Adelaide Festival<\/p>\n
Music<\/p>\n
Preview Interview WOMADelaide 2025<\/p>\n
Now one of Australia\u2019s most durable outdoor festivals, WOMADelaide prepares for another four day event featuring music and performances that are, you might say, out of this World. Associate Director, Annette Tripodi talks about the line-up for 2025.<\/p>\n
Written by Murray Bramwell<\/p>\n
WOMADelaide, with its rather odd portmanteau name, has become a very familiar fixture in Botanic Park in the second weekend in March. This year will be its 28th<\/sup> iteration and it continues from strength to strength. Introduced in 1992 by Rob Brookman as part of his Adelaide Festival program, it remains, 33 years on, a mainstay of the festival calendar, and an amiable communal ritual for successive generations of local and interstate audiences.<\/p>\n Its origins were tentative and serendipitous. Brookman, along with Ian Scobie and other partners in Arts Projects Australia (APA) its production company, made contact with Thomas Brooman, director of the UK WOMAD (acronym for World of Music, Arts and Dance) and many of the performers from the English version came to Adelaide.<\/p>\n Most were contracted to singer-songwriter, Peter Gabriel\u2019s RealWorld music label, an adventurous project recording the sounds of artists as various as the Qawwali exponent, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Afrobeat bandleaders Remmy Ongala and Youssou N\u2019 Dour, chanteuse Sheila Chandra, The Drummers of Burundi, and Tenores di Bitti, singing traditional fishing songs from Sardinia.<\/p>\n The first WOMADelaide is remembered vividly by those who attended and the annual selection and presentation of artists from the global music diaspora continues to the present day.<\/p>\n Establishing the location in Botanic Park, so close to the CBD, was, it now seems, amazingly fortuitous. Although originally planned to be held in Belair National Park, because of BOM warnings of extreme fire danger, there was a last minute decision to relocate. Arrangements were made to have access to Botanic Park and the venue is now synonymous with WOMADelaide and a significant reason for its enduring success.<\/p>\n Associate Director, Annette Tripodi joined WOMADelaide in 1997 as a volunteer artist minder, then got a four month contract with APA and, as she recalls – \u201cOne thing led to another. I was a lowly admin worker supporting Rob and Ian. Things developed and I focused on the Australian program. After a restructure with WOMAD overseas, Ian and I started to work more closely on the international program.<\/p>\n \u201cIt has really evolved and we are a good team. Sometimes it is yin and yang \u2013 he will like it, and I might screw my face up. And vice versa . The program has benefited from this . I also think I have, over time, developed a very strong instinct for what\u2019s going to work in the festival \u2013 whether I like it personally, or not.\u201d<\/p>\n So how has the program been assembled this year ?<\/p>\n \u201cI would say assembling it earlier than previous years was helpful in getting artists over the line. But also, so many festivals were not happening and announcing cancellations, we had many more proposals from performers than usual. Conservatively, I\u2019d say we had more than 800 proposals coming our way. Which ended up with 75 or so acts in the program, so the number of great artists that we couldn\u2019t include was also higher.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery WOMADelaide is a mysterious process. You have a plan and you are following your heart and your passion projects and \u2013 I say this every year – some of them fall over, and some happen so quickly you can\u2019t believe it. Also, you always want things wrapped up by the end of October – and then something juicy comes in and you try and squeeze that in too. It is a fascinating process, even to me after all these years.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked how the event has maintained its following over such a long time Tripodi notes that for festivals to succeed they need their points of difference \u2013 \u201cWOMADelaide tries to have a completely different program every year and when performers are returning there is usually quite a time lapse in between.<\/p>\n \u201cWe also have a huge proportion of artists who have never played in Adelaide, or Australia, who actually have a minimal imprint in the minds of Australian audiences, even though they have huge followings in their own countries and internationally. We are very conscious that we have to be different and all the offstage artistry \u2013 the daily park events, displays and acrobatics \u2013 are all becoming more important. \u201c<\/p>\n So what are personal highlights and special favourites for Annette Tripodi in this year\u2019s line-up ? The first mention is the Friday opening performer, English singer, PJ Harvey.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have tried several times to book her before and the time was not right. I was back on the case quickly and, as luck would have it, she was touring heavily and performing at Glastonbury and the Primavera festival in Barcelona – and by all accounts was extraordinary. Her booking was confirmed while I was on holidays in Croatia ! I am thrilled .<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s important in music history. Her base is very diverse, as is her catalogue. It is unusual to have someone of her stature opening the festival. If you can excite those who already know and love her, and<\/em> introduce her to a whole new audience \u2013 that\u2019s what you want.\u201d<\/p>\n Other highlights on opening night include prolific composer, performer, DJ and cultural commentator, Nitin Sawhney. \u2018It is wonderful to have him back,\u201d says Tripodi \u201che has recovered his health since he withdrew last March. He is an amazing man. I don\u2019t how he manages so many things \u2013 film compositions, work with orchestras, he is so creative and diligent.\u201d<\/p>\n And, definitely putting the \u201cD\u201d in WOMAD is Bangarra Dance with their work, The Light Inside<\/em> a collaboration with Maori choreographer, Moss Te Ururangi Patterson and Bangarra\u2019s Deborah Brown. Tripodi notes this is the third time Bangarra has performed at the festival since 1999.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is another point of difference. There isn\u2019t another outdoor music festival that puts on two performances from what is arguably Australia\u2019s best contemporary dance company. The company loves doing it because in two nights they can be seen by maybe five thousand people, many of whom would not otherwise have had the chance.\u201d<\/p>\n Also performing is Adelaide\u2019s Ruby Award winning Restless Dance Theatre with their work, Seeing Through Darkness,<\/em> based on Expressionist painter Georges Rouault, linking his preoccupation with the imperfections of the body with the experience of disability. Seeing Through Darkness<\/em> features each day in The Studio located at Adelaide Botanic High School..<\/p>\n In addition to the dance companies are the strolling performers moving about the park. Last year the Handspring Puppet Company paraded a large elephant through the crowd. This time, Cie Paris Benares –Chamoh<\/em> will present a giant 3X3 metre camel to amaze and delight both the young and the not so young. Yoann Bourgeois Art Company, recent collaborators with Harry Styles will attend with their eye-popping Unreachable Suspension Point<\/em> . Spectacular UK company, The Dream Engine will fill the night sky with Helioscope<\/em> – acrobats suspended, soaring, and spiralling from a giant helium balloon.<\/p>\n And ilotopie- Les Gens de Couler return, painted in second skins of bright pinks, greens and blues, like living garden sculptures or psychedelic sprites. When they last visited Adelaide in 1992 they were the centre of controversy and prudish complaint. Only a timely change in local regulations kept them from further police attention. Director Ian Scobie well remembers the kerfuffle and recalls the prompt intervention by the then Arts Minister Diana Laidlaw- in the name of performance art.<\/p>\n Through the years WOMADelaide has presented a rich and varied program of First Nations performers and this year is no exception. Tripodi is quick to mention rising talent Eleanor Jawurlngali performing on Saturday with cellist Stephanie Arnold and Mick Turner, guitarist with Dirty Three. Also featuring will be the Central Australian Aboriginal Women\u2019s Choir.<\/p>\n \u201cThe power of so many voices is wonderful\u201d enthuses Tripodi, \u201cThey are singing church hymns but being in language and sung by these beautiful older women is very affecting. I think every festival needs a large choir. They open the day on Saturday and Monday and I think that will set the tone for what then follows.\u201d<\/p>\n Also appearing at the festival are the Andrew Gurruwiwi Band, a funk outfit from North East Arnhem Land, and blues and roots singer Emily Wurramara, from Groote Eylandt, performing her 2024 album NARA. Arrente hip-hop artist, Bousta ( a graduate from the professional development WOMADelaide Academy, in conjunction with Northern Sound System) will feature in the Frome Park Pavilion.<\/p>\n Another Academy graduate, Sri Lankan \/Australian singer songwriter Meena De Silva has also been selected for the main program and performs on Friday night. Continuing from last year, other Academy musicians will have their own stage throughout the weekend.<\/p>\n Saturday night promises to be a high energy time and Tripodi singles out livewires Delgres from France, led by singer Pascal Danae and featuring Rafgee playing bass lines on the sousaphone. Star of the dancehall-reggae sector, Queen Omega, from Trinidad & Tobago, promises much on Stage 3, and WOMAD favourites, Goran Brecovic & His Wedding & Funeral Band return to headline on the Foundation stage. As Tripodi observes \u2013 \u201cHe\u2019s the kind of artist who can get on stage and get the party going immediately.\u201c The inventive Irish electronic pop performer, Roisin Murphy will close the night on Stage 2.<\/p>\n In the voluminous program it is again notable seeing so many women performers at WOMADelaide. \u201cIt\u2019s very much a personal aim of mine to make sure this happens,\u201d comments Tripodi, \u201cand it has been a feature of the festival since the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n Not to be missed are singer, producer and synthesiser designer, Ela Minus from Colombia, Portuguese fado singer, Mariza , Cuban cellist Ana Carla Maza, Inuk artist Elisapie, from Canada, who performs Debby Harry and Cindy Lauper songs in the ancient Inuktitut dialect, dance vocalist Sofia Kourtesis from Peru, and Grammy winning, new generation Queen of the Afrobeats, Yemi Alade from Nigeria – whose collaborations with Angelique Kidjo, Femi One and, Beyonce for The Lion<\/em> King<\/em>, are legend.<\/p>\n Performing on Saturday on the Foundation Stage, on Monday on Stage 2, and doing a workshop in between, is the Palestinian\/Jordanian hip-hop electronica Shamstep band, 47Soul, whose 2024 tour was postponed, causing controversy and protests at the time.<\/p>\n Tripodi is keen to focus on the band\u2019s return next week \u2013 nine years after they last performed at WOMADelaide \u2013adding that their performances will be seen by many as an opportunity to show solidarity for the Palestinian cause and to celebrate their music. \u201cIt will be,\u201d she says, \u201can absolute pleasure to welcome them back.\u201d<\/p>\n The Sunday program features a number of once-only performances including avant-garde jazz outfit, the Sun Ra Arkestra, founded in the US in the mid 1950s and led by composer-keyboardist, Sun Ra until his death in 1993. Since then, saxophonist Marshall Allen has been front man. He recently recorded a new album, New Dawn,<\/em> at the age of 100. Marshall will not be touring with them, but this band, regarded as the pioneers of \u201cAfrofuturism\u201d, will be a visually astonishing, musically challenging, 5.30pm sensation on the Foundation stage.<\/p>\n Of US indie singer John Grant, Tripodi says \u201cI think he is one of the cleverest lyricists out there. I listened to his albums since he last played here in 2012. His new release is more electronic, but the lyrics are still savage and funny -and he has that rich distinctive voice.\u201d<\/p>\n Adelaide musicians, The Lofty Mountain Band will play at the Zoo stage. \u201cThey remind me of the O Brother Where Art Thou ?<\/em> musicians\u201d Tripodi observes. \u201dLed by Max Savage, they feature beautiful banjo and mandolin, plus two outstanding women vocalists\u201c. Other Adelaide musicians appearing this year include singer guitarist Dustyn, and Kara Manansala and Ms Chipeta (both by arrangement with Nexus Arts).<\/p>\n Some of the memorable WOMAD experiences have been the late night seated events featuring more intimate, contemplative sounds. It began with the Sufi chanting from Nusrat and the violin ragas of L. Subramaniam, and have continued on from there. This year, Indian musicians Satish Vyas and U Rajesh, playing santoor (hammered dulcimer ) and mandolin respectively, will be accompanied by percussionists at Stage 7.<\/p>\n Another highlight will be renowned German keyboardist, Nils Frahm, closing Sunday night on the Foundation stage. His richly textured ambient blend of piano and electronica has links with the pensive piano of Joep Beving, who performed here at last year\u2019s Illuminate festival, as well currently performing Adelaide Festival musician, Hania Rani.<\/p>\n Says Tripodi \u2013 \u201cWhen people talk about a pianist they have in mind a classical recital. Now they are taking the instrument to a new and younger audience. They are still as impressive technically, but it is from a different angle.\u201d<\/p>\n The final night program is also full of pleasures both familiar and new . Niti Sawhney performs again, as do Mariza and Emily Wurramara. There are also once-only performances from neo-folk trio, Bonny Light Horseman, UK jazz flautist, Shabaka Hutchings, and, from the US, Coachella performers and currently trending guitar, bass and drum trio, Khruangbin (which is Thai for \u2018airplane\u201d). Scottish band Talisk, with their compelling Celtic electronica, will be over at Zoo and 47Soul will play once more at Stage 2 at 8.15.<\/p>\n Once the festival is under way, Tripodi likes to move among the crowd.<\/p>\n \u201cI do about 60 kilometres,\u201d she admits, \u201cI do laps of the site. I want to see people\u2019s reactions, artists I\u2019ve never seen live before. I want the reward of seeing that it\u2019s going as it should be.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I do a schedule it is very much \u2018close my eyes and imagine – OK it\u2019s Sunday, you\u2019re under a tree, where do you want to go next ?\u2019. I try to pick the highs and lows, the ebbs and flows, the shifts of energy in the program. You have to have light and shade. I want people to come to a stage with a generous, open mind and give it a go.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of love that goes into this event,\u201c Annette Tripodi says quietly. \u201cI hope that\u2019s obvious to people when they come. It\u2019s not just \u2018whack a band on stage\u2019, it is to create an environment that\u2019s beautiful, that\u2019s safe and friendly, open and welcoming. And people are going to have their hearts, minds, and ears opened to the sounds and stories of the world.\u201c<\/p>\n WOMADelaide is playing at Botanic Park from March 7-10 as part of the 2025 Adelaide Festival.<\/p>\n murraybramwell.com<\/p>\n\n\n