Live Review: Electric Fields, Bortier Okoe, Hummingbird

Celebrating their debut EP, INMA, Indigenous, electronic Adelaide duo Electric Fields were putting on a big show at Jive as part of Umbrella Winter City Sounds. The streets of Adelaide were slightly empty on a breezy July night but dozens of people braved the cold in the hope of seeing some funky live music and perhaps engage in a spot of dancing to shake away the chills.

Hummingbird were the first act of the night and opened with a soft and beautiful set that sent toasty warm fuzzies to our cold, dark hearts. Elena Nees' melancholic singing and Arthur Miles' quietly strumming on the electric guitar perfectly summed up our winter feelings of sadness. The bandroom started to feel warmer as audience numbers started to increase; it could be that there was more body heat being generated, or that the heater was being cranked up, or the warm fuzzies for Hummingbird had really gotten out of control.

Things were only starting to heat up though. After a short intermission to change the stage set-up, Bortier Okoe was on stage with a full band. The African soul luminary played traditional drums while singing in his native language. The band was in unison, wearing matching coloured pants and jamming along to the drumming of the singer. Bortier encouraged everyone to get up and "shake it" and of course, the crowd obeyed.

Electric Fields opened their set with a few tech difficulties so for the better part of the first song, vocalist Zaachariaha Fielding sang a cappella while producer Michael Ross pushed a few buttons to make some eerie background noise. The lights were turned down and their didgeridoo player played for a few minutes to an awestruck, silent crowd. Before long, things were in their place and Shade Away was energetically performed with all the trimmings. While it was a short set, a highlight from this was the sharing of indigenous culture and stories through the pairing of fiercely sung traditional language of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara people with an upbeat, pop-orientated production. The duo gave their thanks to the crowd and named a bunch of their supporters before closing off on another powerful ballad while the audience danced on.

Soul-brother Oisima was on the decks to ease the folks into the night, although his funky DJ set was mainly to calm us down from the Electric Fields strobe light showcase, which definitely took the audience by surprise.