Renowned musician and composer Goran Bregovic filled the Adelaide Festival Theatre with music, laughter and dancing as part of this year’s Adelaide Festival. Accompanied by his Weddings & Funerals Orchestra, Bregovic played a concert which included at least five standing ovations (it was hard to keep count), 40 minutes of encores, and spontaneous dancing from hundreds of audience members.
Bregovic opened the night with a playful melody, which grew and evolved as the various members of his orchestra slowly joined him on stage. The ensemble was a sort of glorious Balkan gumbo, with ingredients including a classical string quartet, electric guitar, keyed brass, pipes and reeds, a six-part male choir, percussion and two songstresses. There were no passengers in this mix with each player getting the chance to show not just astonishing virtuosity on their instrument but also great theatricality and stage presence.
And the music called for these things. It was like hearing the soundtrack to the most lively Balkan wedding of all time. There were strands of rock and classical styles but – to the uninitiated ear – the strongest influence was that of Eastern-European Gypsy Folk. The show didn’t so much provide a taste of this style, as drop you overboard into a raging sea of tense cadences, pulsing beats and syncopated rhythms. But nobody drowned, as the music was so warm and enjoyable that you couldn’t help but swim along with the current.
Bregovic used the broad palate of sounds at his disposal with mastery. The opening number allowed each new sound to come in individually and introduce itself, gradually building to a powerful tutti. Other pieces focused entirely on just one small component, such as the string quartet. The variety seemed endless as Bregovic showed us different combinations of tone and texture.
Most memorable were those moments when the vocalists held centre stage. The male choir sang what sounded like rich, polyphonic, hymns. The sort of dense, dripping music where one note shifts the entire chord dramatically and makes you gasp. Often this chorale was joined by a female soloist, who sang with a powerful, natural tone that soared and ululated over her male counterparts. Bregovic’s ability to really focus on, and enjoy, the possibilities of each part of the group was demonstrated again and again as everybody got their moment to shine.
There were plenty of peaceful, hymn-like songs, and songs of sadness and loss. These fulfilled what Bregovic described as ‘the more funeral part of our repertoire’. They provided an excellent contrast to the bulk of upbeat songs and they were also among the most beautiful parts of the show.
However, things always found their way back to driving, joyous, dance music, usually with the entire ensemble getting involved. The performers’ enthusiasm for what they were playing was more catching than smallpox and it was not long before small groups in the audience were standing up to bop (or jump) along. Nobody will ever know how many standing ovations there actually were at this concert because by the end, there was almost nobody left sitting down to perform one.
Goran Bregovic and The Weddings & Funerals Orchestra played wonderfully, sang gorgeously, and showed a stuffy Festival audience what a real party looks like.
Rating: 5 stars out of 5
Goran Bregovic and the Weddings & Funerals Orchestra
Adelaide Festival Theatre
12 March
Adelaide Festival 2013
www.adelaidefestival.com.au
1 – 17 March
