I would like to use this review of Adelaide-based Syrian Oud player Adnaan Baraky as an opportunity to make a comment on the multiculturalism debate, and this so called notion of “assimilation”.

A number of years ago I started to learn the Oud with a wonderful teacher in the Western Sydney Turkish community, which culminated in me joining their community orchestra as the token White Anglo-Saxon. I didn’t speak a word of Turkish, I was not a Muslim, I had never been to Middle Eastern country, I knew nothing of the culture – and yet I was welcomed with open arms because of my willingness to cross the cultural bridge halfway on account of my love of the instrument. And I came to learn and love that there is such a thing as a unique Australian Turkish culture, a thing in itself. This was for me represented best in a song composed in Turkish Classical style by my Oud teacher which sang the history of the Australian “Johnnies” and Turkish “Mehmets” fighting on the shores of Gallipoli. “Assimilation” as the critics of multiculturalism would have it, would prevent art such as this from being born in Australia.

During the performance by Adnaan, a highly skilled and creative artist with a learned musical pedigree, he spoke of composing his piece Melodies from the Other Side as the US Forces invaded Afghanistan, written for the dead on both sides of the conflict. He was unable to finish the song. Then when the US invaded Iraq, again he tried to complete the piece but was not able. Finally, after moving to Australia, he was so touched the tragedy of the victims of the Victorian bushfires he was able to finish the song, as if the spirits of the dead were saying to the living “Don’t worry about us, instead, worry about yourselves, for we are in peace”.

This is what is created in the crucible of multiculturalism.

Much of his new music being showcased tonight from his newly released album is born of his migration to Australia, of the search to find a means of expressing his Syrian heritage in the Australian setting. The Blues was not born here, but we are often happy to talk about an Australian Blues scene, and cultural context. Why are we then so hesitant about recognizing Australian-Middle Eastern culture and music, or Australian-African, or Australian-Asian for that matter?

There are songs of geographical dislocation, Ya Balady, of Sufic spirital ecstacy through Union with the Divine, Dinaan and well as traditional dances, Lawha. Through all these works and thematic melodies he conjures amazing taksim (improvisation) that carries one into deep meditative admiration.

Adnaan Baraky will be doing one more performance for the Adelaide Fringe on Sunday 13 March. Attendance would be all the more culturally enriching for you I think, an opportunity to pick up his CD while you are there.

Many of you may not know the name Barry William Hale, but then surrealist & visionary art has never received the serious consideration it has deserved from the cuvée & canapé set. William Blake and Austin Osman Spare were not necessarily artistic doyens while they were still breathing, but then recognition is not the priority when the human canvas – that of the artist and the observer – cries out for transformation.

Over the years I have often found myself tripping into the path of his work. From some of his earliest showings in Sydney in the late 90’s to this latest manifestation conducted in collaboration with soundscape artist, Scott Barnes, and visual cortex metaphysician, Michael Strum, I am not necessarily convinced that I have ever stepped outside of a particular art gallery bound not by spatiality, geography or chronology. A veritable Chapel Perilous.

The contented ’spiritual’ middle class will continue to flock to the words of visiting Tibetan Lamas or the dances of whirling Dervishes and their ilk. For most, this will ever be pantomime, the gulf between the performer and audience as wide as an abyss. A devotion to secular-flavoured Catholic indulgences for universal peace of mind.

But what if you could be in a space where the bolted gates of your conscious and subconscious Self could be gently assaulted by wave after wave of drones and beats, epileptographic machinations, Gyuato growling & Lilithian cries, all resonating to sacred form and syllables that arose not from some ascetic Bodhisattva on an Eastern mountain, but through the endeavours of a genius wife-swapping Elizabethan mathematician of high regard who spoke to angels?

To further describe the work presented this evening, representing just two of twenty one works in development based around Dr John Dees Enochian Alphabet, would be subjective in the extreme. What will you get from it? I couldn’t say – these things sometimes take time to work the required neuronal sublimation. Look to Youtube, keep an eye out on Fulgar Press.

Maybe I’ll see you in the Chapel sometime?

When you want an evening of dark cabaret, a heady atmosphere like that of somewhere from the Deep South can’t hurt – and Adelaide’s weather has certainly come to the party on the eventide, a readily thickening humidity rolling over the Fringe site, amplified within the performance tent, pushed even further by the performances in Noir Revue.

Our Mistress of Ceremonies, the Blue Angel, an ethereal creature somewhere between Little Nell and Marlene Deitrich has promised us dark tragic beauties & troublesome fellows.  This they delivered and more.

Throughout the evening we had wonderful stylistic counterpunctuality between songstress Baby Blue Bergman & Dizzy, who delivered beautifully aching renditions of Blue Velvet and Bang Bang, set in a balanced dichotomy against the deep soul driven lamentations of Chantal delivering Blues in the Night and Folsom Prison Blues amongst her repertoire.

The theme of knife edge balance curiously continues amongst the routines of Paloma Negra & Missy – who together performed an erotically charged Chair Tango, reinforcing an old saying that the Tango is horizontal desire expressed vertically. When separated, each demonstrated no shortage of matched aerial skill – Paloma on the Delta Trapeze and Missy on a Trapeze Ring, the attention of the audience held not through circus trickery, but in the discipline each demonstrated in slow deliberate contortions.  The tightening of a muscle, a tendon stretched, maybe a bead of sweat delivering the fascination to the observer, each of us being compelled and drawn into the very restraint itself.

And old favourite, Mr Gorski delivers a new take on his amazing hat & cigar juggling skills.  Whereas the last time I saw him the routine certainly had a nod to the good Mr Chaplin’s physical comedy, Mr Gorski’s present incarnation presents a much darker, uncontrolled protagonist. Drunk, leering and pleasantly unwholesome, this Mr Gorski comes from a tenebrous corner of the psyche, a development I appreciate considerably.

Our required dose of tease was delivered in medicinal spoonfuls by Scarlett Jezebel and Sarina del Fuego - both together and in separate routines, some parts deliberately understated, some exorcising any need for subtlety.  Scarlett was resplendent in glory in her amazing Peacock Feather Fan bustle, azure magnificence as she swayed and bumped her way before us, peeling away the layers to our delight.  And the divine Ms del Fuego delivered the naughty and naughtier, forgetting the nice somewhere along the way. Her Perdita Smoking routine was sensual and a source of ignition (not only from the cigarette), while her fan routine held something of the Norman Lindsay aesthetic, like some dryad celebrating release from one of his etchings.

I would hasten to add that like shadows, the full range of noir sensibilities is cast only in the presence of a suitable light source – and tonight’s performance carried enough light and shade from each performer to emotionally move one between states of engagement, from awe to sympathy, through titillation and doses of whimsy.

The remaining performances are Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th February, I suggest you start your 2011 Adelaide Fringe off with a bang, bump and grind at the Noir Revue.

A Review of Avast! Wretched Sea by The Good Ship

Ration My Rum! Something of a Post Office Box mix up courtesy of the local Postmaster meant this CD didn’t land in my hands much sooner, but I’m happy it did.

The Good Ship are no doubt Australia’s newest exponents of maritime Indie Folk. More fun than keel-hauling Angus & Julia Stone under the hull of a heavily barnacled clipper – maybe with the Able Seaman Nick Cave releasing the rope of one side, and Bosun Shane McGowan pulling up the rope on the other under the watchful eye of the Captain Eugene Hütz.

Avast! Wretched Sea is subtitled as a work of Undulating tales of woe and intrigue. Indeed they are.

After many months at sea, we approach port with A Harbour Fair, a rousing anthem to gambling, grog and loose women.  Frantic fiddles and homebound hollering set the pace in this slick shanty.

Spanish horns and straight vocal delivery subtlety mask the true bawdiness of A Few of My Favourite Flings, showing that one can still have a girl in every port.

The demonic domains of Davy Jones Locker are captured in the rocking three-step Sea Monster, over the skeletal jangle of dancing castanets.

6000 Cocks is a tragic ‘working girls’ lament with a catchy sing-along tune, though you may want to be careful where you sing it. Public transport is not a good idea.

Cougar culture and the tragedy of mutton-dressed-as-lamb is pondered in a country-ballad-like 18 When You’re 44. Lock up your mothers…

You’ll have a tea-bagging good time with Don’t Kiss Me With Your Lips, and a pick up line guaranteed to either get you laid or arrested.

The waltzing Tavern Song is a rollicking good folk tune that is a wonderful musical advocate for extended trading hours down at your local.

Slow and wistful, No Shortage of Company opens the bloodied and broken heart of the rejected. Misery indeed loves company.

The previous tune is almost a segue into Bury Me, a tune dressed with moments of rousing spiritual gospel, with counterpoints of delta blues fatalism.

These lads and lasses of Good Ship must be sailors because the next song, I Can Make Her Laugh– full of beautiful melodies and harmonies, is also replete with sodomy and pearl necklaces. You heard me.

Cut Off My is a psychopathically sordid love tale with wailing violin and sinister military snare, no doubt deserving of a Tarantino film clip of its own. Being stuck in the middle is easy with no limbs.

Last Song of the Night brings our journey to an end, the thankless job of a musician in front of an uncaring audience, disappearing slowly into their beer glasses in melancholy and indifference.  Whatever happened to the Piano Man?

Avast! is now out on Autumn Recordings and a selection of tunes available for a listen at The Good Ships myspace site.

Upcoming gigs include

3 Oct 2010      Peregian Originals     Peregian Beach, Qld, AUSTRALIA
8 Oct 2010     BAM Festival     Peaks Crossing, Queensland, AUSTRALIA
29 Oct 2010     The Troubadour     Brisbane, Queensland, AUSTRALIA
20 Nov 2010    Grace Darling     Melbourne, VIC, AUSTRALIA
21 Nov 2010     The Tote Melbourne     Melbourne, Victoria, AUSTRALIA

Go support some local Australian music ye Lily-livered landlubbers!

Salutations Libertarian’s all,

there is a smorgasboard of decadent entertainment, titillation and whimsy coming in a few short weeks with the Adelaide Fringe on our doorstep once more.  We will be giving extra attention to the burlesque arts this year with the following on our shopping list:

Vari-A-Tease – with the divine Danica Lee, mischievous Missy and a cast of performers delivering a menu of burlesque, vaudeville, magic and cabaret.

A Deli Burlesque – A cross-pollination of neo-burlesque and vintage charm.
Babes on bikes; hula-hoop aerobics; exotic bird rituals and more.

Burlesque Beauties - Reminiscent of 1920s, 30s, 40s and50s, three sassy burlesque beauties present their unique blend of classic burlesque, comedy, music and vintage sass.

For events closer to hand – 2pm Saturday the 13th of February at Gallery Serpentine, in Newtown (Sydney) are having  special Valentine Day event, with Jocelyn from the Cult of Scent showcasing a range of new and favourite hand crafted artisan fragrances.

Come and find out which of the Cult of Scent perfume best suits you and - if you’re very very nice -get your bottle of Cult of Scent perfume customised especially for you!

Happy New Year Antipodean Absintheurs & Libertines

This year, instead of sticking to crusty old New Year’s Resolutions, why not get involved in making a Renew Year’s Resolution?

Urban renewal for artistic endeavour is a growing movement internationally, but probably the best example in Australia has been the Renew Newcastle project. These canny Novocastrians find short and medium term uses for buildings in Newcastle’s CBD that are currently vacant, disused or awaiting redevelopment and matches them with artists, cultural projects and community groups to use.

It is a problem common to all cities - urban sites are boarded up, heavily vandalised or decaying because the is no short term for use them and no one taking responsibility for them.  The Renew Newcastle project has actually been instrumental in turning a primarily industrial and mining town into a thriving arts community, and shaming many a capital city in terms of public accessibility to the arts.

And now it is Adelaide’s turn.  Renew Adelaide is a non-profit, artist run initiative following the lead of Renew Newcastle, that also believe artist and community run spaces have the power to transform cities. Like it’s forerunner, they aim to fill empty spaces and disused buildings in and around the city of Adelaide with artist and community run ventures, with the minimum possible cost to those involved.

Both the Newcastle and Adelaide venture have Facebook groups you can join, so keep up with the developments.

More projects like this should be started nationally, and to help prevent other potential hubs of artistic creativity becoming another Sydney (albeit there is some hope).  Melbourne is on top of it in another way with their CreativeSpaces project.  So what’s going on in your town? - email us and let us know.

Stop Press

By happy coincidence, ABC Radio National program Life Matters featured an interview on the 6 January 10 with Renew Newcastle founder Marcus Westbury on his urban artistic renewal project - mp3 audio available here.

Industry intel from the Just Drinks media group alert us to multinational wine and spirits behemoth Pernod Ricard announcing that it will support emerging visual artists, through a competition featuring its Pernod Aux Plantes d’Absinthe Superieure brand.

The contest will award its first place winner $1805 US in cash with a second place prize of $500 and third place $250. There are plans for a celebratory event to be run concurrently with The Armory Show, the annual international art fair, in New York City.

Brian Eckert, Pernod brand manager for Pernod Ricard USA is quoted as saying “Pernod has been a strong supporter of the arts since the brand debuted in France more than 200 years ago” - a statement I am sure is true if you count keeping bohemian artists in constant creative lubrication.

“Since its debut, Pernod has been a favourite drink among the cultural elite including Picasso, Van Gogh, Monet and Poe. We thought it fitting to honour this relationship with a contest that celebrates the artist in us all.”

While some may suggest that these cultural elite were also regarded fringe degenerates by polite society in their time, certainly Pernod Ricard as a modern company are doing their bit to support the arts so they are putting their money where their mouth is.

Interested artists must submit only original works, and all works submitted must include the date 1805, the date the brand was first launched.  Submissions are being accepted until the end of  January, 2010, in the following categories: painting, illustration, photography, video, digital/animation.

Submissions will be accepted entirely online at www.facebook.com/pernodabsinthe.

I had a most unusual realisation the other day.  I realised that I had grown up with British Musical Hall tradition tunes.  Now, being in my late thirties this may seem incongruous with a musical tradition that spanned the late Victorian and early Edwardian eras, a hey-day for absinthe.  But something triggered a long forgotten memory in my mind of spending a good part of the late seventies as a child watching ABC television on Sunday nights I believe, following a long-running BBC show called “The Good Old Days“.

For those post-Gen X, this was a somewhat gloriously hokey romp of a tv show (yea, camp even - Victorian Drag anyone ?) where the entire audience dressed up in period Victorian-Edwardian garb (today we might say old school Steampunk….) and sang along to old show tunes with the performers, often well known comedians and singers of the day, hamming it up on stage reliving the glory days of British vaudeville. Such was its popularity that it ran for 30 years.

That’s what people did before Torrent downloads of Joss Whedon shows and internet porn.

It must be said that with the meteoric Burlesque revival, the revival of Music Hall must surely not be far behind, or have a potential niche in these “new old times”.   And so it is with some delight that I stumbled across the Australian performing duo known as Bygone Error, who are making a mark in the Australian folk scene with their resurrected show tunes and bawdy British humour from these delightfully fruity times past.  Think of a musical ‘Are You Being Served?’ in a snazzy bowler & waistcoat and you’ve hit the vibe.

I think these chaps have potential to go wider than the folk scene - any promoters in the Fringe Festival or neo-burlesque milieu should go give them a listen now.  I can easily see them being an excellent support to the other revived lost vaudevillian arts now back in vogue - and to my mind the musical side has been the one component of these traditions largely overlooked with the exception of specialised cabaret chanteuses such as Meow Meow.  But there is so much more musically from this era, and I am glad for one that this dynamic duo are broadening the re-experience of entertainment history.

She’s back.

The chanteuse on the loose, noir pop-cabaret songstress Amanda Palmer, one half of the Dresden Doll duopoly, once again graces our fair shores to promote her new album, Who Killed Amanda Palmer?

With songs full of wit and woe, you get be the forensics expert and pour over her exposed brutalised entrails of emotional…I believe the term she used on JJJ today was…’wangst’. Maybe it was only ‘angst’ she said, but hey, wangst implies some degree of self-loving through self-flagellation.

And who doesn’t enjoy a tad of slap, tickle and self torment?

Already winging her away around the country - if you want to her see her on stage exposing her soul and maybe several other parts, pay close attention to the following dates:

26 & 27th February - The Studio, Sydney Opera House, Sydney

1 March - The Tivoli, Brisvegas

3 March - The Corner, Melbourne

4 March - The Gov, Adelaide

6&7 March - Fly By Night Musicians Club, Perth

10 March - The Studio, Auckland (that’s across the ditch guys…)

12 March - The Bodega Bar, Wellington

14 March - The (geographically confusing) Brisbane Hotel, Hobart (back in Australia but still over a ditch)

Want tickets? Then go you should go here.

If one were quicker off the mark, one might have tried to find out more about the slumber party she hosted in Melbourne….flannelete PJs or satin I wonder? Sigh, time for some wangsting…..

It’s Fringe Festival time in Adelaide again, and we at absinthe.com.au will be on the ground at the Garden of Unearthly Delights and other venues, bringing you some of our reviews and experiences at this month long celebration of underground entertainment.

If you haven’t downloaded the program yet, grab one now and become befuddled by the choice before you.  Not in Adelaide?  Grab a discount fare, jump on a plane and come join the frivolities.

The Opening Night Party kicks off this Friday the 27th February with a free party, parade and concert, with TZU, Fire! Santa Rosa, Fire!, The Levitators and Well Being all on the bill.

Some of the performances that have caught our eye that we will be attending include:

CW Stoneking : bluesman and raconteur, letting loose with his pot’o'jazzy jungle blues, straight outta a smokey boozy speakeasy (one with absinthe of course…)

Imogen Kelly - The Undressing Room : Not just a Queen of Burlesque, but an Artist, darling. Take a peek in her undressing room and give yourself something to confess the following Sunday….

The Kustom Kulture Weekend : Hot rods, quiffs, tatts and zombies. Everything goes better with zombies.

Die Roten Punkte : Ich bin ein Berliner! And you too can be a squishy jam donut just by attending the witty punk-pop performances of Astrid and Otto, everyones favourite eurotrash.

And that’s barely scratching the surface……

If you were that sort of soul, you could very well go out every night for the next 30 days.

If that is you, then we raise a glass of the finest jade in your honour….