Womadelaide, March 10-13, 2023
By Brian Wise
It was fitting that Youssou N’Dour closed this year’s Womadelaide, signalling that the event was back to normal after the Covid hiatus. N’Dour played at the very first Womadelaide and thirty-one years on his powers remain seemingly undiminished. With a stunning voice and equally impressive band, he reminded everyone what the festival was about and also how important it has become on the Australian music calendar.
Womadelaide remains unique in the range of artists it offers, its magnificent setting and its almost clockwork-like operation. After an extremely abbreviated event on a different site in 2021 and a mainly local event last year, the festival roared back to life in Botanic Park/Tainmuntilla with more than 110,00o attendees across four days and a program featuring more than 700 artists from 30 countries.
WOMADelaide Director Ian Scobie AM said after the festival, “Having endured somewhat of a hiatus for the past three years, being able to present such a celebratory and welcoming return for the festival from so many extraordinary artists from around the world was an absolute joy. It also marked a huge step in the evolution of the festival, which has created many defining moments for generations over its 31-year history”.
With a record number of first-time attendees, it was almost as if, after several years of musical drought, people were rushing to get back to enjoying music together. This was evidenced by the number of family and friendship groups who spread themselves out under the canopy of trees to enjoy the company and the music. As Dennis Denuto says in The Castle, ‘It’s the vibe of it.’
While the vibe here is always great, the event’s very success this year might have caught organisers by surprise. Apparently, numbers are capped at 30,000 but the crowds on Friday and Saturday caused a massive pressure on facilities. That is way too many people for the site to handle comfortably. (Some first-time attendees could also have been given a primer on festival protocol). Let’s hope the evolution that Ian Scobie spoke about takes into account feedback from this year’s event.
As a music festival, Womadelaide is hard to beat in many respects, not the least of which is the sound quality. This means that you can find yourself a space – even if it is at the back – and still clearly hear the act. In fact, you can get a seat at a table in one of the food areas and watch the main Foundation Stage act on a big screen. Whatever stage you choose, the sound is usually impeccable which is just as well if you are battling a record crowd.
The breadth of the music is the other aspect of Womadelaide that is remarkable. Of course, there are favourites like Youssou N’Dour and Billy Bragg who you expect to be great but then there are the many discoveries that make the weekend as well.
I had never heard of the German band Muete, a ‘techno marching band of eleven drummers and horn players’, but I came across them on Saturday afternoon while I was walking to another stage and was mesmerised. There were shades of Weather Report in the music which had me entranced. Then there are all the ‘sideshows’ such as Place des Anges by French troupe Gratte Ciel which had winged figures soaring across the sky on ziplines before showering the audience with white feathers dropped from suitcases. In one area was a giant illuminated globe of the world hovering over the festival. It is indeed the vibe!
Highlights? On Friday evening it was immediately apparent that there was a record crowd. Cimafunk brought his brand of electrifying funk and Cuban rhythms – Chucho Valdez and George Clinton were both guests on his most recent Grammy-nominated album El Alimento. From the crowd reaction he will return sooner than later.
For me the appearance of Billy Bragg after a three years postponement of his tour was always going to be the centre point of the evening. The fact that he drew the largest crowd I have ever seen to Stage 3 meant that we viewed him from a distance – but the message was still clear. The twelve-song set contained many of the ‘hits’ including ‘Shirley’, ‘Sexuality’, ‘Levi Stubb’s Tears (one of Bragg’s greatest songs), ‘Between The Wars’ and ‘There Is A Power In The Union’. (A notable absentee is ‘A New England’ which he will only perform in his extended three-night series covering his first six albums). There was also plenty of banter – or lecturing, depending on your point of view. He talked about the Voice To Parliament and apologised for Britain’s role in creating the situation. He covered unionism and talked about how he had been at a demonstration of women workers just a few days earlier in Adelaide. He discussed updating ‘Sexuality’ to take account of transgender listeners and how the blokes in his audience needed to deal with this and he also covered domestic violence and respect for women. Finally, Bragg posited that “Music can’t change the world’ adding that it ‘can make you believe that the world can be changed.” Afterwards, you had the feeling that you had just been at the most interesting one-hour modern politics class you had ever attended!
Due to a radio commitment, I only caught a little of Bon Iver closing Friday evening on the Foundation Stage, but what I heard sounded remarkably good.
For some reason my response to the The Proclaimers’ set on Saturday at Stage 2 was a lot more positive than that of my friends, most of whom said it was ‘okay.’ That’s damning with faint praise! I thought it was a lot better than that. Maybe it is because I only recently saw the 2013 film musical Sunshine On Leith, which gave me a whole new respect for the Reid brothers’ songs on which the film is based. The title song is particularly moving (yes, I shed a tear) and it was just one of the many examples of the lovely harmonies for which The Proclaimers are noted. Of course, they finished with ‘I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)’ which is just as well because there would probably have been a riot if they had omitted it!
Fantastic Negrito, winner of Grammy awards for Blues Album of the Year, got everyone moving on the main Foundation stage with an almost frenetic blend of rock, R&B, blues, rap and funk. His songs have as many messages as Billy Bragg’s but he spends a lot less time talking about them.
Justin Adams and Mauro Durante have been here several times before, separately, but this time they have teamed up for an enchating duo. Guitarist Adams was first here with Jah Wobble and has since worked with Robert Plant and produced Tinariwen continuing a long-held fascination with African, Arabic, African and trance music. Durante, a vocalist, violinist and percussionist visited with Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino playing taranta and pizzica (southern Italian folk music). Together, their music is mesmering and you also can hear that on their their debut album Still Moving. At the Moreton Bay Stage – the perfect setting for their music – an example of the way in which they can transform songs came with the very first selection, an unusual (and probably unique) rendition of ‘When The Saints Come Marching In’. The remainder of the set was just as hypnotic and meant I had to see them again the next day.
Florence + The Machine, headed by a spectacular looking Florence Welch, ensured that Saturday’s event was as crowded, if not more so, than the previous day. The alternative was the Dilli Allstars on the Zoo Stage across the park. But Florence’s drama, colour and movement drew us in until it was time to leave.
The Kronos Quartet opened Sunday afternoon for us on the Foundation Stage and they proved to be as eclectic as ever celebrating the ensemble 50th anniversary. Everyone certainly paid attention when they launched into Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Purple Haze’ then followed it with Mahalia Jackson’ ‘God Shall Wipe Away All Tears Away’ and ‘Orange Blossom Special’! Guest vocalist Mahas Vahdat joined them for five selections adding another dimension to the performance.
The most amusing sidelight of the festival for me occurred the evening before when we were on the same bus as the members of the Kronos Quartet who were quizzed by the driver who, after finding out they were musicians, asked, ‘Can you really make a living out of playing music?’ He seemed astonished when they replied in the affirmative. Obviously, the spirit of WOMAD has not yet quite permeated everywhere in Adelaide.
Beckah Amani, who has recently been recording a new album in London at The Kinks’ Konk Studios, showed why she is one of the country’s rising stars with a compelling performance highlighting songs from her acclaimed EP April. Born in Tanzania and moving via Western Australia and Queensland to London, Amani possesses a quite stunning voice. It is easy to predict big things for the forthcoming album after seeing her confidence here.
Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn have been given the tag ‘King and Queen of the Banjo’ which probably undersells the breadth of their performance. Of course, they are virtuosos of their instruments but you know that any banjo set that kicks off with Little Richard’s ‘Keep A Knockin’’ is going to be special.
Sampa The Great has been in the news recently regarding her withdrawal from Bluesfest, which didn’t raise a mention here. But the Zambian-born rapper did talk about meeting one of her heroes, Angelique Kidjo, at Womadelaide and their collaboration on ‘Let Me Be Great’.
Mdou Moctar brought some more hypnotic rhythms from African with his set on Stage 7, across near the Zoo and away from the main area but equally packed for this absolutely mesmerising band from Niger. Much has been made of the influence of Eddie Van Halen but you can place Mdou Moctar up there with Tinariwen in terms of African ‘guitar’ bands. They were a must for me to see the next day as well. There is something inescapable about the connection between these rhythms and those of the blues from the Mississippi Delta. (Another similar band, Bab L’Bluz from Morrocco and France were not nearly so compelling on the same stage the next evening).
I was looking forward to Angel Olsen’s set on Stage 2 on Sunday afternoon (with slightly lesser crowd numbers) and I wasn’t disappointed; although, maybe an evening timeslot might have been better in creating an atmosphere for her music which is often dramatic. Tremendous band and great sound, Ironically, the highlight came with her rendition of Harry Nilsson’s ‘Without You’, a timely reminder of a great song.
Olsen’s set reminded me of the one criticism of Womadelaide’s booking policy, which is the myopia in regard to Americana. After all, John Prine played here at the second Womadelaide in 1993! There is a treasure trove of Americana acts that would fit in perfectly here, and you don’t have to start with the obvious such as Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires or Brand Carlile. Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell, Terry Allen, Lyle Lovett, Eilen Jewell (who played Port Fairy). This list goes on.
Madeleine Peyroux’s early evening set at Stage 3 (one of my favourite stages) was delightful and she closed with an encore of Allen Toussaint’s ‘Everything I Do Gonh Be Funky’. The ensemble of keyboards drums, bass and Peyroux on guitar was superb. I imagine she would have also been great in the concert venues she played on tour.
Soul II Soul were entertaining and perfect for the main stage but I was more impressed with Genesis Owusu and the Black Dog Band. Admittedly this is not the sort of music I would normally listen to but the stage presence of this hip hop rapper is magnetic and captured my attention. Apart from the excellent band backing the rapper the music was a lot broader than I anticipated veering into R&B. I can totally understand why his album Smiling With No Teeth won an ARIA Award for Best Album and the Australian Music Prize. One of my highlights of the festival.
All of this was just preparation for the main act on the Foundation Stage closing the festival out: Youssou N’Dour & Le Super Etoile De Dakar. N’dour was a massive step up in class and as soon as he arrived on stage you knew you were in the presence of one of the superstars of world music. Le Super Etoile De Dakar is an incredible band with percussionists often propelling the music at a frenetic pace with glorious rhythm and subtlety. We heard the ‘hits’, ‘Shaking The Tree’, ‘Set’ and ‘7 Seconds’ (with a guest vocalist) amongst the hour-and-a-half plus brilliant performance.
It was also a salient reminder that we can thank Womadelaide for bringing such great world music performers who otherwise might not even be able to tour here. Youssou N’Dour certainly left us on a high and looking forward to Womadelaide next year.