News November 9, 2016

Gypsy rock, electro-swing, trance musical, heading to WOMADelaide

Senior Journalist, B2B

Image:L-FRESH the Lion

WOMADelaide 2017 looks like it could repeat two achievements from this year – a record-breaking crowd of over 95,000 and a Helpmann Awards win for Australia’s Best Contemporary Music Festival – if its latest artist additions are any indication.

Among two highlights at the festival’s 25^th anniversary (March 10—13) are the Balkans’ gypsy-rock supergroup Emir Kusturica & the No Smoking Orchestra and Austrian electro-swing pioneers Parov Stelar.

The provocative 11-piece Serbian band is lead by controversial filmmaker Emir Kusturica, a two-time Palme d’Or winner at Cannes Film Festival (for When Father Was Away On Business and Underground). Their music emerged during the Serbian war as a mix of Balkans, folk, garage rock and a distinctive Sarajevo urban feel called Novi Primitivizam (New Primitivism).

Austria’s electro-swing pioneer Parov Stelar make their Australian debut as a WOMADelaide exclusive. Their catchy mix of 1920s cabaret and modern day dancefloor marked them as one of the first electro-swing outfits in Europe. They are fronted by singer Cleo Panther but created by Austrian DJ and producer Marcus Füreder whose own styles cover jazz, house, electro and breakbeat.

Also in the latest artists list are pre-eminent African singer Oumou Sangare who sings about women’s rights; Baba ZuLa’s psychedelic Turkish rock n roll; Nattali Rize, the new Jamaican reggae project for Blue King Brown’s Natali Pa’apa’a; the sassy New Orleans street sounds of the Hot 8 Brass Band; and Sahrawi singer-activist Aziza Brahim.

The latest of the Aussie contingent includes Angus Stone’s side project, Dope Lemon; D. D Dumbo and L-FRESH The Lion, and the commissioned trance-noise work Attractor from Queensland’s Dancenorth with choreographers Gideon Obarzanek and Lucy Guerin and Javanese trance musicians Senyawa.

The festival site will host the installation Giidanyba by Indigenous artist Tyrone Sheather, an extraordinary sound and visual installation using ancient stories and new technology, where sound and light are made responsive to the movement of the audience moving through seven floating ‘sky beings’ representing his spiritual ancestors and Gumbaynggirr Dreaming culture.

“Since 1992 WOMADelaide has always been an extraordinary meeting point of cultures, performances and artistic creativity from around the world and the artists announced today truly showcase this diversity of cultural experience for the widest possible audience,” said WOMADelaide director Ian Scobie.

“To be able to have Dancenorth’s Attractor presented alongside Turkish rock and roll, one of Mali’s most stunning vocalists & cultural ambassadors, and Austrian electro-swing truly epitomizes the cultural diversity of WOMADelaide.”

The full list of the latest announcement is: