Beirut in our backstage tent post-performance and post-interview.

One of the Black Grace performers with broadcasters Michelle Smith and Steve Gumerungi Hodder.

Seth Jordan with Idan Raichel and guest.

Doing his best model shot – Joseph Tawadros posing for us behind Stage 2.

Kutcha Edwards with Broadcaster Steve Gumerungi Hodder and Executive Producer Deborah Welch. 

Nickodemus with broadcaster Systa BB.

Roger Holdsworth with Manjiri Kelkar.

Australian performer Sarah Blasko with technical operator Jonathan Brown and broadcaster Michelle Smith.

- Hope you’ve been enjoying our Womadelaide 2008 Coverage – Make sure you listen to our exclusive interviews and podcast performances of the above artists!

-JB

Master Kong Nay performs on the Zoo stage in sweltering heat.

Part of the strong Australian contingent at Womad 08 - Sarah Blasko performs on Stage 3 with her chamber ensemble.

New Zealand dance troupe Black Grace perform on Stage 2

The beautiful fire installations that lit up Botanic Park once the sun set.

Sharon Jones and the DAP Kings were a stellar act to finish the main stage, and as shown here Sharon really knew how to get the audience involved, pulling one lucky audience member up on stage!

 -JB

Seth Jordon speaks with Idan Raichel on WOMADelaide 2008 LIVE!

Idan Raichel – Live @ WOMAD – Interview – Click here to download interview (mp3)

Steve Gumerangi Hodder speaks with Kutcha Edwards on WOMADelaide 2008 LIVE!

Kutcha Edwards – Live @ WOMAD – Interview – Click here to download interview

Kutcha Edwards Band – Live @ WOMAD – Performance – Click here to download part of their performance (mp3)

 Black Arm Band – Live @ WOMAD – Performance – Click here to download part of their performance (mp3)

Systa BB speaks with Nickodemus on WOMADelaide 2008 LIVE!

Nickodemus – Live @ WOMAD – Interview – Click here to download interview (mp3)

Michelle Smith speaks with Black Grace on WOMADelaide 2008 LIVE!

Black Grace – Live @ WOMAD – Interview – Click here to download interview (mp3)

Systa BB speaks with Beirut on WOMADelaide 2008 LIVE!

Beirut – Live @ WOMAD – Interview – Click here to download the interview (mp3)

Beirut – Live @ Womad – Performance – Click here to download highlights of Beirut live (mp3)

Roger Holdsworth speaks with Joseph Tawadros on WOMADelaide 2008 LIVE!

Joseph Tawadros – Live @ WOMAD – Interview – Click here to download interview (mp3)

Joseph Tawadros Trio – Live @ WOMAD – Performance – Click here to hear part of their performance (mp3)

Watussi – Live @ WOMAD – Performance – Click here to download part of their performance (mp3)

Victor Valdes and the Real Mexico Mariachi Band – Live @ WOMAD – Performance – click here to download part of their performance (mp3)

Toumani Diabate’s Symmetric Orchestra – Live @ WOMAD – Performance – Click here to download part of their performance (mp3)

 Tenzin Cheogyal and the Tashi Lhunpo Monks of Tibet - Live @ WOMAD - Performance – Click here to download part of their performance (mp3)

Susana Baca – Live @ WOMAD – Performance – Click here to download part of her performance (mp3)

More to come over the next few days, but please enjoy the wide range of music and interviews available – relive WOMAD from your computer!

 My favourites performance so far are Joseph Tawadros,  The Black Arm Band and hearing Cesaria Evora’s band has had me pondering how amazing she would have been with them!

 I also highly suggest you get involved Roger Holdsworth’s discussion on the westernisation of world music: http://serendipsy.wordpress.com/2008/03/08/kong-nay-and-ouch-savy-workshop/

It’s a fascinating discussion and we’d love to hear more points of view!

-JB

Dr Natesan Ramani – Live @ WOMAD – Performance – Click here to download part of his performance (mp3)

Mista Savona – Live @ WOMAD – Interview – Click here to download interview (mp3)

Mista Savona – Live @ WOMAD – Performance – Click here to download part of their performance (mp3)

Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill – Live @ WOMAD – Performance – Click here to download part of their performance (mp3)

Mavis Staples – Live @ WOMAD – Performance – Click here to download part of her performance (mp3)

Manjiri Kelkar – Live @ WOMAD – Performance – Click here to download part of her performance (mp3)

Kutcha Edwards Band – Live @ WOMAD – Performance – Click here to download part of their performance (mp3)

Joseph Tawadros Trio – Live @ WOMAD – Performance – Click here to hear part of their performance (mp3)

Highway 31 – Live @ WOMAD – Performance – Click here to download part of their performance (mp3)

Don McGlashan – Live @ WOMAD – Interview – Click here to download interview (mp3)

Don McGlashan and the Seven Sisters – Live @ WOMAD – Performance – Click here to download part of their performance (mp3)

David D’or – Live @ WOMAD – Performance – Click here to download part of his performance (mp3)

Despite Cesaria suffering a minor stroke and being unable to perform at WOMADelaide 2008 – Her band were brave and took to the stage in tribute to their frontwoman’s recovery. Here is part of that performance.

Cesaria Evora’s Band – Live @ WOMAD – Performance – Click here to hear part of the performance (mp3)

Bob Evans – Live @ WOMAD – Performance – Click here to download part of his performance (mp3)

The Beautiful Girls – Live @ WOMAD – Performance – Click here to download part of their performance

Black Arm Band – Live @ WOMAD – Interview – Click here to download interview (mp3)

Black Arm Band – Live @ WOMAD – Performance – Click here to download part of their performance (mp3)

Sarah Blasko – Live @ WOMAD – Interview – Click here to download interview (mp3)

Sarah Blasko – Live @ WOMAD – Performance – Click here to download part of Sarah’s performance (mp3)

Our broadcast last night heard some amazing performances, and you can expect more to be uploaded here soon for your listening pleasure.

 Well, its been a big weekend already, but that certainly isn’t going to stop me from getting my dancin’ shoes on for this last day of WOMAD 08!

-JB

I must admit I love the little workshops on the smaller stages. I just came back from an open chat with Cambodian Master Kong Nay and Ouch Savy: his student and one of only three women in Cambodia currently learning the chapei dang weng (Cambodian flat-bodied, long-necked lute). As well as a moderated interview, there were questions from the audience about the location of his music within Cambodian society, freedom of expression, the overt attempts by the Khmer Rouge to eliminate artists and folk cultures (Kong Nay himself was one day away from execution, saved only by invading Vietnamese troops) and much more. They both played and sang a song or two and explained their meaning.

Kong Nay has been called the Cambodian Ray Charles – perhaps an unfortunate parallel because he was blinded by smallpox at the age of 4 years. Similarly his music has been called the Mekong Delta Blues – yet he only heard a recording of Leadbelly a few days ago.

A personal aside here: so why do we attempt to locate music in terms of our western perceptions? Perhaps in an attempt at establishing familiarity and easing us into understanding? Or is it – more dangerously, an unconscious racism where we place ‘our’ music at the centre and can only hear others’ music  when we control it, tame it, name it – place it into our western context. Isn’t that the very antithesis of the inclusive ethos of ‘worldwide music’? If we continue to only hear the chapei  tradition as ‘the Cambodian blues’, fado as ‘ the Portuguese blues’ and so on – then we DIMINISH all these traditions by making them subservient to, subsets of, our western culture – and there’s a short path from that to the hegemony of commercial pop music. Wotcha think?

-Roger Holdsworth (getting controversial here at WOMADelaide!)

Womadelaide 2008 LIVE!

6pm-Midnight EST – Check your local station

OR listen online via Radio Adelaide – http://radio.adelaide.edu.au/listen.rm (Realplayer required)

-JB

Brisbane based black belt of blues guitar and harmonica – Mojo Webb combines his extensive knowledge with his gravely but stunning vocals and honest yet sometimes fiery presence on stage. He speaks to Steve Hodder about which musical instrument he’d grab first on a sinking ship. (Amongst other things!)

Mojo Webb – Live @ WOMAD – Interview – Click here to download interview (mp3)

Mojo Webb – Live @ WOMAD – Performance -Click here to download part of Mojo Webb’s performance (mp3)

Mista Savona has been marrying dancehall with roots-reggae over 3 albums and his third album “Melbourne meets Kingston” he travelled to Jamaica to record voices over his rhythms. Systa BB snared him this afternoon for some reasonings…

Mista Savona – Live @ WOMAD – Interview – Click here to download interview (mp3)

Don McGlashan is a legend of New Zealand music and has brought his new band “The Seven Sisters” to WOMAD 2008. Don takes a huge role this year as the musical director for the All Star Gala. Jonathan Brown spoke to Don about his music and his role this year.

Don McGlashan – Live @ WOMAD – Interview – Click here to download interview (mp3)

Just came from a seriously fine set of skankin’ roots-reggae with Melbourne’s Mista Savona. A fabulous array of some of Australia’a best reggae players.

My picks form opening Friday night were Romania’s great gypsy band Taraf de Haidouks – the original pogoing punk music! – and the veteran soul-gospel singer Mavis Staples, who was in fine form and voice.

Looking forward to tonight’s broadcast and live sets from Peruvian diva Susana Baca and Malian master kora player Toumani Diabate fronting his massive Symmetric Orchestra.

Hope to have your company on-air for our 6-hour broadcast!

- Seth Jordan 

WOMADelaide 2008 isn’t just about the music. It’s a total experience, with stalls, food, ‘street artists and performers’ and so on. And after dark a whole other world opens up, with lights in trees, glowing globes and so on.

Chief amongst these displays is that put on by French installation artists La Compagnie Carabosse (the Wicked Fairy Company). This year (as they have in the past … and at similar festivals, including the Festival in the Desert in Mali) they have draped the park with flaming pots and other fire ‘sculptures’. Long strings of flame arc up into trees (quaternary curves of combusion); giant globes of flaming pots hover in mid-air suspended from cherry-picker cranes; fiendishly hot metal cylinders glow red as they funnel heat into jet-engine-like exhausts. There’s a risk on a hot evening of coming too close, but you can wander among and sometimes under these fire trails.

To me, the most interesting part of all this is the tension these installations create between beauty and fear. We’ve become so accustomed to the dangerous power of fire in the Australian bush, especially in our summers, that the juxtaposition of the Botanic Park’s trees and the raging pots of fire evoke elemental concerns. Do we want to admire them, run from them or hunt for the nearest extinguisher?

The Park is alive at night with music, crowds, lights and fire. And fear.

-Roger Holdsworth 

Soooo………Bands a plenty, roaming performers, fire sculptures and the all pervasive heat.

Friday night at WOMADelaide.

After spending some time chatting to Michael Winter of Taraf de Haidouks and trying to glean some wisdom from the Soul Jazz crew, I hit the arena to dance shoulder to shoulder with the audience. Taraf blew me away. They aint the prettiest of bands and there is something definitely seedy about their presentation, but when they stared their wild double time  punk gypsy rhythms, it was on. You get used to seein young bands keep up the pressure in 3 minute rock and punk anthems, but most o these guys are old enuff to be MY father and they rocked. Whisked over to see Beirut for about 15 mins (Im catchin a full set tonight) and there are no superlatives that can describe his show. Smooth, melancholy and danceable…..More later. Black Arm Band delivered their big band sound including John Butler as guest and the anthems rolled out…….I want new music from these guys. Love them anthems but time for the young guns to step up and get stuck in.

Mavis Staples told us all how to do it. After chuckling and telling us she aint takin on the Queen of Soul Aretha, she snatched the crown and never looked back. With a blistering attack of Respect Yourself this pint sized woman reminded us of the grit and dirt of original soul. She sang her guts out and we were all the better for it!

Snuff Puppets delighted us all with their newest member, Karem the African Elephant and we all danced under the stars to Soul Jazz Soundsytem….though it could have been way louder.

 A few hours sleep some breakfast at the Adelaide Markets and now I’m off to see Mista Savona, have a chat to him and Nickodemus and then gussy on up for the broadcast tonight…….is still hot!

Later

-Systa bb

If your local station isn’t broadcasting you can listen online courtesy of Radio Adelaide:

Listen online (Realplayer required)

Right now I’m listening to John Butler Trio performing “Funky Tonight” – You can hear and download this powerhouse performance (and others!) if you scroll down the page!

 -JB

Here’s what it looked like when everything was happening in our broadcast tent earlier tonight…

John Butler Trio – Live @ WOMAD – Performance- Hear the John Butler Trio – Funky Tonight (mp3)

Beirut – Live @ Womad – Performance – Click here to download highlights of Beirut live (mp3)

For the past six years Brazilian band Clube Do Balancov have been re-igniting the work of the masters of samba-rock…introducing a whole new generation to the ballroom classics of the 60′s and 70′s Brazil…Band leader Marco Mattoli spoke with Michelle Smith about the group’s irresitable fusion of jazz, rock, soul and samba beat.

Clube Do Balanco – Live @ WOMAD – Interview – Click here to download interview (mp3)

Clube Do Balanco – Live @ Womad – Performance – Click here to download part of their performance (mp3)

Kora consists of four brothers – Kora is their family name – and a friend. They came from Wellington and Whakatane in New Zealand and produce a poweful live sound.

Roger Holdsworth met with Francis – one of the Kora brothers and was interested to find out the origins and developments in sound.

Kora – Live @ WOMAD – Interview – Click here to download interview (mp3)

Susana Baca hails from Peru and has been instrumental in preserving and reinterpreting the music of the black population of her country – Descendents of the slave trade. Along with her husband she runs the institute of the Black Continuum and her music reflects her proud heritage.

Seth Jordan speaks to Susana Baca.

Susana – Live @ Womad – Interview – Click here to download interview (mp3)

Farafina…a dynamic group of musicians from the West African nation of Burkina Faso, formed in 1978. Over the years, the line-up has changed but the goup has grown into a well respected ambassador for it’s homeland, enthusiastically welcomed by audiences the world over. Group spokesperson, Mahi Sanou, spoke with Michelle Smith about the percussive sensation that is… Farafina.

Farafina – Live @ WOMAD – Interview – Click here to download interview (mp3)

Farafina – Live @ WOMAD – Performance – Click here to download some performance highlights(mp3)

Maybe I’m biased, or you could excuse my insight as experience but the only time I feel a sense of togetherness, let’s call it Reconciliation, is not as much when a politician utters one word, but when a black & white man, sorry…, an Aboriginal & non-Indigenous artist share the stage together and have the audience, of which the majority is non-Indigenous, chanting the anthems as one.

To have the likes of Archie Roach, Kutcha Edwards, Ruby Hunter, Lou Bennett, Rachel Maza, Joe Gaia & Bart Willowby teamed up with Shane Howard, John Butler made for a retrospective of Indigenous anthems with integrity and edge.

Add in the non-Indigenous strings and percussions section, the next gen upcomers including Shellie Morris, Emma Donovan, Ursula Yovich & Dan Sultan, a bit of didge and a yolgnu dancer, then you got a performance that means more than the words of a song, more than a popular reaction from a well meaning audience and more than a black arm band view.

-Steve Gumerungi Hodder 

l>r  Dan Sultan, Steve Gumerungi Hodder, Rachael Maza

WOMADelaide 2008 sees the South Australian premiere of the Black Arm Band – Australia’s indigenous superband, including Aboriginal icons – Archie Roach, Ruby Hunter, Kutcha Edwards and Stephen Pigram.

Black Arm Band members Dan Sultan and Rachael Maza tell Steve Hodder of the celebration and the use of music as an instrument of identity, resistance and resilience.

Black Arm Band – Live @ WOMAD – Interview – Click here to download interview (mp3)

Joji Hirota’s music draws on traditional Japanese drumming to present high energy synchronised music that shakes your whole body. Yet there is a sense of sublety to his presentations of Japanese folk songs. Roger Holdsworth asks Joji Hirota about taiko drumming and his performances worldwide.

Joji Hirota – Live @ WOMAD – Interview – Click here to download interview (mp3)

Joji Hirota Trio – Live @ WOMAD – Performance – Click here to download performance (mp3)

Taraf De Haidouks comes from Romania and their name translates as the “band of honourable brigands. Michelle Winter founded the band in 1989 and ever since they have charmed their way into people’s hearts with their style of Balkan/Gypsy/Middle Eastern rhythms. Systa BB caught up with Michelle.

Taraf de Haidouks – Live @ WOMAD – Interview – Click here to download interview (mp3)

Taraf de Haidouks – Live @ WOMAD – Live performance – Click here to download music (mp3)

Thierry Titi Robin is from France. His music draws inspiration form tzigane groups – gypsy people – particularly from the meditteranean. Yet his compositions are distinctively his own -inspired by but not imitating these cultures. On WOMADelaide LIVE Thiery Robin played some bouzaki for us and talked with Roger Holdsworth about the influences that formed his music.

Thierry Titi Robin – Live @ WOMAD – Interview – Click here to download interview (mp3)

Thierry Titi Robin – Live @ WOMAD – Backstage acoustic performance – Click here to download performance (mp3)

They straddle Russian classical and folk music  and also challenge limitations on the way this music is heard. And they have fun. They’re  from St. Petersburg – just flown in from snow and -6 degrees. Roger Holdsworth met Andrei and Andrei from the Terem Quartet and asked about the inspirations within their music.

Terem Quartet – Live @ WOMAD – Interview – Click here to download interview (mp3)

Pedson Kasume is an accomplished dancer, and musician from Uganda, East Africa. He’s brought a swag of traditional instruments and a heap of energy to WOMADelaide. Michelle Smith caught up with him to find out what we can expect from his workshops and performance.

Pedson Kasume – Live @ WOMAD – Interview – Click here to download interview (mp3)

It was announced this morning that the ‘barefoot diva’ from Cabo Verde, Cesaria Evora, has suffered a small stroke and will be unable to perform at WOMADelaide this weekend. She is currently recovering in Sydney until she is able to return home. Her band will still perform at WOMADelaide to present a tribute instrumental set.

-Roger Holdsworth

The WOMADadelaide 2008 LIVE! broadcast team backstage.

It’s hot…damn hot! But we’re here at WOMADelaide trying to learn this new-fangled technology! Seth Jordan, Steve Gumerungi Hodder, Roger Holdsworth, Systa bb and me (Michelle Smith) clustered around a laptop in our backstage tent, sweating like fish.

The production team are fine-tuning, cables have been laid and we’re all set to go with interviews and live crosses to the stages. Welcome to country is at 6pm local time on stage one, and we’ve got a whole heap of things to do before our broadcast kicks off tomorrow.

-Michelle Smith

Sarah Blasko is part of the strong Australian contingent at Womadelaide this year and with two Australian Platinum albums under her belt (The Overture and the Underscore and What the Sea Wants the Sea Will Have) and a stellar touring reputation,  she looks set to impress. David Jobling (Radio Adelaide) and Cath Kenneally (Radio Adelaide) spoke with Sarah and found out just who will be joining her on stage for Womadelaide 2008…

Sarah Blasko – Pre-Womad Interview – Click here to download interview (mp3)

 Womadelaide 2008 is less than a week away!

Tune in to your local community radio station on Saturday the 8th of March from 6pm-Midnight (EST) for Womadelaide 2008 LIVE!

Is your local station not one of our broadcasting partners? Ask them why not!

You can always listen online courtesy of Radio Adelaide – Listen online!

ComRadWomad will be bringing you the latest from the festival with interviews, blogs, music and more!

Suburban Songbook is an album of songs about home by someone who spends a lot of time away from it. Mitchell admits to being unashamedly nostalgic, which is not surprising from someone who can sit in a pub with a beer in one hand, a steak sandwich in the other and say, without embarrassment or affectation, “I’m a big fan of romance.”

David Jobling asks Kevin Mitchell about his upcoming trip to Adelaide and just who is Bob Evans.

Bob Evans – Pre-Womad interview – Click Here to download the interview (mp3)

Watussi (pronounced: WAH-too-SEE, slang meaning ‘the most handsome man at the party’). Their debut long player ‘Tequila, Sangre y Fuego’ is a deliciously rich snapshot of Australian multiculturalism, featuring tracks in English, Spanish and French as well as fusing styles as diverse as Cumbia, Rock, Funk, and Reggae throughout the fourteen track album. The eight-piece is lead by Colombian born vocalist/guitarist/producer Oscar Jimenez whose wild stage energy and huge afro channels everyone from Jimi Hendrix to Jack Splash of Plantlife. Under his direction, Watussi have emerged as one of Sydney’s most popular live bands typified by their charismatic performances. The mix of Afro-Carribean percussion with raw, rock guitar riffs and thumping bass gives Watussi a unique sound and edge that defines the live reputation captured on their first release. The three-piece horn section soars over soul grooves and injects the colours of Oscar’s homeland.

David Jobling (Radio Adelaide) talks with Oscar Jimenez

Oscar Jiminez – Pre-womad interview – Click here to download interview

Take your pick from the 2 interviews below.

David Melzer (3MBS Melbourne) speaks with Joseph Tawardros 

David Jobling (Radio Adelaide) speaks with Joseph Tawadros

About Joseph Tawadros 

Born in Cairo, Egypt in 1983. Immigrating to Australia in 1986, he brought with him a musical tradition inherited from his maternal grandfather, Mansi Habib (1920-1957), an active composer and an oud and violin virtuoso in Cairo. Tawadros’ uncle, Yacoub Mansi Habib, is an active professional Egyptian musician and recognised as one of the pioneering figures in Egyptian trumpet playing, also influenced his musical interest immensely. Joseph Tawadros has studied with Mohamed Youssef, a renowned oud player, jazz pianist and family friend. Youssef encouraged Joseph to explore the musical parameters of the oud and the traditional Egyptian taqasim, a performing style akin to improvisation. This, combined with tremendous talent, has resulted in Joseph Tawadros’ personal style being uniquely instinctive in his music’s improvised content.

A bit of Blue King Brown on Womadelaide 2007 LIVE!<
2007 broadcast – a bit of Fat Freddy