Arts Projects Australia. Botanic Park. 6 Mar 2015
As one walks with purpose down to Botanic Park, through the cool, crisp Friday night air drifts the sounds you have been waiting for: drums, brass, roars of appreciation. Yes, it is unmistakably the start of Womadelaide weekend.
The familiar layout invites you in and the music spurs you on. Wandering towards the first act on your schedule, the noise and colour of Artonik's The Colour of Time completely engages and all plans are forgotten. With booming sounds and clouds like a powdered rainbow, you are drawn to follow the cheering, laughing, dancing parade as it follows the moving speakers, powered by The Colour of Time team. They lead the revellers towards a cat walk in front of the Healing Village. The crowd spreads and grows as it goes, swallowing up onlookers and those in its way. It is building to its crescendo: an explosion of sound, dance and giant plumes of colour. Inspired by Indian Holi Festival, a celebration of the victory of good over evil, it is a wonderful concept.
After this unexpected dance party, one seeks a break and decides to indulge in one of the best parts of opening night: exploring the new food and product stalls on offer in the Global Village. Many old favourites are present, Byron Bay Doughnuts, Beyond India and All Fired Up Pizzas, but there is also 15 news food stands to try. Sukhumvit Soi 38 immediately catches the eye with well-priced thai street food. Vegetarian larb is not easy to come by, so their tofu offering is an immediate winner. Some of the newer stalls are definitely challenging the price limit - $20 for a meal likely eaten standing up with plastic fork is a stretch, but for those with cash to splash, it's worth a try.
With a full belly, one’s original intention is forefront in the mind; time to check out some music!
Eager not to miss one of the highlights of this year's festival, it's back to centre stage to see Bueno Vista Sessions. Friday night's performance is a stripped back version of the Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club (minus the orchestra). Touring for the final time, these stalwarts of the Latin music scene bring streams of festival goers and don't disappoint. The ever popular style is at its best with these masters whose Cuban soul is still sultry and effortlessly cool. Omara Portuondo blows the audience away with her energy and vocals; at 85, she reminds us all that age is no barrier to getting your cha-cha on.
Sharon Van Etten follows on Stage 3, and her mellow and bluesy pop rock brings you back to earth, and to yourself. The moody, hypnotic sound draws the audience closer: all eyes are fixed on the unstated figure clad in black. Deep bass and echoing vocals drift out from the stage and settle over the crowd like a warm blanket. Van Etten is a perfect contrast.
As the night progresses, the crowds ebb and make their way to the exits, keen not to completely exhaust their reserves on the first night and eager for the new experiences to be explored over the next three days.
Nicole Russo
When: 6 to 9 Mar
Where: Botanic Park
Bookings: womadelaide.com.au
Photography by Aaron Vinall
Adelaide Festival. Gavin Bryars. Studio 520, ABC Collinswood Centre. 27 Feb 2015
Marilyn Forever is a chamber opera, which means it is ‘small’ in its execution and composer Gavin Bryars proposes it therefore has the “…possibility of more frequent performance...” and is more “…intimate and confined”.
Marilyn Forever is about Marilyn Monroe and is a poetic exploration of the day Marilyn died. It delves into the prominence of men in her all-too short life.
Production director Joel Ivany sets the action in front of a large curving white backdrop that gently arcs its way to the floor and forms the acting surface as well. This works a treat, and simple props become prominent under the well-executed moody lighting.
A jazz trio (with the composer himself on bass) takes stage right, and an eight-piece ensemble fabulously conducted by Bill Linwood provides the main musical backing from stage left.
So, the stage is set.
Anne Grimm as Marilyn wears ‘that’ white dress – which we routinely associate with Monroe – throughout the non-stop 90 minute performance. At times she blends in with the set and appears almost ethereal, which works well with the frequent suggestions of her alcoholic and prescription-pill induced haze. Baritone Richard Morris, who plays a selection of the men in Marilyn’s life, looks stark by contrast in his black suiting, as do supporting singers tenor Adam Goodburn and bass Nicholas Cannon who play the remaining two members of the cast.
At times the music is absorbing, and the occasional improvised solos from the jazz trio, especially from saxophonist Julien Wilson, are decidedly enervating. The orchestration is at times inspired in its use of woodwind and minimalist development of harmony and melody, which is a hallmark of Bryars’ compositions. However, the sung melody line borders on monotony. It almost has a drone quality and lacks vocal colour. Monotone was a word that was uttered all too frequently by the audience as they left at the conclusion of the performance. That said, Grimm was excellent as Marilyn, and Morris was commanding.
The performance begins in a broodingly ominous way as it brought slowly into focus and light a sheet-draped image of a Marilyn reclining in her bed. It concludes with the fading of lights and loss of focus and these images will linger on in the minds of the audience for all the right reasons, but the vocal score will not.
Kym Clayton
When: 27 Feb to 1 Mar
Where: Studio 520, ABC Collinswood Centre
Bookings: bass.net.au
Crooning with Michael Coumi. Holden Street Theatres. 28 Feb 2015
Clearly there were high expectations of Michael Coumi for his Fringe show of old-fashioned crooning.
People were shoehorned up to the rafters for the opening performance.
Coumi did not disappoint.
The lanky actor, familiar to Adelaide audiences for his fine work in amateur theatre and musicals, had honed up a lounge act which was so slick and endearing that, well, his audience simply did not want to go home. Long after the show was clearly over, they sat clapping and craving more.
Looking very dashing in formal black and starched white and complete with cummerbund, Coumi had swung them through a series of the great old pop songs of yore: old Frank Sinatra numbers, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jnr…
They whooped approval.
He linked the songs with tight, well-wrought patter - funny anecdotes about his Greek background, his happy love life and he even threw in some most amusing superstar impersonations.
Not only but also, using every available inch of The Studio’s stage, he did some soft shoe and some tap routines, most notably, Mr Bojangles, which he presented as a beautiful little salon piece of itself. Its pathos and his theatrical flair with it will stay in audience memory. It was quite special.
For this achievement he gave credit to his choreographer, Adelaide’s stellar veteran music hall artiste, Phyl Skinner, who is still dancing, choreographing and entertaining at 92. Skinner had teamed up with director, Peter Goers in throwing expertise behind Michael Coumi, obviously in the recognition that this 27-year-old has star quality worth polishing.
Hence this gem of a show.
Despite his youth, Coumi has all the moves of the seasoned lounge act, all seemingly easy and natural. He connects with the audience, emanating his good nature. He does not have the greatest vocal range in the world, but he knows just where to take it with confidence and style.
“Style” is a good word for him, old-fashioned style in a stylish, old-fashioned show. This show has legs and, if there is still a club circuit to do, he should be on it. But not without his band, Breezin’. They’re a class act, too. The four young musicians supported and complemented their soloist with creamy professionalism .They have a winning presence of their own and are an Adelaide band to watch out for.
Coumi is touting this show as the one to which Fringe-goers can take their mothers and grandmothers but, funnily enough, what is old is new again and this fine little show has something for everyone.
Samela Harris
When: 28 Feb to 15 Mar
Where: Holden Street Theatres Studio
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
Laughing Stock and Shortwalk. The Garden of Unearthly Delights - The Factory. 24 Feb 2015
I could wax lyrical about the structure of the music, and how there have been significant attempts to ‘freshen’ it by giving it orchestral makeovers, but I shan’t.
Everyone knows the music and dare I say, loves it, but this performance is not just a musical feast, it is also a visual tour de force and should not be missed.
Picture two musicians (Daniel Holdsworth and Aidan Roberts, both Aussies by the way) on stage with four electronic keyboards, samplers, loop pedals, a mix of six or seven eclectic and acoustic guitars at various tunings, a mandolin, drum kits, glockenspiel, mouth whistles, their own voices, and, you guessed it, tubular bells.
The instruments are carefully and strategically located around the stage and Holdsworth and Roberts move swiftly between them with awesome dexterity as they recreate Mike Oldfield’s iconic score with the occasional minor improvisation as it takes their mood!
It is enthralling to watch as much as it is to hear. It is a breath of sweet air to witness two very accomplished modern musicians playing a substantial through-composed piece of contemporary music rather than a collection of three-minute sound grabs of uninspiring popular tunes.
Their musicality is only eclipsed by their exhausting athleticism. This is remarkable stuff.
Over many years of Fringe-ing, I cannot recall a show where an entire audience (of amazing diversity) rose simultaneously to its feet and erupted into a wolf-whistling standing ovation that lasted fully three minutes.
This is compulsory viewing, and sales are heavy. Buy a ticket if you can.
Kym Clayton
When: 13 Feb to 15 Mar
Where: The Factory, Garden of Unearthly Delights
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
Mark De Raad. Radford Auditorium, Art gallery of SA. 22 Feb 2015
“Brahms, what a gift-less bastard!” Tchaikovsky once uttered, apparently.
I first came across this quotation in Frank Muir’s excellent book ‘An Irreverent Companion to Social History’ and almost squealed with delight when the same sentiment was expressed in local entrepreneur Mark de Raad’s latest musical presentation of ‘Brahms: The Violin Sonatas’.
This concert delivered much more that expected. Not only did we hear some of Brahm’s most enjoyable works – three of his Sonatas for Violin and Piano (Opp. 78, 100 & 108) – but we also gained insights into his life and motivations for writing these works through several monologues that were creative reconstructions and dramatisations of his relationship with other composers and musicians – notably Tchaikovsky and Clara Schumann.
The monologues were delivered by Martin Penhale in the role of Joseph Widmann, and internationally recognised soprano Emma Horwood, who also beautifully sang Brahms’ uber moody and contemplative Regenleid and closed (fittingly) the concert with a haunting rendering of Wiegenlied (i.e. the famous lullaby).
As if the monologues and lieder were not a sufficient treat, but to have three of Brahms’ seldom performed violin sonatas positively spoiled the capacity audience. Shirin Lim (violin) and Kenan Henderson (piano, who was also the inspiration and creative force behind the conception and design of the concert) gave confident and personal interpretations of the three sonatas. The acoustics of the Radford auditorium sometimes blurred the subtleties of the essential dialogue between the two instruments, and Lim and Henderson took a little time to adjust to this at the start (in the Op.100) but they soon hit their straps and the effect was electric, especially in the adagio third movement of the Op.78, which Clara Schumann especially enjoyed, as told to us through Horwood’s superlative dramatisation.
This was a concert with a difference, and perfect classical fare for the Fringe. There are some tickets available for the second and final performance scheduled for Monday 9 March, but you will need to get in quick! Not to be missed.
Kym Clayton
When: 22 Feb & 9 Mar
Where: Radford Auditorium, Art Gallery of South Australia
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au