Sydney Festival 09

As I've mentioned before, it's been a bit difficult to blog lately as I've been so busy. Since the beginning of the year, I seem to have had a very busy social calendar, and work has been as hectic as ever. And when I haven't been busy, I have not been apt to reflection during my recovery periods.

Until now...

A big highlight for me has been the Sydney Festival in January. With years past, I've often either hesitated or left it late when buying tickets to Sydney Festival events. When I do get to the odd event in January I'm often regretful I didn't get to more. Not this year.

V and I decided to to book a bunch of events, putting blind faith into the typically dependable taste and quality control of the festival curators. We were not disappointed.

A summary of our attendance...

Lipsynch: An auspicious start -- we were absolutely blown away. The play went for a whopping 9 hours (including several intermissions), but we barely noticed! The story begins with an opera singer on a flight to Montreal noticing that another passenger is slumped in a seat, dead, with a baby in her arms. From here, a handful of characters are interlinked over many decades -- the story told in a zig-zagging non-linear fashion. An incredibly ambitious story spanning several countries and languages (English/French/German/Spanish), meanwhile interweaving amazing visuals and musical themes. Fast paced, complex and ultimately satisfying.

Fanfare Ciocarlia: A wonderfully colourful collection of gypsy musicians and dancers from the breadth of Europe -- many Romanians, along with Spanish, Serbian, Bosnian, Hungarian, Bulgarian and Macedonian (I hope I've got that right). Many different styles, beginning with flamenco style guitar, and graduating through different singers, dancers and brass/string instruments. Several audience members were dancing in the aisles of the State Theatre as the musicians played. After the show finished, the core of the Romanian gypsies re-emerged and then jumped off the stage and marched up through to the antechamber where they basically busked with their brass instruments for what seemed like an hour. Quite an amazing show.

Faith Healer: A challenging play made up of four monologues telling the story of Frank Hardy the Faith Healer. It begins with Frank setting the scene of his story, moving from town to town with his wife Grace and his manager Teddy. Grace, then succeeded by Teddy, follow Frank in telling their perspectives of their shared history -- Grace's story being quite depressing, and Teddy being quite entertaining in his cockney slang (despite the very dark subject matter). Part of the appeal of the play is that throughout, it is not clear whether Frank is merely a very talented showman or the genuine article. I thought it was a powerful performance, but the dark and stuffy conditions in the theatre made it difficult to maintain concentration all the way through (which is absolutely vital).

All Tomorrow's Parties: This might have been the most enjoyable music festival I've ever been to. The venue was Cockatoo Island, which necessitated a ferry ride to get to and from. Watching Rowland S Howard playing in sandstone ruins against a brilliant blue sky was a real highlight for me, as was seeing The Saints reunited for a very impressive set (despite some clear tension between Ed Kuepper and Chris Bailey). Sadly, it's also the last time I'll see Mick Harvey play with the Bad Seeds now that he's left the band. The crowd was noticeably more mature (averaging mid to late 20's) compared to the typical music festival, and was definitely better for it.

Reggie Watts: What a dude. Amazing vocal range (10 octaves?) and mad skillz with a synthesizer, interspersed with with some interesting (absurd!) comedy between and within songs... Kept breaking into different accents and personalities. The set was only about an hour long, and left the audience wanting more. Not sure if he was a standup comic or musician, but either way I've heard he's returning to Australia for the Comedy Festival -- if I'm in country at the same time I'll definitely see him again.

Masters of Tradition: Each year, a 5 day music festival is held in the Irish coastal town of Bantry, where those considered masters of their craft play traditional Irish music in it's purest form.
A taste of this celebrated festival was played in a captivating set at the Sydney Opera House. A fairly amazing troupe of musicians (fiddlers, vocalists, guitarists, accordion and pipes) including the artistic director and MC (Martin Hayes) who also happens to be one of their most skillful performers on the fiddle. It is difficult to pick a highlight from such a quality line up, but my memories are drawn to one of the most melancholy sounds I've ever heard -- a reconstructed instrumental piece of (otherwise "lost") music played on the Uilleann Pipes (Irish version of the bagpipes). I believe the music was about a woman surveying and lamenting the remains of a battlefield. My gut stirred and my eyes were transfixed as this beautiful, powerful piece filled the concert hall.

I'm really looking forward to next January...