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Here Lies Love Ridley Centre Sat 11 March Whoa! What was that about? No question, David Byrne, making his own music since 1988 after the demise of Talking Heads, has written intelligent and informative lyrics and nouvelle rock music - enhanced by Fatboy Slim - that describe Imelda Marcos from childhood to the last helicopter ride away from the presidential palace. Dana Diaz-Tutaan as the prom queen-dressed Imelda and Ganda Suthivarakom in her dowdy maid's frock sang piercingly, while Mauro Refosco banging the percussion added an exotic feel to the band. Byrne on guitar showed how he had retrofitted his modern style onto the musical fashions of the 60s and 70s. The penultimate 'Why Don't You Love Me,' the pathetic and ironic question on Imelda's lips when she was thrown out of the Philippines, was awesome in all respects. But in-between songs, Byrne killed the pace by reaching for his glasses and fumbling around with his guitars. He introduced each song with the sometimes fascinating but often apocryphal anecdotes on Imelda minutiae that inspired each song. I learned tens times more about Imelda Marcos folklore, her bizarre philosophy and handbag diplomacy than I knew before, but this was a thousand times more than I needed to know. Byrne offered no analysis or objective observation of the First Lady and her dictator husband - his infatuation never rose above rose-coloured glasses. He weakly suggested she wasn't all bad, as she did build a few hospitals and schools, but why didn't the Marcos' 16-year-long state of emergency government build thousands? The only emergency was political exile. No mention of the shoe collection or the Marcos millions. Director Marianne Weems set the venue like a dance club, but was the audience expected to naively join in the fun of Imelda's disco years - egged on by original film clips - without anticipating the vicious military crackdown, the assassination of Nino Aquino (after whom Manila's international airport is now named) and the unrelenting poverty that she was so wholly uncommitted to address? Well, yes actually, plenty did. Plenty of good music in this Australian premiere, but here's another question for David Byrne: why?  |
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