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WOMADelaide.
Alpha Blondy.
 One
of a number of West African acts that have become real superstars
of world music, Alpha Blondy has been recording for 20 years
and is widely regarded as the father of African Reggae... when
he began his recording career there was no such thing as African
reggae, but when he was introduced to the genre some 20 years
ago he was immediately captivated and has been one of it's leading
modern day exponents ever since. When I spoke to him, just before
he went to bed in Paris, the thing that struck me most about
him was his humility.
"I think that we all were touched by the reggae message and as Africans, we all felt concerned about the music that was glorifying the African continent and the African people," he gently explains to me as we talk about his introduction to the music.
"Bob Marley, especially, was saying that reggae was gonna get bigger when it reached Africa, so we felt directly concerned by that music." One of the driving forces behind Marley's passion for the music was his belief that it could unite people, something that Blondy believes in also, though he acknowledges that it cannot bridge all gaps. "I think that in Africa right now, it's not the people who are divided, it's the politicians, for power greed, and I don't think that music can quench their power thirst. It's individual political ambition and individual political greed, and when it comes to that, there is no ideology, no music that can stop them."
Like many African musicians, Blondy sings in both African and European languages (as well as Arabic and Hebrew), switching between them from track to track. Explaining the songwriting process, he tells me that "it depends on how the song comes to me. If the inspiration comes in French, I will do it in French. If the inspiration comes in English, or in Mandingo, I do it so. I'm a very bad marketing artist. I deal with feeling."
No matter what language he is singing in, a topic that is always close to his heart and surfaces in much of his material is religion. "I love to say that God is my religion," he unhurriedly explains, "because religion divides people, and only God brings us together. I don't want to put a label on my faith, so I've decided that I have chosen God as my religion."
Similarly, rather than professing a preference for a particular type of music, he simply states that he likes good music. "When I go into a country, I love to buy the local music, you know. We have a cafe in Abidjan [the capital of the Ivory Coast, where he lives], and I love to play the music for the people back home to discover the different breeds of music, the different breeds of reggae."
And, as this is his first trip to Australia, he is looking forward to discovering some new music here, though he is also discovering some closer to home. I was surprised when I saw French rap crew Saian Supa Crew on the list of guests for his latest album, but he assures me that the collaboration was a successful one. "I love that kind of cultural, musical breach between generations and I felt like this with guys like Saian Supa Crew and I love the feeling. I really appreciate what they did on my album."
Promising to perform a selection of old and new material when he plays at Womadelaide, he reveals that he will also preview a number of tracks from his upcoming album, though he won't tell me when it is being released. "... for the moment, we keep the date secret because we are still working on it in the laboratory."
Continuing to experiment and expand the boundaries of his musical repertoire, Alpha assured me that he is not considering retiring just yet, and hopes that he will be able to tour with his seven piece band, The Solar System for some time to come. In case it's another 20 years before he graces our shores again, though, make sure to catch him at Womadelaide this year.
Alexis Buxton-Collins
Not Drowning Waving.
 This
year's WOMADelaide boasts a number of exclusives and firsts,
but this is not one of those stories. Perhaps one of the most
eagerly anticipated is the return of - one hesitates to use
the word seminal but in many ways it fits - Melbourne band Not
Drowning Waving. Formed in the early 1980s and led by David
Bridie, they travelled a musical path that at times could be
called ambient and atmospheric, at other times contemporary
and rocky, sometimes within the one song. Whatever the style,
the band always did things on their own terms. This led to explorations
with Papua New Guinean musicians such as Telek, on the 1990
album 'Tabaran', enabling the band to add "world music" to their
list of influences.
Naturally, they split up at some point, but found the lure of working together on a key project to be irrestistible. According to drummer Russel Bradley, each member of the band has been very busy in the years since the split in the mid 1990s, including his own graphic design work, but recently they all happened to find a space in their diary at the same time, enabling the tentative steps to a reunion.
Rehearsals have proved the creative spark is still there, though on occasion the music still tends to find the place it wants to go, and there is probably a greater tendency to the louder, more rhythmic end of the ambient-to-rock spectrum.
Due to the nature of the event, the WOMAD performance is less likely to focus on the gentle material, except perhaps in the form of an early build-up to the set. Bradley suggested that playing an early evening gig at an outdoors event was not conducive to ethereal music, with the potential it could be lost on the breeze. However, the eclectic and unique blend of instruments and musical layers will doubtless enthral the audience that has waited long enough to see the return of Not Drowning Waving. The fact that they are not actually touring but making this an exclusive return performance makes it all the more special.
A double compilation CD will also be available (as a pre-release special). It is split into two distinct themes; one disc consists of instrumentals and one of songs - or as they have been described, "(they are) instrumentals too, but they have words and what you'd call singing"! Front man David Bridie had suggested the possibility of remixing some of the tracks which had that distinct and somewhat dated 80s drum sound, but it was decided that was how they originally sounded, so they were left as is. The set will be released through Liberation but won't be in the shops for a couple of months or so.
There are no definite recording plans for any new material, although Bradley certainly doesn't dismiss the idea; it's just a question of whether the band itself is satisfied with how the music progresses. It is possible that they might send some of their earlier tracks to various other contemporary musicians for remixing and restructuring, so that they can add their own outlook to it. It seems therefore a CD of various such remixes could well be the next NDW-related product.
An exclusive performance by a much-respected act, with the chance to get an as-yet unreleased double compilation of their material. There are always plenty of good reasons to experience WOMAD, and always plenty of interesting acts to see at any one time - but the chance to see Not Drowning Waving must be one of the more compelling reasons to make the trip to the embracing confines of Botanic Park this year.
Michael Hunter
The Audreys.
 It
must have been an amazingly fruitful six months or so for The
Audreys, I ponder. They've been around only since last June,
and yet seem to be one of Adelaide's most consistently working
bands, finding a home for their brand of countrified angelic
folk all over the Adelaide suburbs, from groovy inner city spots
such as The Wheatsheaf to the Stanley Bridge Tavern at Verdun
in the Adelaide Hills. They've just performed at the Harvest
Of The Grapes Festival, and recorded a live to air set for three
d radio.
It's an enviable record, and yet I wonder if it's a bit of a side project for at least one of the members: Cameron Goodall, who is an extremely accomplished young actor who divides his time between homes in Adelaide and Melbourne according to the dictates of his work. Along with his brother Tristan ("We've played together in a variety of bands since we were kids," he laughs) The Audreys are Taasha ('voice of a fallen angel') Coates, and fiddle player Mike Green, whom they collected from his previous band The Great Unwashed.
Almost immediately it seemed they began picking up a following for their wistful blending of banjos and steel guitars and mandocello, along with Green's fiddle and, of course, that voice. It goes 'from the foot stomping to the mournful and the beguiling in an instant', according to their website, noting the band play a smattering of old and new songs, making them their own along the way.
One song certainly not their own is Bruce Springsteen's Born In The USA, even with re-written lyrics. They've contributed a verse and chorus as part of a special video being prepared for the Fake Film Festival, part of the Adelaide Film Festival. A video for the song has been shot and edited together featuring a punk band, a country band, a rock band... you get the general idea...
For The Audreys, it's all about keeping up the profile and 'reaching out' to people who might otherwise not know of them. Owning a bright yellow Volkswagon Kombi is one way to do it, but there are other ways.
Clearly, getting spotted at a music festival is a great way
to get invited to play a spot at another music festival: in
this case shared management and organisations between the two
festivals mean The Audreys, who played at the Fuse Festival
in November, have been called up for an opening spot at WOMAD.
"We played at the media launch for WOMAD [in the Botanic Gardens],
and that was really cool, and then we found out a couple of
weeks later that we were going to play at WOMAD itself," enthuses
Taasha Coates. "And we were so excited about it we told all
these people, even though it was meant to be kept secret, and
we got in trouble with the organisers."
Funny how news gets around. In this case the band were imprudent enough to mention it to a writer from 'The Advertiser', who obligingly printed the news.
Determined to cash in on the event, the four Audreys have plunged the band's meagre savings into recording and releasing an EP especially for the occasion, which they expect to have back in their hot little hands the day before the festival kicks off. If you want one, the only place to be is at WOMAD on the Friday evening - I expect they'll be handing them out to their fans in the audience, and when they're gone they're gone.
"In about May we'll be recording an album with Shane O'Mara in Melbourne," Cameron Goodall lets me know of their slightly longer term plans. "His studio is called Yikesville, and he has just done Tim Rogers new album." Says Tristan Goodall, "He seemed like the kind of guy who could really help us out with sounds; he does great work on those kind of recordings, so I can't wait to get my hands on his collection of guitars."
As we close off the interview his brother adds "It just seems to be that we pick up a few more people each and every gig we play, and it's good to keep having fun."
Alex Wheaton
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Catch Alpha Blondy, Not Drowning Waving and The Audreys at WOMADelaide 2005!
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