Live Review: Fairbridge Festival

As always, Folkworld’s annual Fairbridge Festival embraced a weekend of world-class music, enjoyed by young and old alike. There was something down there for everyone, including markets, magicians, craft tents and face painting, the winding path through the town consistently littered with kids busking with their instruments – with some of the less musically inclined making do with kooky dancing or homemade crafts. As usual, a plethora of musical styles were present at the festival, with, of course, a particular focus on folk, bluegrass and country from all over the world.

WA’s own Jane Germain & The Lazy Boys had anything but lazy fingers as they entertained with their charming bluegrass, even branching out to play a bluegrass gospel number, while Melbourne’s Tolka gave the crowd a healthy dose of traditional Irish tunes, having just returned from several months in Belfast recording their new album.

Soul diva Odette Mercy & Her Soul Atomics set the Hoopla stage on fire on Friday night, their dynamic and boundary-pushing set going down a treat with the packed-out crowd, while highly energetic troupe Baka Beyond had every foot in the Mandja tent up and dancing twice over the weekend, having a merry old time with their Afro-Celtic inspired tunes, an interesting mix of genres, but pulled off so seamlessly that nobody even batted an eyelid.

Misleadingly named The Bearded Gypsy Band had not a beard between them, looking hardly old enough to grow one if they tried. Not to be fooled by their youth, these guys tore up the Youthopia stage on more than one occasion, much to the delight of the underage punters at the festival, while Fairbridge virgins Nodes played their unique acoustic hip hop set with quick-lipped, funky phresh rhymes painting vivid images in the atmos, with vocalist Stella Donnelly wowing the crowd with her warm sensual voice.

Scotland’s Nuala Kennedy Band packed out every venue they played over the course of the weekend, and it’s no wonder. The Irish-born singer and flautist’s talent seemingly endless, she managed to turn the often overlooked humble whistle into a masterpiece of musicianship. Traditional Irish and Scottish tunes dominated the set, with a piece sung in the traditional Irish Gaelic language to cap it off nicely.

New band The Nullarbor Mountain Boys played a quick shootin’ bluegrass set that came at the perfect time on Saturday as everyone in Djindalux thanked the heavens they’d stayed dry in the tent during a short, sharp torrential downpour. With Andrew Winton on slide guitar and all members performing around the one microphone, each musician had their solos and their moment to shine, a really team-based way to play the set that worked oh so well. Winton’s sharp quips about his feeling under the weather had punters laughing between the furious fretwork.

Straight off the back of a world tour, the audience at Djindalux were then treated to a secret gig by Formidable Vegetable Sound System, who brought their own flavour of “permaculture dubstep” to the tent that had everyone up and boogieing like there was no tomorrow.

Male a cappella group The Spooky Men Of The West brought their atmospheric and ancient Georgian choral songs that resonated incredibly in the Chapel, a mix of the old and the ancient, along with special twists on modern classics that went down famously with the older crowd.

Canadian trio The Jessica Stewart Few brought a whole new level of unique to the festival, featuring as they did a Japanese 13-string harp and bringing it totally out of its regular context into a folk-jazz one that was unlike anything I’d ever heard but just worked. Fellow Canadians The Bombadils had Ruby’s swinging along to their set and several members of the audience shaking their heads at the flautist’s speed, culminating in a large line at their merch stand after the show.

Margaret River-cum-Melbourne’s Rowena Wise packed out the Chapel, with vocal stylings similar to that of Ingrid Michaelson and had a real Lisa Mitchell vibe about her (only better). Her sweet melodies enchanted the crowd and her cover of Joni Mitchell’s River was spine-tingling. Her magpie impersonation was none too shabby either. Older sis Lucy played in the Lucy Wise Trio and it was obvious that talent runs in the family, as her slightly more soulful set was equally brilliant.

Together for a session as Banjo Balladeers on Saturday afternoon were alt-folk creamy vanilla-voiced John Flanagan, playing what I can only describe as “grunge banjo”, recently nominated for a WAM award Harry Jakamarra and none other than banjo great Ian Simpson for an hour of banjo appreciation and just plain old rocking out (mostly on the fly) together – and it was finger-pickin’ good.

Sweet and charming, All Our Exes Live in Texas were a festival highlight. Having hosted a vocal workshop on Saturday morning, they invited everyone in the audience to take part in a “Love Actually” moment and stand up in the Chapel to join in with the music. Soaring vocal harmonies, tight melodies, an accordion and a set peppered by the girls’ random audience banter left the audience in total adoration, with a standing ovation given to them – and rightly so.

The constant on-and-off drizzle saw many Melbourne performers joking about bringing the indecisive weather along with them, but the rain did little to dampen the spirits of everyone involved, despite giving the sound and lighting engineers more than a little grief over the weekend as several locations sporadically lost power, leaving a few musicians to briefly carry on acoustically. A fun-filled, chilled-out and very muddy weekend was had by all, with everyone ready for a shower, sleep and countdown to next year. It seems the Fairbridge Folk & World Music Festival is gaining more and more momentum as the years go by.