Global Music run down featuring WoMAdelaide

March 31, 2011 - PRLog -- If you were in Adelaide the place to be on Friday, the 11th of March,was at the VIP party celebrating the opening of the 2011 Womadelaide Festival which was held at Botanic Park.  The guests included Mike Rann, Kate Ellis, Jane Lomax-Smith, Pat Conlon, Troy Gray, the new Nova morning crew – Matt, Maz and Dan as well as some of the performers including Angus and Julia Stone. The Champaign flowed and the weather which continued to sparkle for the entire weekend was fabulous. With lots of interactive street theatre and mingling stars the day was perfect start to the weekend.
 
WOMADelaide 2011 Friday 11 - Monday 14 March in Adelaide's beautiful Botanic Park.
On the bill from United Kingdom were Afro Celt Sound System, Simon Emmerson is the lead an has been a pivotal figure in bringing a digital feel to a traditional afro sound. Unfortunatly the consensus is it was boring after 20 minutes of sounding the same and that the afro-celt fusion did not really work. Would have been more suited to a small room where the musicians could have worked off the audience and the beat sound start to really come off.

Images supplied by John Goodridge (thehighway.com)

• Nitin Sawhney who is British/Indian was one of the featured artists and a rare and cherished gem, songwriter, DJ, multi-instrumentalist, orchestral composer, and cultural pioneer with his Indian heritage and Jazz background having started his musical career in the James Taylor Jazz quartet and his collaborations with  Sting, Natacha Atlas, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan who was also on the bill and is featured below, my man on the ground  only saw got to see his DJ set on the Sunday night, which was dance/indo and the consensus was it was highly enjoyable and produced a new and dedicated fan.

• Rajendra Prasanna from India excels in playing both the flute and shehnai, an ancient oboe-like instrument. His delicate, song-like playing style is extraordinarily beautiful and this tour marks the first time the shehnai has been brought to Australia he was accompanied by his sons Rajesh and Rishab and was great for a gentle mellow sit back to on the grass and be moved but the haunting sounds of his flute.
• Afro Mandinko are Perth based out fit with players form Australian Gambia and Senegal, these guys play great tunes and are very lively – I had seen them before in Perth where they are based, and they always get the crowd hopping.
• Amadou & Mariam from Mali and two blind people so they were not jumping about on the stage, they are much livelier on their CD than live, sweet sounds all the same. The Magic Couple  released in 2009 is a must buy and show cases some great Mali music
• Ana Moura from Portugal sounded great and looked good as well, very haunting traditional Portuguese, but if you don’t like the mandolin give a very wide berth.
• Asa whom was born in and Nigeria and is now based in France has an excellent voice and showcases contemporary soul, pop, reggae and funk with searing lyrics in both English and her native Yoruba language.
• Bob Brozman from the United States is a slide guitar specialist and wacks out an awesome sound and produces lots of hard work with his slide guitar but nothing that really grabbed me. Feel what he needs is to be in a sweaty Chicago bar with a bourbon and an aged and grizzled bluesman on vocals.
•Faiz Ali Faiz is from Pakistan is another great musician from the sub continent with a powerful voice and has gained popular notoriety with his collaborations with Nitin Sawhney. The young Faiz Ali Faiz hails from a family that has produced qawwali singers for seven generations and Faiz remains true to the deep, devotional core of traditional qawwali repertoire and is considered the spiritual successor to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
• Féfé who was born in Nigeria and is now based in France was a stand out surprise. This guy really got the crowd on his side on the Saturday night, lots of variety and not just standard hip hop fare, Fefe loves Fefe but great all the same.
• Luka Bloom from the Irish Republic, Luka Is Luka, if you like this kind of thing OK but didn’t rock my world.
• Norman Jay from the United Kingdom is an old school dance/house DJ fusing Paul Simon (amongst others) with the dance music, good but definitely no Nitin Sawhney!
• Sidestepper  are Richard Blair from the United Kingdom and Colombian songwriter Ivan Benavides who make up the core of this seven piece band who unite electronic trance with salsa, Colombian rhythms and pulsing beats. The were a highlight of the weekend, they were having so much fun on stage you couldn’t help but get involved as well. A friend at WOMAD in NZ said they also rocked that venue as well so worth while keeping an eye out.

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