Womadelaide

Last Monday I attended Womadelaide, a 'world music' festival that was run over 4 days. On stage here was Xavier Rudd, suported by two South African musicians in a lively performance in which he plays guitar, digeridoo and an assortment of percussion instruments.

The last few weeks has been extra busy for Adelaidians as we have had plenty of special activities to attend; in addition to Womadelaide was the Fringe, Writers Week, the Festival of Arts and the Clipsal 500 - and all of them had record numbers of people attending. Now today I can catch my breath and start blogging again because it is all over!

ABC Wednesdays - D for didgeridoo

The digeridoo is unique to our Australian aboriginal culture; originally from Arnhem Land, northern Australia. Digeridoos are made from limbs or tree trunks, eaten out by termites. They are cut to a length of about 1.3 metres and cleaned out by scraping or with hot coals.

I took this photo at last year's Come Out Festival; see related posts here and here.

The Didgeridoo is not normally played as a solo instrument; usually it is used to accompany a singer/dancer beating two sticks together.




The ABC Wednesday meme was initiated by Denise Nesbitt. To find out more about ABC Wednesdays and see other participants' contributions click here.

Australia Day Concert - 3

The final act at the free concert at Elder Park was Vanessa Amorosi performing songs from her new album 'Hazardous'. Billed as Australia's rock chick, she lived up to the name - an awesome performance!












Backed by a great band, Vanessa performed a high energy concert; non stop for 70 minutes and then came back for an encore, much to the delight of the 30,000 people in the audience.

Australia Day Concert - 2

On stage at the Australia Day Concert in Elder Park - the fabulous jazz great James Morrison, and former Australian Idol performer Carl Riseley. James was the special guest of Carl and his band. A class act!


I first heard James Morrison play over 20 years ago. I am still as much in awe of his playing now as I was then. He is a true master of his instrument.

ABC Wednesdays - B for Barrel Organ

I spotted Chris Macdonald playing his barrel organ at Hahndorf during the Tour Down Under. As he cranks the handle, folding cards are pulled through rollers. As air passes through holes in the cards melodious tones are generated; it takes a steady hand to maintain a uniform tempo.

When I researched this instrument I found a description of it on Colin Herring's website.

The ABC Wednesday meme was initiated by Denise Nesbitt. To find out more about ABC Wednesdays and see other participants' contributions click here.

Cats at the Festival Theatre

This is the main entrance to Adelaide Festival Centre. Andrew Llloyd Webber's Cats is currently playing in the centre's largest venue, the Festival Theatre. The theatre seats about 2000 and has a large stage area, well suited to large productions like Cats.

Last night we went to see Cats; a brilliant and lively production- a most enjoyable evening.

Unfortunately I did not take a camera as the norm is that photography is banned at live shows. I was kicking myself when it was obvious that some photos were allowed; as long as flash was not used. As much as I enjoyed the show, I won't be going again just for photos!

One Man Band

A couple of weeks back Dan Burt was entertaining at the Westlakes Carols. This photo was taken at the Oakbank Races earlier this year; Dan certainly gets around.

He has been performing for nearly 30 years; truly a colourful character!

The hills are alive

Remember the Sound of Music and the glorious scenes of the Alps. We were surely reminded of this today at a concert of The Henley and Grange Concert Band.

Guest artists this afternoon were Adelaide Alphorns' Martina and Wendy. These local ladies went all the way to Switzerland to learn to play these wonderful instruments. We were all enthralled by their delightful performance.

Come Out 2009

Come Out Festival, now in its 35th year, provides arts experiences specifically for the youth of SA. Schools across the state participate in a range of activities; music, dance, circus, theatre and cultural events.

The opening event was held in Victoria Square. The local Aboriginal Kaurna people regard this area as an important meeting place and call it Tarndaganyangga; the place of ‘red kangaroo and
rocks’.

Local Kaurna community and elders and members of Taikurtinna Dance group welcomed and entertained hundreds of students, their teachers and members of the public.

Womadelaide

Yesterday I went to Womadelaide; the first time for me. I have contemplated going for several years now and am glad I finally went - it is a fantastic event with lots of interesting music and a great atmosphere. This year the weather was perfect; 25 degrees C and fine.

Womadelaide is held annually over three days; located in Botanical Park. You can read all about this year's event on the Womadelaide website.

ABC Wednesday - D for drummers

The Billy Hyde Raiders Drum Corps is a local percussive drumming and marching performance group. They were formed in Adelaide in 1992; originally the John Reynolds Drum Corps.

I saw them performing at last year's Royal Adelaide Show.

The ABC Wednesday meme was created by Denise Nesbitt. To find out more about ABC Wednesdays and see other participants' contributions click here.

West Lakes Carols

Over the last few weeks I have played at several community carols nights. This was taken a couple of Sundays ago at West Lakes, a western suburb of Adelaide. Even though it was a breezy and cold night most of the carollers stayed to the end.

I have just found out the my blog has been listed as a Blog of Note; just the encouragement I need to keep going. It is quite time consuming to post every day, and I have been really busy in the last few weeks so I took a few days break.

Pipers in the Park

Last Saturday on the Guitar Festival opening night these pipers gave an impromptu concert in Elder Park's rotunda to many appreciative onlookers.

They had participated in the Guinness World Record Attempt for the biggest guitar band. No - they are not guitars! "It's a Long Way to the Top" featured a bagpipe, so they came along to help.

Guinness World Record Attempt

Last Saturday afternoon on the opening night of the Adelaide Guitar Festival, there was a world record attempt for the biggest guitar band. Unfortunately the number of registrations fell just short of the required number to break the record. Organisers were hoping for 2000 participants.

The song chosen for the playout was the ACDC hit 'It's a Long Way to the Top'. I had considered taking my guitar along, but thought I might have been embarrased. Having seen the event and now realise that the band on stage would drown out any of my shortcomings, I might have a go next year if they try for the record again.

Adelaide Guitar Festival

This is a mural near Festival Theatre promoting the Adelaide Guitar Festival that runs from 29th Nov to 7th Dec.

Bush Song and Dance

Yesterday the school my granddaughters attend had a day of song and dance. The school had hired Bushwahzee to perform bush music and dance and then run workshops with the children.

In the late afternoon parents were invited to come along and watch as the children performed what they had learnt during the day; a great school community event!

Taiko Drumming

The Atsui-No-Taiko Japanese Drumming ensemble held a Taiko drumming workshop in progress at the Moon Lantern Festival; interesting and fun.

Later in the evening they performed on stage.

ABC Wednesdays - X for Xylophone

This is Mr X playing a xylophone. I play saxophone in the Henley and Grange Concert Band, a community band, and a few weeks ago we purchased this new xylophone. Not really Mr X; Ben is one of our percussionists and he happily posed for the photo for me.

To find out more about ABC Wednesdays and see links to other participants' sites go to mrs nesbitts place

Combined Bands' Concert

Today the band I play in, the Henley and Grange Concert Band, performed in a concert at Murray Bridge. It was a combined concert with Murray Bridge Community Concert Band which was celebrating its 15th birthday. Murray Bridge is about 80 kilometres east of Adelaide.

Each band performed a selection of music and then as a finale we combined to perform five numbers together; in all over 60 musicians on stage.

Community band concert

Click on the images to enlarge

Today I played in a concert at Woodville Town Hall. As the temperature soared to 40c, we played to an appreciative audience who ignored the heat and came to hear us; such dedication!

I play saxophone in the Henley & Grange Concert Band. Today we did a combined concert with the Woodville Concert Band. Each band performed a bracket of about 5 numbers and then we played 5 pieces together.

It was rather uncomfortable in the hall that is not airconditioned, but in true community spirit both bands had a good roll up. When we set the date no one even thought about the chance of it being so hot!

I thank Steve P for taking photos for me in rather difficult conditions - the light level was low.