Continuing with colour therapy for my mood (and attitude)....
A couple of photos from a sunny walk on the Cotter Dam Discovery Trail today, with Bertie (ha, looks like we independently picked similar subjects to highlight in our posts today!)
This gorgeous beaded bookmark was made for me by a friend. I'm loving the book, Colour by Victoria Finlay (a well-chosen gift from another friend).

Taking my vitamins

I had been holding on to this wool (two balls of Lang Mille Colori) for ages. I think I bought it from the bus depot markets several years ago, and at the time I had no idea what I would make with it. Every now and then I would take it out and wonder what it would become. At some stage I realised the stripes were the sort I love to use for felting, but it's 50% wool and 50% acrylic and didn't feel like it would felt thoroughly.

It turned out that this wool really wanted to be the Shizuku scarf from the 2012 Knitting Calendar, by Angela Tong. I like the novelty of the calendar and I've tried not to peek ahead, so I can enjoy turning over the pages every few days. Most of the patterns haven't really appealed to me, but when I got to this one I left the calendar on that page for a while and kept thinking about it. It was so nutty! It's designed for Noro Kureyon, and I wonderer whether that fringe of drops would work in any other wool? (I already have one scarf made from Kureyon, and it's not the softest stuff).
 
I ended up knitting the first half twice, restarting on bigger needles, because I could see I was going to need as much length as possible. It was so quick that restarting didn't bother me much, and I was enjoying the process. Throughout the first ball, the stripe sequence never actually repeated itself. So when that hot pink appeared in the second ball, especially that extra wide stripe, I started to wonder if they really were the same colourway. Having examined the labels, I'm still only pretty sure - dyelot numbers are printed imperfectly.
 
Maybe the large section of pink is a manufacturing mistake. But I don't really mind, it's a loud and quirky scarf anyway! I'm finding it very wearable - the length is just right and the elongated triangle shape gives some bulk in the front for warmth without it being bulky all over. With all the colours it sort of goes with anything. And it makes me happy in crappy weather.
 

National folk festival

I'd been wanting to go to the National Folk Festival, which happens every Easter, practically on my doorstep for what seems like forever. But there have always been other lovely things to occupy me at Easter, and last year was the first time I actually made it, just for Saturday evening. I loved it so much that I was determined to go back this year. This Easter (yes it's a good while ago now!) I managed an evening and a couple of days, mostly wandering around by myself, and knitting while listening to lots of great bands. And aside from an unfortunate episode of food poisoning (new rule, nothing with mayo/aoli at outdoor events) it was great.   This is the Perch Creek Family Jugband. I had actually briefly seen these guys before, busking at the Old Bus Depot Markets last year (and a dear friend bought me their CD). The stringy stuff behind them is some kind of group/participatory installation. The festival organisers were calling for donations of wool before the festival and I think this is what it was for. Not sure I love it but I'm sure they had fun!   And this is the Hardrive Bluegrass Band, who were very good. Maybe it's weird to hear Australians singing in American accents, but it works. (If you like that sort of thing, which I do.)

Free Comic Book Day

I spent half of Saturday taking photos at Free Comic Book Day. The full set is here, though I can't take credit for all of them, especially the really well-composed ones! We were joined for the day by a Jedi Knight, an Imperial officer and a tall, dark and mysterious Shadowtrooper. Most kids treated him with a certain amount of awe, but most were also keen to pose for photos. (Who doesn't want a photo with a Shadowtrooper?)

This hour has gone around

This is Hoot Cardigan by Brenna Kotar.

I absolutely loved making this cardie:
- (Of course) the owl cable

- and the i-cord cast on - fiddly but worth it
- I did a good bit of the knitting of this over Easter, at the National Folk Festival. Good times!
- I added shaping to the sleeves because I preferred it that way
- I wish I had placed the buttonholes one stitch further in from the edge, I don't think they look right.

- The wool was lovely to use. I made it in an 8ply, Bendigo Woollen Mills Highlands, instead of the worsted weight it is written for. But a top-down raglan is easy to knit to whatever size you need.
- The wool had no label - it was given to me - and I only worked out after I finished that it had to be hand washed. Normally I would choose machine washable for a baby gift.

- I think I could have made it a little bit longer for this boy. (He started out so small but has grown magnificently.)

Flags, after all

I've just added a final few more photos from Womadelaide to my Flickr set. There are quite a few additional photos that didn't make it into any of the blog posts (including this one).

The happy place

There are just a few more acts I wanted to show you from last month's Womadelaide festival....

This is Narasirato from the Solomon Islands, an all-panpipes (plus singing and dancing) group. They actually had a much fuller sound than that description might suggest, as some of the big pipes are played as percussion.

I'm pretty sure those are mini panpipes on his headdress.

French group Lo'Jo were at my first Womadelaide in 2005, though they didn't even get a mention in my long, enthusiastic post. I think at the time I found them more low-key and less exciting than my big new infatuation, Les Yeux Noirs. But since then I had listened to a few Lo'Jo songs and was keen to hear more. I really loved them this time and I loved photographing them too.

I even went to their workshop in addition to their evening set, in order to take more photos. It was mid-afternoon and quite a hot day, so the audience were all in the shade. This meant that even though it was a sit-down only gig, there was heaps of space right in front of the stage where I could take photos and not block anyone's view. I got a mild sunburn for my troubles though.


One group we call came home pretty excited about was Frigg, an ensemble of young Finnish and Norwegian folk musicians. Wait, let me show you....

FOUR fiddles! Need I say more?

OK, I am quite easy to please, but not THAT undiscerning - these guys are really good. The CD was hardly out of the player for the last few weeks. Absolutely tickles my brain in the right way. (When it comes to music, I prefer to say that I like something rather than definitively 'It is good and you should think so too' - because music, like all art, speaks to different people on different wavelengths - so what makes my brain feel happy and my feet jiggle just might not work for yours, and it doesn't mean one of us is right or cleverer. Am I stating the obvious?)

Born as a strong man

The Master Drummers of Burundi used to be the official royal drummers who accompanied the kings of Burundi. They were equally entertaining to watch as to listen to. They said that traditionally the drums must take their cues from the dancers, in order to perfectly match their rhythms, and not the other way around. This is counterintuitive to me, but then I have no technical knowledge about either dance or percussion.

This was a workshop, so there was an opportunity for some people from the audience to get up on stage to try the drums. We happened to get up to leave just before the end (there must have been another show we wanted to get to on the other side of the park). As we were walking away the real drummers took the stage again and the sudden change in the noise level was tremendous - they really hit the drums hard compared to the beginners.

Chapelier Fou is a project of Louis Warynski, a classically trained violinist. He uses a combination of loops and samples to build up his music live. Very enjoyable.

Then there was Kimmo Pohjonen from Finland. I had read an article the week prior about this accordionist who was taking this much-maligned instrument and doing something new and exciting with it. I had mixed feelings about that, as (in case you haven't already picked this up) I LIKE folky accordion the way it is. I also like other harsh or somewhat discordant sounding instruments like bagpipes and harpsichord.

But this was amazing (if not necessarily something I could listen to on CD every day). Like Chapelier Fou, Pohjonen used a lot of looping of the various sounds to build up a rich soundscape. Towards the end of the show he played some pieces which were composed for some kind of event involving (farm?) machinery - according to wikipedia this is Earth Machine Music. It turns out an accordion CAN sound like an engine turning over. At least, a modified and amplified one can.

I had a great time photographing this guy - great costume, lighting and stage presence!

I don't have any good photos of Staff Benda Bilili (Look Beyond Appearances), they were great fun though with their infectious music. These musicians from Kinshasa comprise a bunch of older formerly homeless guys, working with young homeless kids, at least one of whom invented his own instrument. Oh and they get around on modified tricyles (the four original members had polio in childhood). They seem to use more conventional wheelchairs when on tour. Here are a couple of videos - this one was shot in Kinshasa and has a translation of the lyrics, and this one is more upbeat and more likely what I remember from the gig.

Turn around

I was wandering somewhere (the toilets I think) when a performance erupted right next to me. When this sort of thing happens it goes some way towards justifying all the time I spend lugging the camera around!

Ponydance come from Ireland and don't seem to take themselves too seriously, though their dance skills are genuine. They seem to like performing in unexpected places - betting shop, grocers - this video gives some idea.

The music for their performance at Womadelaide (which was listed as 'roving', so you just had to get lucky to see it) was a medley of cheesy 80's songs and the tracksuits were matching.

This lovely solo was backed by Bonnie Tyler's 'Total Eclipse of the Heart'. Of course.

Accordions!! Lots of accordions!

This is Nano Stern and his band, the Sindicato. He was one of the first artists we sought out, since I had been primed by a Chilean friend, who knows what she is talking about! During the day we attended his workshop session and in the evening his regular set. Which was very worthwhile as each was quite different. In the workshop he played folk songs and answered questions, talking about the different styles, the origins of Latin music, and some of the instruments like the charango, once made from an armadillo shell (now wood but retaining the shape). He had obviously studied and read a lot, and with a natural enthusiasm and charisma he made me want to know more.

In the evening he played more of his own music. Here is a video from that very gig. Just like being there (...just tune out a bit of talking and crowd noise).

Over the years I have been increasingly drawn the workshop sessions. They can be hit or miss, but often worth checking out because it can be a great chance to get a better insight into unfamiliar artists and styles, particularly those (like Tanya Tagaq last year) who might be a bit less accessible at first listen. I also get the chance to get up close for photos at the workshop, because it's usually on a smaller stage and not too packed.


Next, Toninho Ferragutti & Bebê Kramer, two Brazilian accordionists, each with their own style and speciality... playing together and helping to make this (even on my first day) the most accordion-enriched festival yet. Don't click here if you don't like accordion much! It almost seemed to be a theme this year - we saw and listened to multiple beautiful piano accordions, harmoniums, squeeze boxes in many variations and whatever you like to call them. Doing their squeezing thing celtic, scandinavian, latin and gypsy style. And I always say, the more violins and accordions, the happier I will be! (On the Monday I saw a group with four violins, which just topped off the bliss quotient beautifully).



I didn't get any closer shots, but in this photo, Tinariwen (minus two band members who were not able to leave Mali) have invited Lo'Jo on stage for a couple of songs. Both of these were groups I was extra keen to see, so to have them play together was super sweet. This writeup of Tinariwen at a New Zealand festival just after Womadelaide captures the atmosphere pretty well, except that it wasn't a sit down show so we could stand and gently rock/bounce to the camel gait beat. It's entrancing.


And this is Eddi Reader. She did sing 'Perfect' (her 80's hit with Fairground Attraction) which was fun, but other songs were much more interesting. I'm now really keen to hear her album of Robert Burns songs. Here she is singing My Love is Like Red Red Rose. And then a more recent performance with the same band she brought to Adelaide.

Because of a few tangential factors - the book I had just finished, her red hair, talking about her teenage sons - I was reminded of Kirsty MacColl, one of my favourite singers ever, who was killed in a nasty accident many years ago, just as she was really at the height of her career. Eddi was great, but to imagine sitting on the grass at a festival listening to Kirsty sing....that was slightly bittersweet.