Tabaran

Not Drowning Waving (well most of us) have just re-united with George Telek to perform "Tabaran" at the Sydney Festival and Womad Aotearoa.

So much riding on it. It was a lot of effort - logistics, rehearsal and energy. But so much fun. It’s a special bond that we all have together. 

The Melbourne contingent had been having on and off rehearsals for about 8 months because we had the fear about not being able to pull it off.  But as a result we came up with some new material which we will release later in the year. 

The shows were wonderful, I thought we pretty much nailed it apart from a couple of odd moments. Telek was on fire; it was loud had edge; Pius' Mambu filled the space; the visuals - drawn from old NDW clips, Mark Worth footage and A Bit Na TA - came up well; it had a strong Gunantuna feel to it. 

Johnny Phillips was awesome as always, and Rowan’s bass combined with the drums, percussion & garamuts of Russel and Ben and Emmanuel Hakalitz created a pulsating and intricate beast. Danielle Morgan was a powerful vocal presence and Alice Hurwood beautifully represented her mum, Helen Mountfort.

We feared blowing our legacy, but I think we did ourselves proud. Yes we’d love to play it elsewhere. Watch this space.

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