WOMAD '22 Second Lineup Announcement

 WOMAD 2022 has just announced their second drop for March next year, including the original Queens of Aotearoa's Country music and comedy the Topp Twins; recently reunited Dub Masters Salmonella Dub (including Tiki Taane and RnB Cultural Warrior, Ria Hall. 

The 2022 programme was launched at an event on Wednesday night at New Plymouth’s TSB Showplace.  Event Director & NZ Programme Manager Emere Wana, said that it was a privilege to launch in “our home time”.  It’s usually hosted at Parliament in Wellington. 

At the launch Suzanne Porter CEO of the Taranaki Arts Festival (organisers of WOMAD) said in a press release that despite a lack of international acts the festival would still be full of worldly flavour.  People would still get their Global Music fix without leaving the country.

Also on this all-Kiwi bill is Neo Soul Wahine Hollie Smith, who’s new album ‘Coming In From The Dark’ has just seen the light this October.  And, speaking of return acts, the incredible juggernaut of musical bliss that is ‘Fly My Pretties’ will also be back.

The World may not be able to make it this time but that doesn’t mean this festival will miss ou completely on the global experience.  There are plenty of World Class acts already here in Aotearoa.  And keeping the delight of WOMAD's discovery element alive, the festival’s organisers have added the Bulgarian vocalists Acopollinations, World Music DJ Bobby Brazuka, the very talented and cinematic Jazz-funk-folk outfit Carnivorous Plant Society, the IPU Kodama Japanese Drum Team, Latinaotearoa (Latin soul-funk masters), an encore performance from former Black Seed Mike Fabulous aka Lord Echo, Balkan Street Gypsy crew Niko Ne Zna, SWÂMP THÏNG (Americana blues & roots), Weird Together (World fusion beats) and Afrofunksters Yaw Asumadu & Ozi Ozaa.

In addition to all of that Insta-TV-Comedian, Tom Sainsbury will be presiding over the The World of Words Stage.  There’s also Indian Dance courtesy of the Mudra Dance Company.  Under the leadership of Kinra, has developed into a vibrant dance company featuring graduates trained at his dance Academy in Wellington.

Also presenting will be legendary Pop Artist Dick Frizzell and one of the Motu’s most respected Scientists Dr Siouxie Wiles.

The new line up joining those great acts already announced, including jazz-hip-hop mastermind Tom Scott aka Avantdale Bowling Club, modern R&B extraordinaire, Deva Mahal, and another returning festival favourite, Fat Freddy's Drop alongside the stunning collaboration of New Zealand and Indian musicians, Shades of Shakti.

Next year’s WOMAD will be a unique celebration of Aotearoa’s diverse and talented artist.  The world may be delayed this year but that just gives us more time to explore our own. 

The WOMAD 2022 team are not only assuring a 100 per cent New Zealand-based line-up but that all performers, workers, volunteers and attendees will be vaccinated – essential for any festival next year.

Last year Covid-19 forced WOMAD to cancel, so it’s inspiring that the event has managed to come back and Taranaki is ready to party.  WOMAD will run from March 18-20 at New Plymouth’s Brooklands Park.

www.womad.co.nz

 

REVIEW: ‘Pansousiance’ – Rob Sinclair and Bevan Revell (Rattle Records)

For the music community the hardest thing about last year’s pandemic had to be the enforcement of performance shut down.  Due to social distancing and restricted congregation rules many creatives were forced into their home studios and practice spaces to reinvent themselves as bloggers and podcasters – or they tried out digital colabs across the internet, or , as in the case of Fat Freddy’s Drop, performed in empty concert halls to record the event for home audiences. It was either that or wither away. 

Plenty found ways to respond, to express their feelings and experiences of the lockdowns.  And this is exactly what we have here.  Just released on Steve Garden’s fabulously independent Rattle Records, ‘Pansousiance’ is a collection of awkward, insecure, unpredictable and challenging modern blues classics that speak to the new normal.  It’s an album of introspective tones and instrumentals (all recorded during the first New Zealand lockdown in 2020) evoking all the imagery that is now familiar in our post-pandemic world, particularly the many challenges artists face as they are forced to negotiate our increasingly uncertain world.

Created by multi-instrumentalists Rob Sinclair (Schtung, Big Sideways, 3 Voices) and Bevan Revell (who was recently working as a session musician in Europe) they have intentionally constructed a number of pieces that feel familiar and disorientating all at the same time.   It has been said that Sonic Youth are capable of writing sweet, commercially comfortable pop songs but they choose to ruin them intentionally in the name of art.  Well, this is what happens here, too.  

The album’s cover is a clue.  Sinclair’s photo of a startled horse in full flee-flight.  A nod to last century’s flu epidemic, when horse and cart was still prominent on the streets, bodies taken away on their backs or in the drays they solemnly pulled through the streets.  Or is it a reference to freedom, speed, power? The photo is blurred, creating an unsettling, out of focus picture of an indeterminate event.  A lack of clarity creates insecurity.  Inside the CD version, there are more blurred images – several taken ‘somewhere in Asia’ – possibly China (a reference to Wuhan, perhaps); a dove in a cage (peace or avian flu?); shaving in a mirror, with a mask close to hand.  These are from trips Sinclair has made, perhaps in better times, observations of a culture that we all are now quick to judge.  

The music is created with all the standard stuff, guitars, drums, piano, an Indian shenai and a bass clarinet (provided by Chrs Watt), but it’s the addition of extra ‘tools’ like pot lids and various handmade instruments that gives an unsettling flavour.  Add to that vocals that are layered in an off-kilter fashion, odd percussion timings and bizarre noodling guitars that remind you of a drunken JJ Cale this is a disturbing listen.  Sonically, this is like Tom Waits, Budgie from the Banshees, NZSO percussionist, the late, great Gary Brain and Blixa Bargeld all got drunk together, had an argument and then had make up sex – all in the same night.  It’s a disturbing listen, for sure!

‘Pansousiance’ is possibly a made-up word.  My dictionary came back with a ‘does not compute!’.  But then everything about this Pandemic is new and odd, so there you are.  The best we can offer is that the word is some form of neologism, a reference to indifference or nonchalance.  A reaction in the face of adversity, perhaps?  A shrug of the shoulders, a new normal is here – get used to it.

Slurry speak on the album’s opening track, ‘From Whence She Came?’, reminds me of the endless parade of experts who speculatively droned on about Covid’s potential impacts in the early days of the event.  These early alarmist headlines appear a misquotes from an inebriated barfly, grasping to find blame: “Lax procedure in a P4 lab, Wuhan university”, “South China live food market/ cages stacked ten by ten high” “He cleared his nose/From where she came/The one who sneezed”.  Shudder indeed!  The opening scenes of the movie ’12 Monkeys’.  

The slow, sludgy and often eerie ‘Lockdown’ features some creepy multi-tracked vocals.  They play slightly out of synch, with an addition of a guest singer Louise McDonald. “Put a mask on, go outside/ Don’t breath too heavy / keep your distance now / and don’t go too far”.   There is a disturbing observation.  I think back to watching America in the Trump era denying what he called ‘China flu’.  This lone voice can’t believe was they are seeing: “Trumpets blowing in the U.S.A / Who’s blaming who? Big apples falling down / Got the Wuhan flu?” There’s no escaping: “The fever’s getting high / And I / I’m in Lockdown/ Out of sight.” 

Throughout the entire record there is a constant sense of dislocation and isolation.  Those disorientating vocals are like ghosts or head voices, challenging you.  They are often incomprehensible – and that is also unsettling.  The odd and constantly changing time signatures create and the instrumentation create this “selection of snapshots of a world askew”.

There are several instrumental pieces – The oddball ‘Selling Mustard Seed’”, the freakish Sci-fi  number ‘They're Everywhere’; and more weirdness on ‘Nagoya Gogo’ and ‘Washable Pok Dum Blean’ which sounds like Tom Waits has snuck into the gamelan storage room and had a jam after drinking too much malt liquor. That last one features a ‘milk-carton’ shamisen (a type of kabuki guitar) and a potnan (a sort of bell, like a gamelan), both common Chinese street musician’s instruments.

There are references to wet markets, political wastelands and rigged elections, ‘Panspeciel Transmission’ (that’s what scientists do with DNA to manipulate the species) and grandiose philosophies from the ancient world.  That occurs on ‘Grandees Ball’ which talks of a decay of a civilisation and our dead being transported across the Styx river, that boundary that lies between all of us here on Earth and the Underworld.  Clearly a reference to the unnecessary deaths caused by those leaders around the world who spread ‘fake news’ or denied the real impacts of Covid.   

There are also a couple of more ‘typical’ songs here – ‘Poison Pigeons’ and ‘On the Shelf’ – which are almost love songs to the Covid affected.  And there’s a cover.  Made famous by the Seekers, ‘Isa Lei’ is a traditional Fijian Farewell song.  This version is not the light and breezy send-off that tourists to the Islands may have encountered.  It also has a double layered meaning, with Fiji’s infection rates now being so high.  It’s a song with a different departure in mind. 

‘Pansousiance’ is an hour of difficult listening, an artistic response to soundbites from last year’s One O’Clock stand ups.  Listening during a second major pandemic is even more challenging.  It’s a very clever audio document of our unpredictable times.  Proceed with caution. 

#VAXFORLIVE - AOTEAROA'S MUSIC COMMUNITY UNITE TO GET BACK TO THE STAGE

https://bookmyvaccine.covid19.health.nz/

CALLING ALL KIWIS… The Aotearoa live music, entertainment and concert sector needs your help! With the current COVID-19 Delta outbreak, our much-loved traditional summer of music, entertainment and festivals is in danger, and we are urging music fans and those who love going to any form of gigs to go get vaccinated now, so we can all enjoy some awesome live tunes together again asap! Aotearoa has been lucky in the fight against COVID-19 to say the least. 

The first half of 2021 has brought us many small and large-scale events in a time when the rest of the world was still in restriction. Because of our nations hard and fast approach to lockdowns we have been rewarded with the freedoms to socialise and enjoy live music and entertainment together. 

We want that to continue and there is only one way for that to happen... Earlier this week, the New Zealand Government announced the roll-out of vaccination certificates in New Zealand, with a plan to launch in November this year. Commonly used overseas, the certificates would provide proof that individuals have been fully vaccinated, and the Government is likely to make the use of these certificates mandatory for large-scale events.

“Crowded House were truly blessed to play shows in Aotearoa NZ in March. Live concerts bring joy and freedom that lift the spirits of audience and artists alike. This summer NZ will be open again for concerts but you will need to be vaccinated against Covid. Come on everyone, we’ve had the vaccine, it's safe and it's keeping the ones we love safe” Neil Finn CROWDED HOUSE

“For me getting the vaccine is all about protection - protecting the people who I love who cannot get vaccinated because they’re immunocompromised. Or because they’re ineligible, like my daughter who’s just about to turn 4. And after almost two years of not being able to tour internationally the vaccine gives me the best protection to be able to do the job that I love. I cannot wait to be on stage playing music again here in Aotearoa, and the best way for us to get to that summer of gigs and dancing is to be vaccinated. For our whanau, for our communities, and for ourselves.” LADYHAWKE

Kiwis know that nothing beats live music… except, maybe, COVID. Get vaccinated for gigs now so we can have an epic summer in the sun with some of the best live music and entertainment that Aotearoa has to offer. So, c’mon Aotearoa Vax Together, Stay Together #vaxforlive LET’S GET BACK TO LIVE!!!

Be part of the crowd and book now at www.bookmyvaccine.nz to help us unite against COVID-19 and bring back live entertainment!