Check out the Day 1 photos HERE
Steepling temperatures and copious amounts of dust did little to detract from a technicolour opening night at WOMADelaide. This year’s festival had been the subject of unprecedented ticket sales, as for the first time its allocation of 20,000 three-day passes was exhausted prior to gates opening at 4.30pm. So popular has the event become that organisers have dared to dream of extending it into a fourth day, but for now it was enough to walk in the gates with the knowledge that more than 30 hours of music lay ahead over the weekend.
Among the first round of performers were Burkina Faso’s Farafina and Japanese percussionists the Joji Hirota Trio, but the usual traffic chaos outside the gardens meant many of the crowd did not settle inside until 7pm, at which point Romanian gypsy minstrels Taraf De Haidouks took to stage two. Characterised by some of the most energetic fiddling likely to be seen anywhere and galloping along through tunes influenced tellingly by the group’s itinerant – the official program called them a “band of outlaws” – lifestyle, they took advantage of a wide age range to present music that was undeniably rooted in history while also offering a very contemporary level of energy. For those who have never seen gypsy performers, the experience was akin to listening to the outro of The Who’s Baba O’Riley for an hour.
Over on stage three there was folk music of a different and poppier kind from Beirut, an ensemble led by American singer/songwriter Zach Condon. Offering a selection of sounds that conjured up aural memories of The Arcade Fire as much as anyone else, Condon’s tuneful work drew a young, appreciative crowd to what is probably the precinct’s most natural amphitheatre. He entertained by switching from brass to vocals and back with great alacrity and was good enough to enchant an audience that might have been forgiven for skipping away early to gain position for the night’s biggest local drawcard, The John Butler Trio.
“I heard he’s cut off his plats,” said one fan as the crowd swelled around stage one.
His female companion became suddenly indignant at this news, exclaiming: “They’re not plats, they’re dreadlocks! And if he ever did cut them off he has to check with me first so I can have them for extensions.”
When Butler and co did take the stage it was with shorter hair than usual, but there was to be no Samson-like reduction in the group’s power. The stage compere had introduced them by relating how she saw Butler play on the festival’s boutique Moreton Bay Fig stage in 2001, but that now the main stage was the only place big enough to accommodate him. It might be argued that Butler is probably too big for WOMAD, given his chart-topping sales record and armful of ARIA awards. However his hippie aesthetic and musical ingenuity remains a neat fit with the festival ethos, and it could also be said that Butler is politically at home. His performing at Womad felt like the leftist equivalent of John Howard’s address to a conservative think-tank, the American Enterprise Institute, in Washington DC this week.
Butler’s set came to a rapid halt around 9.15pm as the crowds sidled back to stage two for what was to be the night’s emotional high water mark. The Black Arm Band was a 32-person assembly of some of Australia’s finest indigenous musical talent, including Stephen Pigram, Ruby Hunter, Lou Bennett, Joe Geia and Kutcha Edwards. Together they produced an impassioned performance of Murundak (alive), a journey through songs and images that soulfully catalogued the indigenous struggle in Australia. The production and its related images were first put together for the 2006 Melbourne International Arts Festival, but the hope offered by the Federal Government’s recent apology to the stolen generation made this performance an especially cathartic occasion. The poignant work of senior statesman Edwards in particular saw a few tears being mopped from the eyes of the audience. This was not only because of the political and social implications of what was sung and said, but also because as a purely musical ensemble The Black Arm Band would take some beating. As the show progressed they received some assistance from Butler on backing vocals, and he went on to lead one tune before the whole assembly joined in for a raucous rendition of Yothu Yindi’s Treaty.
From there the night’s tone was one of celebration, and who better to lead the revival than arguably the biggest international name on show this year – soul/gospel empress Mavis Staples. Though she took her time to reach the stage, Staples proceeded to storm through a blistering 80-minute set of gospel, soul, rock and funk that never left a tremendous pitch of physical and spiritual energy. Starting off with a fine rendition of For What It’s Worth, Staples showcased her outstanding powers of interpretation, as she wrapped her powerfully deep and throaty vocals around a series of standards. There remains a special power in her full-bodied treatment of the Band’s signature tune The Weight, which she, Yvonne, Cleotha and their father Pops had added magnificent support to in the version prepared for Martin Scorsese’s The Last Waltz in 1976. The set would not have been complete without a clutch of Staple Singers tunes, and by winding up with Respect Yourself and I’ll Take You There, Staples had a famously diverse audience singing in time like some kind of hippie Harlem Gospel Choir. So enraptured were they that Staples’ light-hearted butchering of the name Adelaide (Ademaide, lemonade) brought only laughter and cheers. Staples responded in kind by saying what most everyone was feeling: “You’ve been so wonderful I’m not going to be able to get to sleep tonight, I’m going to be smiling so much!”
Stay tuned to Fasterlouder for all the coverage from Days 2 and 3 of WOMADelaide
