces and especially the Azerbaijani and Greeks mesh well. There's moments of brilliance when singers Mariem Hassan and Askarov come onstage to perform (improvise) over the music and the crossover-culture reaches it high point when the chilly Finn-opus Helsinki (from Pekka Lehto) gets a warm bath of strings courtesy of the Daly-led ensemble. An almighty band-performance, rather unique in the All Star-canon and given the short time of preparation a massive effort.

Then, finally, the moment that many of the visitors have waited for. In front of the big stage about 4000 people sit on the ground, awaiting breathlessly one of the true legends of music. Accompanied by his daughter Anoushka Ravi Shankar makes his appearance. Being led to the stage by one of his apprentices the great man has come to perform. He cannot sit crosslegged which is customary for Indian classical players but sits at the front of the mini-stage, his thin legs on the ground...
This is not a concert, this is a moment in time. Soon this man will be 90 years old. He has come to say farewell to this nation in truly the best way possible- playing the sitar for us. He calls the gathering a 'mini Woodstock' and announces his first piece- the classic Raga Jog, a delicate piece. His fingers start off searching, a bit trembling as his trademark bending of the notes take a while to gestate but when the pace picks up slowly, you realise he has never lost any of his skill. Anoushka adds little textures to Ravi's melodies and tabla-player Tanmoy Bose and Ravichandra Kulur on flute back the duo up with spirited play....the silence amongst the crowd is something to behold with only the sweet sounds from the sitar filling the night sky. I just get goosebumps watching the man play.
If the first piece was like a warm-up, the second raga is one for the ages...he announces it as a greatest hits-package in which he wants to fight a duel with his daughter! It's a 25-minute fearless piece of music where Ravi not only wants to showcase his best but he challenges his daughter through 'call and answer'-parts to fill in the missing pieces which she does without fail. There are no winners except the audience. The fun father and daughter have is clear for everyone to see with the master laughing and enjoying himself, Anoushka clearly relishing the moment. It's beyond moving and when the concert finishes and the crowd rises to their feet to a rapturous applause there's a massive tinge of sadness going through me, having perhaps watched this great performer for the last time but that feeling is royally offset by the gratitude for being able to be there at this moment.

And just when you think you have nothing to be amazed about, in the middle of a dark cluster of trees awaits a new surprise. Ray Lee's Siren is an installation of 29 large metal tripods, up to 3m tall, with rotating arms that spin around, powered by electric motors. Hand built electronic tone generators power loudspeakers are set at the end of each arm creating an extraordinary sonic texture of pulsing electronic drones. Small LED’s at the end of the arms trace circles of light as the arms rapidly rotate creating a compelling visual image which becomes quite hypnotic when the two men running the installation have got all arms spinning and the tones set to their liking...when the surrounding floodlights are switched off you're in an ambient forest with flying red lights, moving around in various speeds and accompanied by an ambient soundtrack that constantly shifts as the various drones are being added in time-shifting intervals to the mix. It's a wonderful experience, one that closes off this festival on a remarkable introverted, beautiful note.


p&c maarts 2010.