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One of the beautiful things about a festival as large and varied as Bluesfest is that the discovery of something new and exciting, at least for the listener, waits around every corner. For this reviewer, Canadian First Nations singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie was the jewel of this year’s hidden treasures.
Already familiar with her 60s hit Universal Soldier and the rocking Bury My Heart at |
Wounded Knee, as well as her Academy Award winning effort Up Where We Belong (who isn’t?), it was a pleasure to become acquainted with the other varied dimensions of her 40 plus year repertoire, and to experience the woman behind the music.
Continue reading Bluesfest 2011 – Day Six, Featuring: Bob Dylan, Gurrumul, Paul Kelly and Buffy Sainte-Marie. – Live Review
Monday was another delightful mix of new discoveries and big names, with a good dose of puppetry and performance art thrown in.
It was Easter Sunday, the sun was shining over Bluesfest and the Crossroads tent was gearing up to celebrate with a solid block of gospel, soul and blues, kicked off by the enigmatic, effervescent powerhouse Mavis Staples and Her Band.
Despite dismal forecasts, the weather held out for music lovers as they descended onto the Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm in Byron Bay, the new site for Australia’s premiere Blues and Roots Music Festival. Now extended to cover six days, campers and eager punters slowly edged their way into the grounds, with staff and volunteers doing their best to ensure that parking, setup and entry was relatively painless. The wet grounds were eclipsed by the buzz of excitement, a busy energy punctuating the usually laidback Byron feel. 
The show begins before we’ve even entered the room. An usher approaches, explaining that to gain admission, tickets are not enough. We’ll need to remove our shoes and any socks and crowd into the shopfront’s store room, leaving behind our footwear. As compensation we will be given a small torch. Crammed into the dark room with forty other people and their exposed feet, we wait for the show to begin.