The WOMADelaide music and dance festival kept the energy flowing on a hot Sunday evening in the Adelaide parklands. As the day drew to an end, there was simultaneously the driving London dance beats of DJ Paulette and the soothing and mesmerising synthesiser sounds from Nils Frahm at opposite sides of the park. Earlier in the day, Protoje and the Indiggnation had the crowd swaying to Jamaican beats, while the Sun Ra Arkestra looked like they’d dropped in from a crazy futuristic outer space disco.
Meanwhile, singer/songwriter Ela Minus was wowed by the fairytale setting of stage 7. After dark when the bats come out to party, and she described it as ‘being in a dream’. With gritty layers of musical textures and a bright bouncy personality, her performance was a delightful experience.
Over on stage 3, Mohsen Amini of Irish folk band Talisk whipped the crowd into a merry jig with his concertina playing. London sludge based doom duo O. packed out the late-night zoo stage, with many in the crowd coming back for a second chance at catching them play. Yemi Alade gave us infectious sounds of Afropop on the Foundation stage. Etran De L’Aïr bought us the sounds of the Sahara with their guitar skills.
Meanwhile, when the giant mechanical camel Chamôh was moving, every kid would go running to see if they would have a chance to pat or even feed her. Then, just casually, a giant heliosphere would appear in front of a main stage, suspending acrobats from Brighton’s The Dream Machine over amazed onlookers.
Take a look at the gallery below, showcasing just a small snippet of the musical acts, on a massive day of activities at WOMADelaide.
