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[03.10.2008]
I went to my first Melbourne Symphony concert in a while last night, and I was very happy to see an almost full house at the Hamer Hall. Must have something to do with the enduring popularity of Handel's 'Water Music' which made up the second half of the bill. The first half featured the astonishing Australian counter-tenor David Hansen peforming three Handel arias with the physical confidence of an Olympic athlete. The Baroque ornamentation he applied to these operatic numbers was the equivalent of a gold-medal-winning pentathlon performance, and the crowd roared with approval as he took his bows. The orchestra sounded incredibly youthful under the bouncing baton of Canadian conductor Bernard Labadie. They're performing the Handel program twice more this week and it will be broadcast at a later date on ABC Classic FM.
Meanwhile the Melbourne Fringe Festival has begun, and last night saw the launch of 'Jacky Jacky in the Box', a performance art installation presented by Ilbijerri Theatre. Five indigenous performers, all called 'Jacky', sit inside three glass museum cabinets in the Atrium of Federation Square. Curious passers-by can read their family histories displayed on printed signs in front of the boxes, and learn about the complex and often tragic circumstances that led to each 'Jacky' being denied their indigenous cultural heritage. It's cheeky, it's confronting, and it makes a very clear point about the way in which Aboriginal Australians have been treated as less than human for most of the past two centuries.
And at the Supper Room of the North Melbourne Town Hall i saw a work-in-progress called 'The Lonely Instrument', an alternately chilling and hilarious re-telling of Angela Carter's radio play 'Vampirella', all mixed up with characters and recipes straight out of the Country Women's Association Cookery Book. There's a shadow-puppetry play, an afternoon tea ritual with lamingtons and shortbread, and the scariest cake competition judges you'll ever meet. Keep an eye out for the finished product, due for completion in 2009. For more information, email: lonelyinstrument@gmail.com
And don't forget to tune into SBS Television at 9 pm on Monday nights for the next six weeks to see the new Australian comedy series 'Bogan Pride', featuring the marvellous Caroline Lee playing a lesbian leader of a young Christian girls friendly society.
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[13.09.2008]
Just back from the Northern Territory where i caught several gigs on the last weekend of the Darwin
Festival . Being able to boogie in the humid night air at the Darwin Botanic Gardens sure beats scurrying around chilly, wet Melbourne in October to attend the Melbourne Festival. (How about moving it to March, gals?)
One of the highlights was a concert called 'Drums and Lions', a collaboration between Maltese-Australian guitarist/percussionist Nicky Bomba and Ethiopian musician Dereb Desalegn. Bomba explained that it all started as a quest to find the roots of reggae in Ethiopia (he never did), but it ended with a firm musical friendship which had the crowd jigging and sweating and calling out for more at the Star Shell. Desalegn sings in his native Amharic language and plays a traditional one-stringed instrument called the masenko, but this is no world-musicky folk outfit. They rock!
They've recorded an album via Transmitter Records, also called 'Drums and Lions', and i highly recommend it as a cure for the post-winter blues.
The other gig to rave about was a double bill with charismatic East Timorese singer/songwriter Ego Lemos (lead singer of Cinco do Oriente) and Yolngu singer/songwriter Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu. Gurrumul's self-titled solo album has been garnering music industry nominations and winning awards left, right and centre (keep an eye out for him at the Aria awards in October, if he doesn't take home a major prize i'll eat my sombrero). The sell-out crowd had the religious fervour of a bunch of Elvis fans, so passionate were they about this blind musician and his songs in language. He's a former member of Yothu Yindi, a current member of the Saltwater Band, and he's going to be the next big indigenous musical star in this country (or i'll eat another sombrero).
Gurrumul will be performing with the Black Armband at the forthcoming Melbourne Festival, and also doing a couple of solo gigs - book now or you'll be sorry. (And keep an eye out for my profile of Gurrumul in a forthcoming edition of The Age 'EG'.) Ego Lemos is rumoured to be performing in Melbourne on September 25th - more info anon.
Last week i hosted another business forum for the City of Stonnington, this time on the topic of mentoring. The three guest speakers (David Southwick, Fay Jamieson and Shane Hills) spoke persuasively about how asking for help - and/or offering it - can make the difference between a successful small business and a failure. Click to hear a podcast of our conversation.
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