It’s hard to believe the Kashmere Stage Band started out as a bunch of teenagers at high school band practice.
On Sunday night a group of accomplished musicians practically burnt down the house with their funk-drenched soul jazz set. Grinning and dancing simultaneously, bass, drumkit, bongoes, guitar, several keyboards and a huge brass section had a packed Sydney Town Hall screaming and shaking their collective booties uncontrollably.
February is Black Music Month in the United States, so being late January, this is probably why some of the Kashmere Stage Band members didn’t make it to Australia for Sydney Festival (yes, there were even more than those already listed above!) but hopefully those present could feel just how much Sydney’s huge white crowd were loving them at this gig.
The performance was one of those infectious, stupidly exciting affairs that stays in your memory long after the event; but that was only half the bill on this particular night.
The crowd met the afore-mentioned high school band members first up through an award-winning documentary, Thunder Soul, made in 2010 by director Mark Landsman. Back in the 1970s, a man passionate about music and education started a stage band for the black kids at Kashmere High School. His name was Konrad O. Johnson, affectionately known as Prof, and today a statue of him stands outside the school in honour of the amazing things which became possible because of his zeal and hard work.
More than one member of the band mentioned during the film that they felt ‘he didn’t just teach me music, he taught me to be a man’. Not that there were only boys in the band – there were plenty of girls too, and they also became more confident people by being part of it – in fact, more than one male member admitted that at first they were really only doing the whole thing for the girls.
Though the heyday of the American civil rights movement was the 1960s, it was still active in the 70s, and as one man in the band said, it made kids like them feel as if anything was possible. Black people could now receive equal footing with whites, but it was Prof’s dedication and the kids’ belief that took them through to some incredible realities.
Injecting funk into the usual tame jazz sets of most high school stage bands produced some kind of magic – Konrad O. Johnson and many members of the band talked repeatedly about this. Their live performances created a special vibe, and received roaring crowd reactions time and again over the years.
Shots of the band and choir hall today – same as it ever was at Kashmere High School – reveal a back wall laden heavy with trophies of every size and shape. Many of these were won at competitions by the original Kashmere Stage Band once the magic started snowballing. The group had their greatest success when they were invited to play in Europe – an honour which apparently in the States was the ultimate proof they were ‘real artists’.
That proof was right in front of the Sydney crowd on Sunday night. Thirty years later, without that documentary no-one would have ever guessed this explosion of funk started with a bunch of kids messing around in a band hall.
Musicologists in recent years have realised the rarity of Kashmere and put together compilations of their music, which are still available to buy. But as even Prof said, like a prophetic guru (sadly he is no longer with us) the real magic of the Kashmere Stage Band was always in the live performance.
The Sydney Festival is well known for sending good vibes through the city, so the Kashmere Stage Band was a perfect fit to the line-up. The gig was a rare chance to experience the band’s extraordinary live energy – a testament to what can happen when kids get access to creativity, freedom, and the nourishment of a dedicated guide and mentor.
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Kashmere Stage Band
Sydney Town Hall
20 January
Sydney Festival 2013
www.sydneyfestival.org.au
5 – 27 January
