Review – WOMADelaide: Day 1
Image: Mokoomba
The festival gardens went from empty to almost full on Friday’s late-afternoon kick off Opening Night program of WOMADelaide.
Zimbabwe fusion Afro-beat six-piece Mokoomba blasted out an infectious dance beat from the elaborate Stage One. Mokoomba are relatively new to the world music circuit and have been nominated in the “top six” by UK magazine Songlines for the year 2012. They set the tone for the festival – loud, brassy, crossover fusion with high energy and repetitive dance beats.
Buika appeared soon after on the adjoining Stage Two. It was seven in the evening local time but the late summer sun was still overpowering for those sitting exposed on the grass. Buika’s sizzling style matched the weather. From African parents, born in Spain, she performed a mélange of gypsy-inspired and Latino songs from plaintive melodies to up-beat almost rumbas. Her personality and style was friendly, in your face. “You’re all my Family,” she said more than once, as though addressing each individual member of her appreciative audience.
Next up on centre stage was Hanggai, playing songs from their latest CD, He Who Travels Far. Hanggai are loosely described as nomadic horsemen from Mongolia in far northwest China. They combine traditional instruments like the tsuur flute and horsehead fiddles with their overtone, or croaky-gut-wrenching singing, while banging along to electric guitars doing a version of rock ‘n’ roll. One could mentally picture their traditional instruments as played on their mountainous homeland whilst still enjoying their attempts at modern day rock fusion.
By nine o’clock the sun had finally set and a magical early autumn balmy evening enveloped the audience in the magnificent natural setting.
Neko Case, the double Grammy nominated singer-songwriter was only doing one performance at WOMADelaide. She had Stage Three packed to the tent city on the hill behind, as her amazing backing band swapped in-house jokes with her. She casually ploughed through an awesome set of memorable songs while slide guitars, keyboards, drums, bass and more complemented her commanding voice.
As Friday evening moved into full swing the New Zealand outfit Fat Freddy’s Drop took centre stage and were no strangers after 27 tours of Australia and half a million sales of CDs globally. Their fans were ready to jump on command and they were packed in.
The night finished with one of Q Magazine’s “10 best DJs in the world” named DJ Yoda. (JL)
BY JEFFERSON LEE
WOMADelaide, Mar 7-10, Botanic Park, Adelaide, womadelaide.com.au
