After lamenting not having a weekend pass to Womadelaide a couple of weekends ago, I ended up going on the Sunday and it was a pretty good day. The dust levels weren’t too bad and the weather was pretty good. I thought I’d share some of the music that I heard over the weekend. These videos aren’t actually from Womad but they’ll give you a taste of the type of music that Womad has. And if you listen to any of the below, close your eyes and imagine you’re in a beautiful park and the music loud and completely surrounds and goes through you. Well try anyway.

Rokia Traore appeared last on Stage 1 and I’m so glad I hung around for this. JJ was playing a friend’s DS so he was happy and this woman was so worth it. Her voice is amazing and her dancing just made me feel so unfit. This song is quite slow, but she did a real mix.

I love ska and Ska Cubano were great and they just make you want to get up and dance.

Chemical Brothers fans will recognise this one from Speed Caravan. When I heard it I was on my way back from the loos and I started walking just that bit faster while swaying my hips. Cool version of Galvanize. Unfortunately this one has no visuals, but it was the best sounding one I could find.

Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu performed also. I missed him but apparently he was awesome. A friend has since lent me his CD to listen to which I haven’t yet had the chance but I can’t wait.

Sa Dingding had one of the the most amazing voices I’ve ever heard. She even sang a song in a made up language. Her dancers were great too and they incorporated fans into their dance routine.

The below clip will give you an idea of what else goes on at Womad in addition to what’s on stage.

Regular, long time readers of this website probably know that I love Womadelaide and usually get there in one form or another every year. Here’s the proof from 2008 and if you’re really keen you can get to other years’ wrap-ups from that post.

The last couple of times I’ve been to Womadelaide, it’s been really dusty which plays havoc with my sinuses and has made the experience a lot less enjoyable.

Get a load of the amount of dust from this photo from last year. People were walking around with kerchiefs over their face to try and keep the dust out.

For this reason I’d decided some time ago to only go on the Friday night, but of course it’s rained this week and it’s a bit cooler so the dust probably won’t be a problem this weekend. Aaarrrggghh!

I went along last night and had a total blast. Sorry Jeanie, you’ll have to live vicariously through me. We walked into Botanic Park to be greeted by Strange Fruit. I have to include a photo as it will give you some idea of what they do. Unfortunately you can’t see them in motion, see their facial expressions or hear the music. It’s really clever and I absolutely loved it and this was only the beginning of the evening.

photo credit: rogiro

While watching Strange Fruit I bumped into a friend who was covering the event and she recommended seeing ‘The Black Jesus Experience‘. So we did. They ‘…fuse an exciting blend of traditional Ethiopian song with Jazz, Funk and Hip Hop.

Other standouts from the evening were Tony Allen - afrobeats, Speed Caravan - Cairo meets Chemical Brothers (my description this time),  Natacha Atlas, and Sa Dingding who has an absolutely amazing voice and some great dancers.

Womad is normally very friendly and the atmosphere is warm and embracing. With the odd waft of sweet pot smoke, huge lineups for organic donuts from Byron Bay (why you’d bother is beyond me) and recyclable food containers etc it’s the type of festival it’s great to take kids to and you’re pretty sure they’ll be absolutely safe there. When JJ was two or three I did lose him for 15 minutes or so which made me panic because I didn’t know where to start looking for him but I didn’t fear for his safety.

But then there’s odd little incidents that just make you shudder. Sa Dingding - mentioned above - was very popular and she’s more of a sit down show so we were sitting down near the edge of where people were standing up. Nearby was a group of young men being a bit rowdy and the punters near us weren’t happy with it at all. One woman asked them politely to move away if they wanted to talk. They carried on however. Then another woman said ‘why don’t you French people just fuck off.’ I just felt really embarrassed she’d said this. For a start we’re at a World Music and Dance festival, and secondly it’s very racist. I actually don’t think they were French, but Algerian, and they were probably performing at Womad. I just hope they didn’t understand her. It didn’t stop them talking, and after a little while they moved away and all was back to normal.

This was the only occurrence of something a bit seedy that happened all evening.

I wish now that I’d bought a weekend pass. I’d go and see Paprika Balkanicus, Kaki King, Bedouimn Jerry Can Band, Ska Cubano, Neil Finn perhaps, and stumble across other great acts.

On the weekend I spent some time at a local Folk Festival joining my fellow ukulele players in belting out some tunes. It was quite hot and there was a north wind so it was dusty and there were flies. These were the conditions we played under when playing this song (see below).

We played two sets, one around lunch time and one in the early evening by which time the wind had dropped and it was a beautiful balmy evening.

It’s great fun to have a sing and a play on the uke and the beauty of playing in a big group is that if you don’t know the chords or the words there’s bound to be enough who do.

This song, however, was a bit different as there were six of us so we all needed to know what we were doing and I think we pulled it off quite well.

This morning we finally arrived at the farmer’s market and did our shopping. We were just about to leave when I heard some live music coming from inside the shed so we went to investigate.

I’d completely forgotten that Paprika Balkanicus were playing there this morning. They’re here as part of the Cabaret Festival. They did remind the audience that they’re normally asleep at that time of the morning but considering that they put on a good performance.

JJ sat down in one spot without moving for the whole set - about half an hour - and he even bought the CD afterwards with his own money. I told him that when anybody asks him what the first CD he ever bought was he’ll be able to say that it was this one.

They were really good fun and I’d recommend seeing them. It was certainly a good start to the day.

While doing my washing I noticed this t-shirt had survived yet another wash. Even though it’s obviously disintegrating I can’t bring myself to throw it away because of the memories it brings back. One day it probably will literally disintegrate, so I’ve documented it.

Back in the early 1990s I spent two years living in England. One of the things I really wanted to do during this time was go to the Reading or Glastonbury festival. I managed to get my two flatmates to come to the Reading Festival with me in 1993 and this is the t-shirt I bought there.

Let me turn it over and show you some of the fantastic bands that played there. We have the Big Day Out here which get some pretty good acts, but nothing like festivals in Europe attract.

Can you read any of these names?

Or these?

Or is your eyesight exceptional enough to make all of these out?

No, probably not, so here’s my attempt at listing them all (some of the names might be wrong because the font used is fairly illegible so please let me know). An asterisk next to ones I saw, or think I saw, or indeed wish I saw.

• Jim Rose Circus Sideshow (I don’t think this went ahead)
• Oilseed Rape
• Magnapop
• Shampoo
• Truman’s Water
• The Posies
• Masters of Reality
• The Pastels
• Jesus Lizard
• Bettie Serveert
• Primus*
• The Juliana Hatfield Three
• Alice Donut
• Paul Westerberg
• Goats
• Big Star
• The Bob Broleys
• The Breeders
• Mother Earth
• The Cherry
• Fishbone*
• Die Cheerleader
• FMB
• Lemonheads*
• Biduac
• Dinosaur Jr*
• Credit to the Nation
• New Order*
• Swervedriver*
• Gigolo Aunts
• Mighty Mighy Bosstones
• Madder Rose
• Drop Nineteens
• Eat
• Family Cat
• Ringmaster
• Blur*
• Radiohead*
• Senseless Things
• Fenn
• Gary Clail’s On U Sound System*
• Ozric Tentacles
• Voodoo Queens
• Therapy? (the question mark is part of the band’s name)
• The Flaming Lips*
• Siouxsie and the Bansehees*
• The The*
• Green Apple Quick Step
• Tool*
• The Doughboys
• Gallon Drunk
• Leatherface
• Bad Brains*
• Senser
• Adorable
• Stone Temple Pilots*
• Babes in Toyland
• Back to the Planet
• Butthole Surfers*
• Chumbawamba
• Neds Atomic Dustbin*
• Rage Against the Machine*(this band was at this year’s Big Day Out)
• The Franks and Walters
• Porno for Pyros*

It’s a pity I don’t remember more of it but sneaking of the bottle of vodka in was probably not a good idea for the memory. I did share the vodka with my two flatmates.

I do remember sleeping three people in a two-man tent amongst hundreds of other tents. I do remember lying in the tent one night and someone pissed on the outside of our tent. I do remember between acts people would light up those disposable foam type containers to make little fires and the awful chemical stench they made. It really wasn’t cold enough to even warrant a fire but the smell of the chemical smoke was really awful.

Despite this, the bands were awesome and I’m so glad I went.

Here’s a taste of New Order’s Round and Round live at Reading Festival 93.

From late February to mid March the Adelaide Fringe was on. I paid to see one Fringe show - Die Roten Punkte which was a really enjoyable show. It had humour and music - both really well done. They’re playing at the Melbourne Comedy Festival which is on now so if you’re in Melbourne I’d recommend seeing them.

So what was I doing for the rest of the Fringe? Well, I was actually participating myself as part of other shows in our local ukulele squad. I kept it pretty quiet in these parts.

Let me say it was a hoot to do and I look forward to doing more as time goes on. See more pics of us here.

The Ultimate Blog Party is being hosted by 5 minutes for mom. I’m being fashionably late as this party started on 7 March and it’s now 13 March. Normally I like to be on time but other events sometimes get in the way.

The truth is I’ve been too damn busy partying to host a party of my own. And it’s too hot to organise and host a party anyway.

My party this week, which I didn’t organise or host, was on Sunday at Womadelaide. Womadelaide has been a staple of mine for the last 13 years or so. Back in 1995 and maybe for the next two Womad’s after that I bought a weekend pass, but back then I was a bit younger and I was childfree so it was a lot easier and a lot different. This time, I bought a day/night ticket for about the same amount as I paid those 13 years ago for a weekend pass. Finances aside, I love Womad. The atmosphere is really embracing and friendly and it’s perfect for a family outing.

This year it was really hot and oh so dusty. It’s the dustiest it’s ever been and the dust really affects me. It affected others too because I saw a lot of people using dust masks and others had scarves around their face. I had a hayfever tablet which did nothing and went through a lot of tissues.

The setting for Womadelaide is perfect though, in Botanic Park which is inundated with huge trees creating plenty of shade. We had a good shady spot near one of the smaller stages but close enough to Stage 1 to hear the main acts. This year was a case of hearing a lot more music rather than seeing it. You could argue that I could just buy the best of CD but CDs don’t come with an atmosphere plugin.

JJ loved it. He wasn’t too keen to go initially because of the heat but after we’d seen Black Grace (a fabulous NZ dance act) and were walking back to base camp he announced that he was having the best fun EVER. And I must say that he was amazing. The worst thing he did was nag me to go to the mist tents and could he please have an icecream now? I am used to tuning out a lot of these requests so it didn’t bother me too much.

Another thing I love about Womad that takes place outside of the music on the stages is the roving performances and the art that’s created at the workshops.

You can see my other Womadelaide photos.

You can also read what I’ve written about Womadelaide 2007, Womadelaide 2005 part 1 and Womadelaide 2005 part 2.

So this Womadelaide thing was only one day since 7 March, but I had Monday to recover (thank goodness for long weekends) and I’ve been at work ever since. But I think Womadelaide is enough of a party and feast for the senses for you all.