WOMAD - Akoustic Odyssey

Thu 5th Mar, 2009 in Features

Adelaide band Akoustic Odyssey make their WOMAD debut and by all accounts the excitement in the band is at all time high as they prepare for their big opportunity to impress the masses. Talitha Best talks all things Akoustic Odyssey plus an update on plans for their third album.

It must be very exciting getting the nod to play WOMAD? “Oh, yes, very exciting,” Talitha said. “It has been one of those dreams we’ve had collectively as a band and individually to be able to do something like that. To be a part of a massive community of music lovers, great bands and audiences is amazing.”

Do you think it’s harder forAdelaide bands who have a world music flavour to get noticed or is that changing? “That’s a really good question,” Talitha considered. “For us it has been a journey for the last three years just chipping away playing at the Fringe and festivals as well as other events around Adelaide. To finally break into this type of market is what we’ve been aiming for. From our perspective it’s a slow road that you keep chipping away at but maybe Adelaide and South Australian audiences are more eclectic in their appreciation for lots of different music so that world music has a bit more of a scene.”

Having seven members must make it harder touring around also? “Absolutely, even with our own level of personal commitment we’re definitely not in it for the money that’s for sure.”

How important is the WOMAD experience for future touring opportunities? “We’re really hoping that this will help us move forward in to the bigger world music scene and gain a broader appreciation of what we do. There are plans to record our third album, tour that and hopefully get connected with the bigger groups around the world.”

Do you think the sound will change much on the third album? “I think we’ll be able to learn a lot from this experience at WOMAD and talk with lots of other artists and bands to gain an understanding of what we all do differently. On our next album we’re looking to experiment with different styles of recording and learn how other artists in this genre work.”

For those who don’t know much about Akoustic Odyssey how would you describe yourselves? “That’s a great question,” Talitha laughed. “The way we describe ourselves is that we say that we’re a group of classically trained, innovative, enthusiastic and eclectic seven-piece band that have a range of influences on our music from rock to Latin, to Mediterranean, Medieval and Greek styles. That’s really it in a nutshell.”

Which bands on the WOMAD line up will you be checking out? “Yeah, like the whole thing,” Talitha answered. “I think we’ll all be going to as much as we can and soaking up as much as possible. I don’t know how to just put one group down.”

What’s the plan beyond WOMAD? “We have a couple of gigs lined up after WOMAD but the focal point has been this festival. There’s the national folk festival in Canberra over Easter and a few gigs round town then putting the signal up that we want to head overseas and have a look over there.”

For the full WOMAD lineup and ticketing details check out the WOMAD WEBSITE.