Adelaide Botanic Park, Sat Mar 7
My WOMADelaide day starts almost perfectly. I’m there early, specifically to see Emma Swift & Robyn Hitchcock. It’s an interesting collaboration, and I wonder how these two will mesh, musically speaking. I very much enjoy their showcase of ‘sadcore’ as I sit under the clouds, the trees and the bats. As well as their own songs, the duo plays a selection of covers by The Everly Brothers, Lou Reed and Townes Van Zandt. Strange bedfellows you might think; in fact it works very well.
The day warms up, as does the crowd, as I take some time to catch Depedro on the Centre Stage. These guys are full of bounce and fun; perfectly suited to the increasingly sunny afternoon and enthusiastic audience. Singer-guitarist Jairo Zavala and his band fill the air with uplifting Spanish good vibes, and some “one-finger piano”. An early treat.
A little later, over on Stage 3 I listen to the post-rock explosion that is Jambinai. The South Korean collective combines traditional Korean instruments with hard-rocking guitar and drums. Sometimes, the music moves from a delicate almost-silence to an avalanche of sound in a matter of seconds. I am occasionally reminded a little of the Smashing Pumpkins. It’s heavy, and it’s good.
Robert Forster, Jherek Bischoff and the Zephyr Quartet are playing up on the Morton Bay Stage so I take a stroll and have a listen. It’s a very engaging aural blend and it holds my interest for quite some time. Another intriguing collaboration…
The bass-driven hip-hop of Astronomy Class fills my senses as I stop by and watch a little of their performance on Stage Two, before returning once more to the colourful bazaars and enjoying the spectacle.
A brief sojourn at the Zoo Stage allows me to witness the gentle majesty of Ramzi Aburedwan & Ensemble Dal’Ouna, all the way from Palestine. Gorgeous is the word that describes what I hear.
Bolivian singer Luzmila Carpio brings her multi-octave voice to the Centre Stage and her performance is interesting, impressive and sometimes quirky. It seems that all the sounds of the world are present in Adelaide today.
The second highlight of my day is unexpected. For some inexplicable reason I am drawn to the Moreton Bay Stage. I sit down and experience the fabulous sounds of Sóley, hitherto unknown to me. It’s like listening to an other-worldly Icelandic Twin Peaks soundtrack, while having a gentle nightmare inside a nursery rhyme. It’s beautiful and bleak at the same time. And very listenable.
Meeta Pandit presents a fabulous concert of Indian classical music on the Zoo Stage. She sings five or so songs, taking the time to explain the history of both the story and the arrangement of each. Voice, tabla and drone combine to make this a wondrous, meditative performance.
Gruff Rhys plays up at Speakers’ Corner, and I am extremely glad that I choose to see his show. It’s one of my standout moments of the festival thus far. I lean against a tree in the fading light and enjoy a performance that is bursting with sound; he’s obviously working very hard, with so many musical balls in the air, but he makes it look effortless. The songs are brilliant, and his off-beat way of telling stories goes down very well with all who have come to see.
As the night closes in, I watch Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino back on the Zoo Stage. It’s a rich cavalcade of singing, dancing, colour and percussion. So much energy!
It’s been another full day in this WOMADelaide paradise, and we are not even half-way through the weekend…
David Robinson
Image of Gruff Rhys courtesy of Peter Tee
