Afrobeat so sweet
This was published 11 years ago
By Patrick Donovan and Jo Roberts
HORNS soothe the soul. And at this year's 18th WOMADelaide Festival, they came in all forms - heroic, triumphant, sorrowful and soulful. There were mariachi horns of Tex Mex band Calexico and hilarious Mexican techno group Nortec Collective; reggae and ska brass of Jamaica's Skatalites and Ethiopia's Dub Colossus; the hard Chicago street funk of brother band the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble; the gypsy brass of Besh o droM; the horn-driven Afrobeat of the Public Opinion Afro Orchestra; and the straight up funk-soul of local groovsters the Bamboos.
But without doubt our biggest revelation was Ethiopian music. Charismatic singer Mahmoud Ahmed led the prolific, 10-piece jazz group Ethiopiques, whose music was heard in Jim Jarmusch's 2005 film Broken Flowers, on a tight blend of '70s funk, Sun Ra space-jazz, African melodies, '60s exotica, polyrhythms and mournful minor key horns in two spellbinding sets.
They were probably just pipped by Dub Colossus, whose modern take on traditional Ethiopian styles is steered by Transglobal Underground's Nick Page, brilliant saxophonist Feleke Hailu and dynamic singers/dancers Sintayehu ''Mimi'' Zenebe and Tsedenia Gebremarkos.
This year's line-up featured the largest contingent of world music acts assembled in Australia - 56 groups, troupes and DJs from 27 countries - and the festival was extended to four days at the picturesque, 34-hectare Botanic Park. About 20,000 people attended the festival each day, including about 6000 from Victoria.
The festival began in 1992 and was held in alternate years to the biennial Adelaide Festival until 2003, when WOMAD became an annual event. Now, the two festivals run concurrently, along with the Adelaide Fringe Festival.
Once the day's festivities ended at midnight, revellers made their way to the fringe hub, the Garden of Unearthly Delights, in Rundle Park to watch comedians, circus acts and theatre troupes before walking home past the amazing Northern Lights installation, which projected psychedelic lights on Adelaide University buildings along North Terrace.
The 19-piece Public Opinion Afro Orchestra led the charge of the many Melbourne acts at WOMAD. The band, which is made up of African expats, local hip-hop and funk artists and the cream of the Melbourne jazz scene, update the '70s Afrobeat sounds and energy from Nigeria with modern scratching and hip-hop.
They recently recorded their debut album after gaining inspiration from a trip to Nigeria, where they jammed with family members of '70s Afrobeat star Fela Kuti at Lagos' Afrika Shrine nightclub, where the Afrobeat revolution was born. Judging by the ecstatic dancing and applause, the public's opinion was a resounding thumbs-up. Check out one of the most extraordinary live bands to come out of Melbourne in the past decade when they launch Do Anything Go Anywhere at St Kilda's Prince Bandroom tomorrow, 8.30pm.
THE other big weekend festival we enjoyed was the fourth annual Golden Plains. Held at the Meredith Music Festival's Supernatural Ampitheatre, there was mud, mud and more mud over the Saturday and Sunday but, thankfully, the worst of Melbourne's weather bypassed the site, so rain and sludge were the main challenges for the 9000 pilgrims.
Still, you don't go camping at a festival with bad weather a certainty if you're not the determined sort, which GP-goers are. And prepared, for the most part. Gumboots of all patterns, colours and designs ruled, raincoats and ponchos were essential but those getting about in thongs or barefoot seemed pretty happy, too.
The music made it all worthwhile, with stunning, rain-soaked headline sets on Saturday night from Pavement (featuring guest vocals at one point from local music identity Julian Wu) and a reinvigorated Dinosaur Jr. Sunday night's set from US Tex-Mex outfit Calexico was also inspired, including a couple of Minutemen covers, and the Cruel Sea were a great choice to follow them onstage.
In fact, probably the only real programming clanger of the weekend was Sydney's Jack Ladder, whose gloomy set jarred against the resolutely upbeat crowd (folks generally don't wear animal suits for a downvibe time).
The wide psychedelic sounds of Wooden Shjips impressed, with many a shoe raised in respect (it's a Meredith thing) at set's end. Also much love for the witty garage pop of Jeffrey Lewis and the Junkyard, the mighty Nashville Pussy, the vocal acrobatics of Dirty Projectors, the Saturday afternoon solo set from Dinosaur Jr's Lou Barlow, and the refreshment de rigueur, the Pink Flamingo.
Sparklehorse finds his star
IT WAS with heavy hearts that we learnt of the death last Saturday of American musician Mark Linkous, known mainly for his work as Sparklehorse. Last seen in Australia in 1999 for the Big Day Out on the back of his stunning 1998 album Good Morning Spider, Linkous was a unique voice in US music and worked with acts including the Flaming Lips, Danger Mouse and Daniel Johnston.
Ostensibly folk-pop, he gave the genre a good twist with his imaginative production techniques, vocal treatments and music that ranged from inspired bursts of squalling guitar to hushed, spacious jewels as beautiful as they were pained.
Linkous' music and often open-veined lyrics came from a difficult place. He fought depression and addiction and almost died of heart failure in 1996 when he overdosed in London. He was left partially crippled from the incident after his legs became pinned beneath him for 14 hours while unconscious. He died on March 6 in Knoxville, Tennessee, from a self-inflicted gunshot, aged 47. In a statement announcing his death, his family quoted his song Hey, Joe from Good Morning Spider: ''There's a heaven and there's a star for you.''
THIS weekend, check out the free Aireys Inlet Open Mic Music Festival. Tomorrow, Archie Roach plays the Brunswick Town Hall; Jim Keays' Masters Apprentices, Chain, Spectrum, Madder Lake and Blackfeather play Aztec Music presents Rock of Ages 2 tomorrow at The Palms at Crown Casino. And new venue the Post Office Hotel at 231 Sydney Road, Coburg, is being run by musos including Dallas Crane's Shannon Vanderwert and Patrick Bourke, and Danial Caneva who manages shareholder Tex Perkins.
pdonovan@theage.com.au