WOMADelaide | Adelaide Festival 2022 review
Who better to close a WOMAD packed with Australian artists than Paul Kelly, backed by the mercurial voices of Vika and Linda Bull, armed with two hours of bona-fide classics?
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WOMADelaide
World Music and Dance
Botanic Park, March 11-14
MONDAY, MARCH 14
Who else to close a WOMADelaide festival that leaned heavily on Australian artists than perhaps our most beloved singer-songwriter Paul Kelly.
Adelaide-born Kelly, backed up as usual by the mercurial voices of Vika and Linda Bull, delivered close to two hours of music in a set packed with bona fide Australian classics.
Kicking off with Finally Something Good from 2017’s Life Is Fine, Kelly and band moved into Gossip-era banger Before Too Long, backed up with another ’80s favourite in Careless, before delivering Love Never Runs on Time.
By this stage the crowd – and it was a big one given this was the last set in a four-day festival – was on its feet and lapping it up.
Nephew Dan – a fellow Adelaidean by birth – swapped his guitar for a mandolin on the Ned Kelly ballad Our Sunshine and a brand new song about the Northern Rivers, given extra poignancy by the current flood situation.
Then the band came back on for Firewood and Candles – one of the strongest songs in his recent catalogue, thanks partly to Ash Naylor’s driving guitar riff.
Linda Bull then took over mic duties and wove a little vocal magic on Smells Like Rain before Kelly dropped another favourite in From St Kilda to Kings Cross, which he told the crowd was written on Don Walker’s white grand piano in his Sydney flat when Kelly was crashing in his spare room.
To Her Door, Leaps and Bounds – complete with a little tribute to Shane Warne – Dumb Things, and the Christmas classic How to Make Gravy are next, a run of songs that for most artist’s would define a career but are just part of the show for the prolific Kelly.
Deeper Water started with an anecdote about drinking Woodies lemonade at the Norwood Pool and wishing he could join his older siblings in the deep end, before the set finished with the land rights anthem, co-authored by Kev Carmody, From Little Things Big Things Grow.
The song ended with some glorious yidaki playing from Russell Smith and was the perfect finish for a festival that’s featured strong Indigenous voices throughout.
The depth of Kelly’s catalogue is rivalled by very few artists – stretching across more than four decades – and on Monday night under a warm starry sky we got the best of it.
Earlier, King Stingray – made up of Yolngu and Balanda (whitefella) members – channelled the celebratory spirit of brother Warumpi Band and Yothu Yindi while creating a sound that’s all their own.
Sweet Arnhem Land is a tribute to their remote NT home, while Camp Dogs is a hilarious track about the cheeky canines that roam those streets.
Triple J favourites Milkumana, Get Me Out and Hey Wanhaka got some of the most rousing applause seen all weekend.
King Stingray are a force of nature with a huge future ahead of them.
– NATHAN DAVIES
SUNDAY, MARCH 13
The bats were going crazy when Punjabi-Australian singer Parvyn started her set.
Her opening number in Sikh devotional style, accompanied by the ethereal bansuri of Vinod Prasanna, may not have had much calming effect on the bats, but it certainly took the audience to another place.
Parvyn’s beautifully modulated voice is seductive to the ear, and when entwined with bamboo flute and the discreet accompaniment of her band, the effect is heavenly.
While returning from time to time to this style of performance, she also ventured into a blend of pop, rock, blues and traditional music with interesting effect.
The only downside was an overly heavy bass line that not only rattles your innards but also masks some of the beautiful high harmonics. However, this is common problem in live performances – sound engineers only seem to know one way of mixing.
Later in the afternoon, Chilean guitar master Victor Martinez Parada specifically had to ask his engineers to lower levels because it adversely effects plucked string instruments, making them sound harshly percussive – a problem also noted with the amplification Joseph Tawadros’s oud.
Martinez’s set of original compositions and arrangements was a dazzling display of virtuosity. But in addition to finger dexterity and extraordinary tonal power, Martinez has a very lyrical style revealed in his arrangement of Alfonsina y la Mar, a poignant song by Ariel Ramírez made famous by Mercedes Sosa.
The Crooked Fiddle Band spanned Ireland and Eastern Europe – and other places real and imaginary – with their unique “chainsaw folk”. It’s frenetic and disruptive, although a beautiful opening solo by fiddle player Jess Randall was a small concession to those who like something gentle occasionally.
At the other end of the scale was the lyrical music of ZÖJ, a duo of Gelareh Pour singing and playing kamancheh – a Persian bowed string instrument – with Brian O’Dwyer on drum kit. Iran has produced some of the world’s greatest poets – Hafez, Rumii et al – and it is this tradition that ZÖJ draws on for inspiration in music of otherworldly beauty.
Zaachariaha Fielding, the superb vocalist of Electric Fields, is a star. Together with Michael Ross, this duo has taken Indigenous music in new directions.
Singing in Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara languages and English, with guests including the Antara singers and Tjarutja First Nations Dance Collective, Electric Fields produced an impressive set that concluded with a moving rendition of Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody’s song about the Gurindji strike, From Little Things Big Things Grow.
– STEPHEN WHITTINGTON
When Shane Howard and Goanna released Spirit of Place 40 years ago Australia was in a very different place when it came to its relationship with it’s First Nations people.
And it’s easy to forget, 40 years on, just how groundbreaking songs like Solid Rock – which told the story of white colonisation through Indigenous eyes – really were.
The fact that it was a smash hit, allowing the band to tell that story through mainstream radio and television, was even more astounding.
Today Indigenous stories are being told loudly and proudly through all genres of music, and Goanna can proudly lay claim to paving at least a small part of that long road.
On a warm Adelaide night Howard and the Goanna Band treated the big main stage crowd to a walk through Spirit of Place, with a bunch of special guests.
John Schumann – singer-songwriter and former frontman of Redgum, a band that philosophically aligned with Goanna on many levels – joined Howard on environmental anthem Let The Franklin Flow, and Indigenous powerhouse Emma Donovan lent her soulful voice to an incredible version of Stand Yr’ Ground.
And all of the guests came back on stage for the incredible finale, which was – of course – Solid Rock.
Yidaki legend William Barton played the intro before Howard and gang ripped through the powerful anthem and left more than a few damp cheeks in the crowd. It was powerful stuff.
– NATHAN DAVIES
SATURDAY, MARCH 12
A slacker goddess with an acerbic wit and an uncanny knack for drawing vignettes of Australian life, Barnett drew a large crowd as Saturday night’s headliner.
Working through a long set featuring old classics and newer songs, the singer-songwriter treated the WOMADelaide faithful to a good old-fashioned stripped-back rock show.
Avant Gardner goes down a treat, with its genuinely funny lines like “The paramedic thinks I’m clever ’cause I play guitar/I think she’s clever ’cause she stops people dying”, and Depreston – easily the best song ever written about unaffordable real estate – is also well received.
But it’s the rockier numbers that really cut through. The Nirvana-esque Pedestrian At Best, the manic energy of breakthrough hit History Eraser and the gorgeously riff-tastic On Script, a slow jam first recorded with Kurt Vile, are highlights.
– NATHAN DAVIES
The richness and diversity of Australian culture is the most notable feature of WOMADelaide 2022. This is one good thing that has come out of Covid-induced travel restrictions – we get to appreciate more what we have.
How wonderful it is to hear an Australian Qawwali group performing the exhilarating devotional music of Pakistan. Led by Farhan Shah, a splendid singer in the tradition of the immortal Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, they capture the ecstatic fervour of this genre with absolute authenticity.
Their workshop on the classic Allah Hu was both illuminating and inspirational.
A strong West African character pervades the music of Ausecuma Beats, with melody lines floating weightlessly above intricate rhythmic patterns. Allied to that are lyrics that display social values like respect for elders, teachers and mothers.
African music has had a strong presence at WOMADelaide since the beginning. The fact that we have an excellent homegrown band like Ausecuma, based in Melbourne, is reason to celebrate our multicultural society.
Father Victor Martinez Parada and his two sons Andro and Dauno are a family trio, Martinez Akustica. They are all excellent guitarists but there is more to their music than you might expect.
In addition to the relaxed Latin grooves in which they are naturally perfectly at home, they have an avant-garde edge and are likely to deviate into experimental improvisations that are complex and heading into atonal territory. Add to that the unconventional combination of acoustic and electric instruments, and the unusual techniques they sometimes employ, and the result is very striking.
Te Tangi O Te Ka’ara play percussion music from the Cook Islands. It’s invigorating, although their attempts in their workshop to get the audience to move their hips and wiggle their knees revealed that most Aussie bodies do not easily perform these actions.
Haiku Hands are four young women from Melbourne with a lot of energy, a lot of attitude, and some great costumes. Their music is lean and mean and evidently a lot of fun, judging by the response of the young crowd.
A highlight of day two was the Australian Art Orchestra’s late evening set. Yolgnu songman Daniel Wilfred dominated the performance by virtue of his powerful and beautiful singing of traditional songs.
Korean vocalist Sunny Kim joined him, singing at times in unison, creating an extraordinary effect.
With David Wilfrid playing yidaki and occasional vocals, Peter Knight on trumpet and electronics, and Aviva Endean doing wonderful things with various clarinets and rubber tubes, the result was a soundscape that was absolutely riveting and perfect for a lovely, balmy evening in the park.
– STEPHEN WHITTINGTON
Azymuth’s line-up is distinguished enough even before they get back together with Marcos Valle, the legendary Brazilian singer and keyboard player.
In particular, drummer Ivan Conti takes the group from their bossa nova heartland on adventures into jazz of the Weather Report style, until the visceral dance energy of their set turns into a masters’ event in music to feed brain and body.
For anyone feeling starved of the world of Brazilian music there’s no end of elements to enjoy. Band leader Jose Bertrami’s silky smooth keyboards are on a level to be treasured.
The result is an adventure into great Latin dance rhythms alongside superb lyricism.
Add singer and another dimension of keyboards with Marcos Valle, touring with back-up vocals from his wife, and singer in her own right Patricia Alvi, and you venture into the full-blown pop flavours of the bossa nova.
Bullhorn rapper Roman MC explores an amazing array of cross rhythms over the top of the big familiar beats of his large and very brassy ensemble.
Switching into triplets and then taking off into cross beats, double times and sliding notes make his freestyle brand of rap all the more convincing.
He is a great relief from the single cadence of so many rappers. And how does he do it with the audience hearing every word?
This is a mix that takes big brass bands into an exciting genre.
Bullhorn is brilliant at manufacturing a got-to-dance sound along Afrobeat lines. Its array of brass instruments plus drums is able to fill out the full rock band but with a unique cut and edge and beautifully curled high notes.
Roman MC refers to his Seychelles Islands background and even throws in some kreol lines; very handy when chopping a cross-beat.
His engagement with the crowd, all jumping and waving, makes this a big happy and noisy get together.
– TIM LLOYD
FRIDAY, MARCH 11
Joseph Tawadros is the fastest oud in the West – or East, for that matter. In his Concerto for Oud and Orchestra he set blistering tempos that sometimes left the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra eating his dust.
The only person who could stay with him throughout was his brother James playing the riqq, a percussion instrument resembling a tambourine which can produce intricate rhythms through finger technique.
The oud can be a delicate, highly expressive instrument, and Joseph Tawadros did show that in a beautiful cadenza in the third movement. But the concerto is a musical form that is meant to be a virtuosic showpiece for the soloist.
Tawadros left that in no doubt with a dazzling display of bravura. All in all, his concerto is an impressive piece of transcultural music, very effectively integrating the traditional music of the oud with the Western classical orchestra.
Other shorter pieces showed different sides of Tawadros’ eclectic approach to music. Under the direction of conductor Benjamin Northey the ASO did well to keep up – or at least catch up – with its lightning fast soloist.
Other highlights of Friday evening included the beautifully refined playing of the Eishan Ensemble. Led by tar-player Hamed Sedighi, the group produces an elegant blend of jazz and traditional Persian music.
The powerful rhythmic drive of Taikoz is like a musical force of nature, with an elaborately choreographed performance of thundering drums and pure, exhilarating physicality.
– STEPHEN WHITTINGTON
An ideal entry into WOMADelaide is Charles Maimorosia’s laid-back set of layered pan pipes over a backing duo.
This is a consummate musician who has grown up on the Solomons, making music with improvised instruments from coconut shells to the aforementioned pipes.
Now he can sing, play guitar, ukulele, and especially pipes with a casual excellence.
The fact that he can do all those things more or less at once makes him even more special.
In the meantime we are introduced to the musical styles that emanate from his remote village.
It is instantly appealing, relying on the ancient Are’are tradition, from the Malaita parts of the Solomons, which has always used complex interlaid instruments and voices and so has a sophistication to it.
It makes for a quick voyage out into inviting Pacific sounds.
Bush Mechanics, the exhibition that arose from the popular TV series on Warlpiri people using bush ingenuity to keep their cars on the road, is now at WOMADelaide after touring Australia.
Developed by the National Motor Museum at Birdwood, the exhibition centres around Ngapa, better known to most folk as a Ford Fairlane, although this one has seen better days.
The bush mechanics not only kept the car on the road but they also broke a drought with it.
Bushman Thomas Jangala Rice turned Ngapa into a rainmaker ceremony after a year of severe drought, painting his creation story or Jukurrpa on it, featuring ducks, clouds of rain and the Kirrikartanji or brown falcon.
Sure enough, it poured.
The car, and many of the Bush Mechanics stories and claymation series are in the exhibition as well as a bush mechanics’ version of a race car video game, complete with original ideas about keeping the car on the road. Kids are flocking to it.
Roving acrobats Gravity & Other Myths look like a working party; eight figures in bright white coveralls with reflective strips, parading the park and followed by their own steampunk-style sound system.
You can’t miss them at night because they are carrying two long planks; strips of brilliant white light.
Studiously ignoring the crowds of curious onlookers they walk in deliberate formations before unleashing some high-energy acrobatics.
The fun in the park is largely from the choreography of the light strips which herd the audience, and allow feats such as triple shoulder stands to be created in the dark before being put suddenly in the limelight.
At times the planks become parallel bars for balancing acts or for feats of strength.
In the ebb and flow of crowds in the Botanic Park the antics of this group is a welcome, offbeat diversion.
The Cathedral of Light, a new feature of WOMADelaide consisting of a hundred-metre-long wall of light in the night-time, has an unexpected gift during the day.
The myriad tiny lights catch the sun, so that the Cathedral is a sparkling silver before turning golden as the lights come alive after the sun has gone.
Inside, it has the Gothic profile of a medieval cathedral, and draws crowds, thousands of them, to promenade its length, with more mobile phone and Go-pro cameras per square metre than is credible.
The Cathedral of Light, created by Australian company Mandylights, is having some sort of transformable effect on the park, difficult to have predicted. It is also a landmark both day and night, its long wall of golden light providing a beacon as crowds navigate from stage to stage in Botanic Park.
Another long wall of light is the celebration of 30 years of WOMADelaide on the Botanic Park Drive near the Frome Road entrance.
The large posters, brilliantly lit at night, take you down a memory lane of poster designs, but also the great musicians, from Salif Keita and Paul Kelly to Peter Gabriel, who helped initiate the worldwide World of Music and Dance movement.
Taksu, a metres-high celebrated arch made out of bamboo poles, is another new ingredient in the park, and ideal for framing portrait photographs in a constructed, natural surround. Designed by Jaye Irving of Barefoot Design, it also provides a celebrated entry to one segment of the park.
For interactive enjoyment for young and old, Hexadeca is a world of spinning globes and hemispheres that is pulling crowds of children in particular to nestle in them and spin at off-plumb angles.
Unknown to the spinners, their play sets off a surround-sound of music provided by local musical groups including Adelaide youth choir Aurora, Adam Page, and Tom Thum. The music is easily drowned out by Stage 2 performances, so it is well worth waiting for gaps in the Stage 2 program to settle in and enjoy the concert you have created.
This has been a WOMADelaide testing the creativity of Australian world music and dance talent and Hexadeca is a winning example, from Adelaide creative studio Pulsing Heart.
– TIM LLOYD
The “D” in WOMAD stands for Dance, and while the music always dominates, the dance is no less important.
In 2022 there are three dance events that absolutely mustn’t be missed.
First, there’s Kardla Paltendi (Dancing Fire), a collaboration between Kaurna man Jamie Goldsmith, the Taikurtinna dance group, and installation artist Simon Hutchinson.
Set in Frome Park, a half dozen or more exquisitely carved trees stand proud and tall, and frame the dance, some ritual, some simply celebratory.
Fire is set atop the pillars, and in the course of the dance, takes hold. As the dance finishes, the trees continue to burn, gleaming as the fire reaches deep into the trunk. Over the course of a couple of hours, they burn entirely away.
Remembering that these elaborate cultural expressions were meant to last, their ultimate loss is a poignant reminder of the depth of Indigenous culture, and the impact of colonisation on the first peoples of this land.
Elsewhere in Frome Park, Dancenorth Australia from Townsville presents Noise, a joyous celebration created in 2019 in collaboration with Townsville’s percussion community. Recreated for Adelaide, 100 or more percussionists in electric blue T-shirts are the backdrop for six orange-clad dancers.
The movement, like the music, is tribal, pulsating and often hypnotic. The choreography is tight, as may be expected from Dancenorth’s Kyle Page and Amber Haines, even in the free-form explosions that punctuate the piece.
Adelaide’s Restless Dance Theatre, in a co-pro with two Canadian companies, is roving around the park presenting Écoute Pour Voir (Listen to See) to audiences wherever they may be.
A rope defines a small dance space, in which a dancer (or two), wearing headphones, dance to their own beat, unheard by the spectator. These short pieces, each just a few minutes, are quite fascinating.
This is one of the joys of Restless; the ability of its dancers to focus so completely on
their art, while being so utterly compelling.
All these are on every day, so there’s no excuse to miss them.
– PETER BURDON
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