Womadelaide 2010 LIVE!

The Skatalites - Crowd favourites at Womadelaide 2010 - Lots of BRASS!

Well its been a while since I last posted….just been a bit busy, having a GOOD time!

This year has been an interesting WOMADELAIDE so far. There are so many common threads running through the music. Brass has been a BIG feauture from the ska horns of The Skatalites, to Calexico and beyond. Soul and dunk weave their way through various acts like Ethiopiques featuring Mahmoud to the Bamboos and Public Opinion Afro Orchestra. Politics have played a part in bringing the issues of the Saharawi people of Western Sahara via Mariem Hassan and Palestine from Amal Murkus and backstage musicians and artists from all over the world and eating, drinking and talking. I guess thats what I love most about this festival. Meeting people and going the gab on the backgrounds of different music forms and experiences. Then there is the whole thread that seems to by slying informing us of the old and the new the hip and the experienced. To see the absolutely world class gentle performance of Eliades Ochoa swaying us with his son and salsa and then to be blitzed by Nortec Collective with their clash of Norteno sounds and software is a truly amazing experience. To see a Mahmoud Ahmed who released his first album in 1975 and then be trapped by the politics of his country and remain unknown for 20 years and then feel the ground shake with Dub Colossus shows an understanding of a musical journey that WOMADELAIDE has been part of and encouraged for so many years.

The rain has been hilarious! bucketing down on an audience that so wasn’t prepared for it. After so many years of blisteringly hot weather and yes cold nights you’d think that we would have heeded the warnings. Alas no most people forgot their raincoats etc and I think we were all in a a state of total denial…..there was a lot of miserableness around between the stages but we all got over it. Today is the first day Ive actually had a chance to go and actually see some bands. Ross Daly & Ensemble were gorgeous. Cretan music has such a heaviness to it….this isn’t bazouki music in your local bar but a deep ancient sound that draws you in. I did get to see Calexico….twice heh heh EXCELLENT and a chat with Joey Burn who treats music as an adventure……….Ethiopiques were astonishing. A lot of people were surprised that the Ethiopiques were a French band….more to the point they were expecting an Ethiopian band to be there, but when you think about the politics of Ethiopia and the rule of the Derg who shut down all venues and censored music, it comes as no surprise realy that the band is French. This music was kept alive outside of the country……not within it and it is going to take a long time to build up the music within Addis and other cities.

Anyhoo…Im off to check Mariem Hasan….more deep music and see the Kathakali Dance Ensemble puttin on their make up. It takes em 4 hours to get into costume to perform and they chat to people about the characters from their 2 hour exerts from The Mahabarata……maybe I’ll pick up a few tips….Systa