August 28, 2007
WOMAD Singapore 2007
By Menreet Kaur (Additional reporting by Lennat Mak)
***
DAY ONE
Despite it being a Friday night, Day One seemed to be a quieter affair as compared to past years'. Iran's Ensemble Shanbehzadeh played to a scattered crowd at the Top Stage. Small in numbers they were, but the audience was generally receptive to the group's exotic rhythm and melodies of the mystical East.
Over at the Fort Gate Stage, OKI Dub Ainu Band could jolly be mistaken for a post rock band with their moving score that moved across the loud/soft spectrum. Band founder Oki Kano is famed for his mastery of tonkori, a traditional string instrument of the Ainu group in Northern Japan. Much as they are rooted in the folk aspect of things, the band managed to fuse contemporary elements that made the band as relevant and current to the times.
The first act of the night on the Fort Green stage was South Africa's Mahotella Queens. Thoroughly feisty for their age, the Queens also revealed that they have been doing music for more than 40 years in the making. Seeing how they worked the stage, dancing to the groove of their moving music, it's clear that the Queens and their band members are in it because of one reason - passion for the music.
Unfortunately, India's Sheila Chandra had to cancel her performance due to poor health. Cameroon's Muntu Valdo bravely filled in the slot, which gave Friday's audience a taste of his originally one-night-only show on Saturday. Who knew that a man with just his guitar and harmonica could sound so riveting?
Over at the Gallery Stage, local musician Randolf Arriola also educated the crowd on guitars and loops at the Gibson Guitar Workshop. It was clearly an eye-opener for many guitar enthusiasts in the audience. With the use of electronics, a guitar simply isn't just a string instrument anymore.
And back for the second time in the history of WOMAD was U.K.'s Asian Dub Foundation. Bringing their head-banging mix of electronica fused with ragga beats, ADF's set was explosive. Judging by how hard the crowd danced and partied along to the band, ADF was undeniably the star band of the night.
DAY TWO
The evening kicked off with Muntu Valdo from Cameroon belting out tunes from his harmonica and guitar that transported the audience into paradise. With a can of beer in hand and the cool breeze caressing their skin, the crowd looked deeply relaxed and chilled out, swaying their bodies to the sexily lazy hybrid of his Western and African music.
OKI Dub Ainu Band from Japan performed next at the show's biggest stage, the Fort Green Stage. By this time, massive amounts of people had arrived, covering every square inch of the hill. The band had elaborate, traditional outfits on and totally mesmerized the audience with their amazing fusion of reggae, African and electronica with Ainu folk melodies. Their magnetic stage performance and playful interaction with the audience got people to naturally flock to the front and lose themselves in dance and music. No one was deterred by the slight drizzle at all!
At the same time, Shooglenifty, a Scottish band, were showcasing their culinary skills by cooking up a traditional Scottish Stew called "Cullen Skink." It is a thick Scottish soup made of smoked Finnan haddock, potatoes and onions. They were very candid and the audience took in to their humor and spontaneity very well.
All the way from Niger, Etran Finatawa had culture oozing out of them the minute they got on stage. The traditional instruments that they used coupled with modern day percussions and chanting really had the crowd looking on in awe. Everyone was clapping along and immersing themselves in their compelling, hypnotic music.
The workshop by United Kingdom's Dhol Foundation had people cramming themselves together, with shoulders bopping up and down, moving to the powerful beats of Johnny Kalsi's dhol, in full enthusiasm. The 45-minute workshop passed in a flash! It was a tremendous prelude for his grand finale performance.
David D'Or and his band were the least impressive act of the night. The crowd was completely uninspired and when he told them to clap along, only a handful did. It could be his unique, opera-like style of singing that put them off. However, his last song managed to conjure up some excitement as he led them to stand hand-in-hand in circles and taught them the famous round-dance of Israel.
If there was anyone that got the crowd hot, steamy and partying with passion, it was Clube do Balanco from Brazil. The eight-piece band kept everyone's booty-shaking with their fiery samba-rock music. Sexy indeed!
The stellar performance by Youssou N'Dour & the Super Etoile de Dakar also had everyone in high spirits. In typical Senegalese nature, they managed to rile the audience up in just three minutes of their act and everyone was gathered near the Fort Green Stage, with their hands in the air, rocking to the beat. It was a brilliant showcase of their theatrics, and having gymnasts cart-wheeling all over the stage contributed greatly in entertaining the crowd!
DAY THREE
Scotland's pub-formed sextuplets Shooglenifty started the night off with an exhilarating performance that warmed up the crowd for a night of great fun! Even though the crowd size had greatly reduced since yesterday, each and every one present at the Grand Finale of WOMAD 2007 were all psyched up and rearing with energy. With their jumpy and gay Scottish sounds, Shooglenifty made it irresistible for everyone to get on their feet and kick with the beat.
Over at the Fort Gate Stage, Ensemble Shanbehzadeh from Iran were mystifying the audience with their majestic, earthy tunes. It was a seamless fusion of Turkish, Iranian, Indian and Mediterranean sounds that got the audience mesmerized.
Over at the Culinary Stage, Ratashikep was the dish of the day, as lovingly prepared by Oki Dub Ainu Band. Ratashikep has been a traditional Ainu dish for centuries, primary because it's a "hot" dish that gives you warm fuzzies in the cold climate of Ainu.
Daara J, the Senegalese hip-hop trio, proved to be the crowd favorite of the night. They turned the musical stage into a performance stage, displaying acts of excellent showmanship and delivering non-stop adrenaline inducing tracks. They taught the crowd a couple of dance moves and in due time, everyone was moving in unison with them. Words of love, unity and equality were also the messages they continually brought across, moving some of the audience members to tears. It truly showed the fullest potential of how music can change the world.
With just their voices to impress, the Mahotella Queens from South Africa took the Top Stage. This act was especially memorable for women in the audience as the three females candidly talk about women's rights issues predominant in South Africa and the world through their gospels.
The Grand Finale was the most anticipated performance of the night. Johnny Kalsi of the Dhol Foundation led all the artists out in a varied mix, meshing sounds from different continents, making it sound flawless and unified. The crowd thoroughly enjoyed a solid hour of hip-gyrating, shoulder-bobbing and arm-refluxing sound bites from the various artists, bringing a climatic end to WOMAD 2007.
WOMAD Singapore 2007
By Menreet Kaur (Additional reporting by Lennat Mak)
Our Rating: 7/10
August 24-26, 2006
Fort Canning Park
Singapore
A world music festival -- sounds like something the character "Ray" (played by Tim Robbins) in High Fidelity would attend, doesn't it? But consider this fact: WOMAD has been in existence for a whopping 10 years with throngs of varied patronage every year. Just what its charm?
Of course, WOMAD is and will always be about music. Much as it's a phrase well-worn, music IS a universal language that no matter where you are from and what language you speak, will move your heart and soul in unification. You may call it denial or escapism but when the music starts, it's like all the trials and tribulations happening around the world don't mean a thing anymore. For three days, you just dance in the bliss of music. It's good to live in the moment, you know?
Here's what went down at this year's festivities:
DAY ONE
Despite it being a Friday night, Day One seemed to be a quieter affair as compared to past years'. Iran's Ensemble Shanbehzadeh played to a scattered crowd at the Top Stage. Small in numbers they were, but the audience was generally receptive to the group's exotic rhythm and melodies of the mystical East.
Over at the Fort Gate Stage, OKI Dub Ainu Band could jolly be mistaken for a post rock band with their moving score that moved across the loud/soft spectrum. Band founder Oki Kano is famed for his mastery of tonkori, a traditional string instrument of the Ainu group in Northern Japan. Much as they are rooted in the folk aspect of things, the band managed to fuse contemporary elements that made the band as relevant and current to the times.
The first act of the night on the Fort Green stage was South Africa's Mahotella Queens. Thoroughly feisty for their age, the Queens also revealed that they have been doing music for more than 40 years in the making. Seeing how they worked the stage, dancing to the groove of their moving music, it's clear that the Queens and their band members are in it because of one reason - passion for the music.
Unfortunately, India's Sheila Chandra had to cancel her performance due to poor health. Cameroon's Muntu Valdo bravely filled in the slot, which gave Friday's audience a taste of his originally one-night-only show on Saturday. Who knew that a man with just his guitar and harmonica could sound so riveting?
Over at the Gallery Stage, local musician Randolf Arriola also educated the crowd on guitars and loops at the Gibson Guitar Workshop. It was clearly an eye-opener for many guitar enthusiasts in the audience. With the use of electronics, a guitar simply isn't just a string instrument anymore.
And back for the second time in the history of WOMAD was U.K.'s Asian Dub Foundation. Bringing their head-banging mix of electronica fused with ragga beats, ADF's set was explosive. Judging by how hard the crowd danced and partied along to the band, ADF was undeniably the star band of the night.
DAY TWO
The evening kicked off with Muntu Valdo from Cameroon belting out tunes from his harmonica and guitar that transported the audience into paradise. With a can of beer in hand and the cool breeze caressing their skin, the crowd looked deeply relaxed and chilled out, swaying their bodies to the sexily lazy hybrid of his Western and African music.
OKI Dub Ainu Band from Japan performed next at the show's biggest stage, the Fort Green Stage. By this time, massive amounts of people had arrived, covering every square inch of the hill. The band had elaborate, traditional outfits on and totally mesmerized the audience with their amazing fusion of reggae, African and electronica with Ainu folk melodies. Their magnetic stage performance and playful interaction with the audience got people to naturally flock to the front and lose themselves in dance and music. No one was deterred by the slight drizzle at all!
At the same time, Shooglenifty, a Scottish band, were showcasing their culinary skills by cooking up a traditional Scottish Stew called "Cullen Skink." It is a thick Scottish soup made of smoked Finnan haddock, potatoes and onions. They were very candid and the audience took in to their humor and spontaneity very well.
All the way from Niger, Etran Finatawa had culture oozing out of them the minute they got on stage. The traditional instruments that they used coupled with modern day percussions and chanting really had the crowd looking on in awe. Everyone was clapping along and immersing themselves in their compelling, hypnotic music.
The workshop by United Kingdom's Dhol Foundation had people cramming themselves together, with shoulders bopping up and down, moving to the powerful beats of Johnny Kalsi's dhol, in full enthusiasm. The 45-minute workshop passed in a flash! It was a tremendous prelude for his grand finale performance.
David D'Or and his band were the least impressive act of the night. The crowd was completely uninspired and when he told them to clap along, only a handful did. It could be his unique, opera-like style of singing that put them off. However, his last song managed to conjure up some excitement as he led them to stand hand-in-hand in circles and taught them the famous round-dance of Israel.
If there was anyone that got the crowd hot, steamy and partying with passion, it was Clube do Balanco from Brazil. The eight-piece band kept everyone's booty-shaking with their fiery samba-rock music. Sexy indeed!
The stellar performance by Youssou N'Dour & the Super Etoile de Dakar also had everyone in high spirits. In typical Senegalese nature, they managed to rile the audience up in just three minutes of their act and everyone was gathered near the Fort Green Stage, with their hands in the air, rocking to the beat. It was a brilliant showcase of their theatrics, and having gymnasts cart-wheeling all over the stage contributed greatly in entertaining the crowd!
DAY THREE
Scotland's pub-formed sextuplets Shooglenifty started the night off with an exhilarating performance that warmed up the crowd for a night of great fun! Even though the crowd size had greatly reduced since yesterday, each and every one present at the Grand Finale of WOMAD 2007 were all psyched up and rearing with energy. With their jumpy and gay Scottish sounds, Shooglenifty made it irresistible for everyone to get on their feet and kick with the beat.
Over at the Fort Gate Stage, Ensemble Shanbehzadeh from Iran were mystifying the audience with their majestic, earthy tunes. It was a seamless fusion of Turkish, Iranian, Indian and Mediterranean sounds that got the audience mesmerized.
Over at the Culinary Stage, Ratashikep was the dish of the day, as lovingly prepared by Oki Dub Ainu Band. Ratashikep has been a traditional Ainu dish for centuries, primary because it's a "hot" dish that gives you warm fuzzies in the cold climate of Ainu.
Daara J, the Senegalese hip-hop trio, proved to be the crowd favorite of the night. They turned the musical stage into a performance stage, displaying acts of excellent showmanship and delivering non-stop adrenaline inducing tracks. They taught the crowd a couple of dance moves and in due time, everyone was moving in unison with them. Words of love, unity and equality were also the messages they continually brought across, moving some of the audience members to tears. It truly showed the fullest potential of how music can change the world.
With just their voices to impress, the Mahotella Queens from South Africa took the Top Stage. This act was especially memorable for women in the audience as the three females candidly talk about women's rights issues predominant in South Africa and the world through their gospels.
The Grand Finale was the most anticipated performance of the night. Johnny Kalsi of the Dhol Foundation led all the artists out in a varied mix, meshing sounds from different continents, making it sound flawless and unified. The crowd thoroughly enjoyed a solid hour of hip-gyrating, shoulder-bobbing and arm-refluxing sound bites from the various artists, bringing a climatic end to WOMAD 2007.
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