Despite frustrating set clashes and an unexpected heatwave that left temperatures remaining high even late into the night, overall 2024 was a return to WOMADelaide's roots following previous year's 'sellout'.
A consequence of the heatwave saw Stage 7 closed in the evenings – scheduled acts moved elsewhere or cancelled – as bats were falling from the trees in the fertile bat habitat. Free Palestine was most certainly the (unofficial) theme of this year's WOMADelaide, the topic at times dominating, interrupting performances.The openers for the festival on the Foundation Stage were DakhaBrakha returning to perform a set of haunting, eclectic, percussive jazz folk with elements of acoustic trip-hop sometimes veering into abstract, jarring experimentalism.
Apart from Marko Halanevych singing like Billie Holiday, there's a hypnotic repetition in the layered female vocals that takes you on a journey, sometimes dark but ultimately uplifting.
DakhaBrakha - image © Saige Prime
In retrospect it felt as though it might have been a little too early in the evening for Angolan-Portuguese princess in red platform boots Pongo on Stage 3, but she conveyed a successful, commanding presence, making the stage her own with a take on EDM accompanied by live drummer and programmed beats by backing vocalist.
On Stage 7, WILDFIRE MANWURRK previously known as Karrkad Kanjdji or KK band and consisting of Victor Rostron, his four sons and nephew performed a set of dynamic, energetic guitar heroics interspersed with Indigenous musical leanings with an inexplicably truncated set that I had turned up mid-set for, so it wasn't until Sunday when they performed for their allotted hour that I experienced the newest Australian guitar hero in the captivating, charismatic, lead singer Sires Rostron.
A pioneer in female instrumental fado, Marta Pereira da Costa on the Zoo Stage 4 performed to a seated audience playing Portuguese guitar, the beautiful quirky, lyrical but wordless recital unfortunately suffering bass and drum sounds bleeding from the Foundation Stage where Dubioza Kolektiv were playing.
The Budos Band's wild, three-pronged horn attack including baritone sax and trumpet, muscular guitar and bass – featuring members from the Daptone Records stable – produced a fat sound that eight white guys should not be able to.
The Budos Band - image © Morgan Sette
Trumpet player Andrew Greene tells us: "Staten Island is the Australia of New York," before the song 'Black Venom' is dedicated to our snakes. On 'Gun Metal Grey', the horns take off on tangents like a messed-up mariachi band playing '70s funk – in the audience, a guy in a wheelchair up against the guard rail gets ups and starts dancing.
On the Foundation stage, headliner for this evening Corinne Bailey Rae who tells us she is happy to play a festival where it's not raining nor cold. She serenades a swaying audience, initially performing her more familiar material before putting down the acoustic guitar to pick up an electric to play a sequence of songs from her latest album, 'Black Rainbows', jumping right in with the heavy rock & roll sound of 'New York Transit Queen' that's rooted in a style not dissimilar from the MC5.
This significant departure from her previous musical style leads into the contrasting beat heavy 'Red Horse', and a guitar dissonance that might prove challenging to some in the audience but it is by far the most interesting thing she is doing right now. The quirky electronica of 'Earthlings' transforms mid-song into a reprise-styled sing-along with audience participation of handclaps and vocals, and then into another song entirely.
For those who have come for the early singles, she rounds out the set like a gospel singer leading the congregation in a rendition of 'Put Your Records On' and the drawn out 'Like A Star', ending with the uplifting, anthemic 'The Skies Will Break'. A repeat, but shorter performance on the Sunday focusses more on the 'Black Rainbow' album and includes 'Peach Velvet Sky'.
Corinne Bailey Rae - image © Saige Prime
There is no let up from the heat the following day and the collective Wantok Sing Sing persevere with a revolving cast of singers backed by members of David Bridie's bands Not Drowning, Waving and My Friend The Chocolate Cake.
Although Telek was not present, performers included Christine Anu's daughter Zipporah Corser-Anu, Uncle Frank Yamma, the Black Sisters (daughters of West Papuan pop group Black Brothers) and Radical Son with an incredible performance of 'Rainbow Dreaming'.
Unfortunately for both Al-Qasar and their audience assembled, 2:30pm at Stage 2 was possibly the least shaded area in the hottest part of the day, but it was the place to be to experience psychedelic desert rock from a band with an international membership, and the surprise "prepared just for WOMADelaide" cover of Depeche Mode's 'Personal Jesus' sung in Arabic.
The Foundation stage hosted Moonlight Benjamin's stunning performance of rousing gospel blues commencing with 'Wayo' and 'Haut là Haut', she is seemingly possessed, speaking in tongues, shaking, screaming, twirling, before breaking back into song. There is an endearing interplay with her band mates, a jovial mood between the four throughout their near-perfect set culminating in the hard rocking Creedence-styled chanted 'Ale'.
Hollie Cook bounces onto Stage 3 and into dub-reggae song. This is her first show in Australia, backed by the more than capable General Roots band and even though she has four albums to pick from, she treats us to new songs, 'Take Me In Your Arms' and the never played live before 'Rockaway', as well as the spacey dub of 'Sugar Water' and the resurrected 'Superfast'.
Jose Gonzalez - image © Saige Prime
Jose Gonzalez's set is essentially time-travelling back 20 years when he had released his debut 'Veneer' and is a play-through of that album to commemorate the anniversary with a set list identical to one he would have played back in the day.
He tells us: "Twenty years ago, I was a different person," and as the sun gradually starts to set, he is lit up onstage as though by an excessively lit stage light. He plays covers to round out his set, including Joy Division's 'Love Will Tear Us Apart', Kylie's 'Hand On Your Heart' and Massive Attack's 'Teardrop'.
On what is reportedly Gilberto Gil's farewell tour, it's a family affair with his accompaniment being two sons and two grandchildren (including his granddaughter on keys and vocals). He starts with a sequence of sambas including and ending with 'The Girl From Ipanema', sung with his granddaughter.
Gilberto then stands up and goes electric for 'No Woman, No Cry', leading the audience in a joyous sing-along of "everything's gonna be alright". This is a celebratory performance, a history lesson in song of both Gilberto's life and wider Brazilian culture.
Gilberto Gil - image © Saige Prime
There's a definite mutual appreciation occurring early on during Seun Kuti & Egypt 80's Saturday headlining performance with Seun telling us: "You are the best people in Australia. Period." Playing keys and saxophone, sweat drips off him as he moves about the stage.
A contingent of Free Palestine protestors chant in between songs, potentially threatening to derail the show, but Seun puts the protestors in their place labelling them as "late to the party" and noting his last four albums have been about this issue. He then plays 'Zombie' stating it's not on the set list, and his dancers show us that like everything else, twerking originated in Africa.
By moving Thee Sacred Souls to the later time-slot to avoid the mid-day heat proved serendipitous as their live soul sound was played to a swollen, energised crowd that lapped up front man Josh Lane's charismatic stage presence, the three-piece horn section providing a big love sound.
The 'Happy And Well' duet with backing vocalist Aston shows Josh to be modern day Marvin Gaye. During 'It's Our Love' he enters and moves about in the audience singing before performing a new song but tells us: "I'm not going to tell you the song title though."
Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 - image © Morgan Sette
On Sunday at the slightly earlier time of 1pm, Illapu started playing to a small but dedicated crowd and after a couple of folk-styled songs performed in a South American musical tradition, they go all panpipe prog with a significantly set of sizeable panpipes being utilised.
After rewarding repeat viewings of sets by WILDFIRE MANWUURK and then Corinne Bailey Rae, on Stage 2 Jen Cloher appears flanked by members of T'HONI like a re-enactment of a Robert Palmer videoclip.
Although members of T'HONI had made occasional appearances during Jen'S set and had me thinking that they were under-utilised, it is not until halfway through the set that the band give up the stage entirely to T'HONI, now in traditional Māori garb and the show becomes a contrasting Māori sing-along demonstration; then just when you thought it was over, Jen and her band return performing a version of Patti Smith's 'Land' from the 'Horses' album.
The rousing Balkan gypsy ska punks Dubioza Kolektiv arrive on the Foundation Stage dressed in bright yellow uniforms akin to a sports team, and bring to mind football hooligans. There's no letdown to their fast-paced shenanigans, the audience swelling into a massive rave-like party.
Their BPMs seemingly getting higher and higher and taking the audience's collective heart rate with them, threatening to cause some kind of mass arrhythmia with their Dubioza Karaoke and Bosnian Tango.
Yussef Dayes - image © Jack Fenby
On returning to Stage 2 for Yussef Dayes, it was literally (space) jazz on a summers day, Youssef on drums accompanied by keys and bass occasionally augmented by sax player Venna.
Ibibio Sound Machine were what the audience wanted as day turned to night, singer Eno Williams giving an energetic performance backed by powerful grooves in the expansive, bouncy 'I Need You To Be Sweet Like Sugar' and following with the infectious abstraction of 'All That You Want', a funky, catchy, uplifting party anthem – she is brought to tears by the extended gracious audience response just to that one song.
On Stage 3, Arooj Aftab has a returning audience from her performance the night before, having impressed them with her gentle vocals, and minimal instrumental accompaniment somewhere in the realm of jazz but at the same time being individual and transcending that genre. Her self-deprecation endears her even more to an audience she has already won over and her set is over far too soon.
Emel Mathlouthi's late night appearance on Stage 2 commences with the singer in silhouette, opening song 'Braibtek' soundtracking her theatrical, stylised jerky dancing. As her performance of Arabic electro goth continues there remains a sense of mystery that heightens the experience that we as the audience would not have had if she had performed in the daylight hours.
There's a feeling of dramatic tension in her sympathy and solidarity with the Free Palestinean protestors present but then she almost makes a joke when she asks us: "Are you ready for some bangers? This next one is called 'Lose My Mind'." Her set comes to a close with 'Holm' and she is genuine when she tells us: "This was the most beautiful concert ever."
The Sharon Shannon Big Band commence the final the day of WOMADelaide 2024 giving the opportunity for the dedicated crowd in attendance to dance a jig or make a bad attempt at river-dancing. They are less trad than you would expect and are a pleasant, easily listening experience as the set ends with Steve Earle's 'The Galway Girl' segueing into Penguin Café Orchestra's 'Music For A Found Harmonium'.
Mo'ju - image © Jack Fenby
There were only a handful of people assembled up front for Mo'ju's set, the harsh midday sun being a deterrent to most sitting further back in the shade, but their set of abstract epic, electro swamp blues, soul and funk from the self-described "First nations, second generation, third culture kid" was rewarding.
They are grateful for being able to play the festival on this land amongst nature and give thanks to the animals and especially "the bats who have been doing it tough".
Followed by two blonde Afro-haired singers, WITCH frontman Jagari Chanda wanders onstage eating a strawberry before launching into his vocals, backed by the new version of his band, revelling in the opportunity to be given a second act after the original band were nearly lost to obscurity since the '70s.
He introduces 'Living In The Past' as "this is my past," the melancholic funky song firmly rooted in the '70s. He asks us to buy the upcoming album so that he doesn't have to swim back home (mentioning something about crocodiles), and paces the stage in-between vocal performances, playing air keys and air guitar with delight.
There is an amusing not quite self-deprecating sense of humour in Jagari's stage banter. Sampa the Great makes a surprise appearance with additional backing vocalists and the enlarged group perform in a popular style we are told was inspired by James Brown's Funky Chicken and is called the Mashed Potato, and in the commotion, I don't notice that some band members have switched instruments.
Jagari enters the photo pit and shares his mic with the audience before climbing back onstage and ending the set having undoubtedly won over some new fans.
WITCH - image © Jack Fenby
On Stage 3 Aurus's percussive programmed soul performance of theatrics and therapy was not to be missed, his vocal control and playfully mad antics a revelation.
Angelique Kidjo's late announced appearance (in order to replace the absent Nitin Sawnhey) was a well-received bonus, commencing with Talking Heads 'Crosseyed And Painless' from her cover album of Talking Head's 'Remain In Light', she continues with her own 'Africa One Of A Kind', and latterly Sampa the Great makes a second special appearance for the day.
The rejuvenated Cymande play a successful set of funk and soul not having lost anything in the interval between their heyday and now. During a slow, paced solo, sweat beads form and stream one after another down guitarist Patrick Patterson's face, and as you watch one soloist after another play you forget about the others onstage.
Their encore of mutant funk in 'It's Magic' takes them over time, slightly delaying the arrival of Morcheeba on the nearby Foundation stage.
Angelique Kidjo - image © Jack Fenby
With quite possibly the most impressive light show of the entire festival, Morcheeba commence their set with 'The Sea' and after a few more songs of their self-styled trippy café soul, singer Skye Edwards asks: "Do you like my outfit? I made it myself."
'Get Along' is introduced as their marijuana song and is followed by the country song 'Part Of The Process' demonstrating Ross Godfrey's skill on slide guitar before they go "a little bit off script" and perform a cover of David Bowie's 'Let's Dance', which gets everyone in the audience joining the party.
Skye says we're almost at the end, quoting The Doors from that song before introducing the band including her son on drums and she jokes: "I had him when I was ten." After the first line of 'Rome Wasn't Built In A Day', the audience joins in and then the set finishes with the satisfying 'Blindfold'.
Last in Adelaide as WWWater supporting Neneh Cherry, Charlotte Adigery's collaboration with Bolis Pupul performed live incites a late-night rave both off and onstage of the Frome Park Pavilion due to an invited stage invasion.
They are natural musical and comedic performers, earlier Charlotte commenting: "I'm having tears in my eyes. I think it's gratitude." Bolis responding: "I'm having beer in my mouth," then Charlotte asks: "How does that feel?" He replies: "Like regret."
Charlotte Adigery - image © Morgan Sette
Theirs is a thoroughly enjoyable set that couldn't be fairly described as a wind down for the festival but more a wind up as their increasingly manic beat-heavy funk draws comparisons to Giorgio Moroder's pioneering work and has Charlotte channelling Donna Summer briefly before she breaks into disturbing laughter during 'Haha' ahead of the spoken word of 'It Hit Me'; their set ends appropriately with 'Thank You'.
I arrive at the Foundation Stage to catch the last half of Ziggy Marley's set and immediately note the additional security employed onstage, the ubiquitous Free Palestine protestors visible in the audience with their flags and placards raised but facing away from the stage and chanting in-between songs.
Ziggy seems oblivious to it as he sings a medley of 'Get Up Stand Up' and 'War'. The audience go wild for 'Could You Be Loved' and there are cheers of affirmation during 'Love Is My Religion'. He encores with 'Circle Of Peace' and then 'One Love' before leaving the stage, the Free Palestine protestors having the last word as WOMADelaide comes to an end for 2024.
