The Dreaming Festival
Patricia Adjei* attends the Dreaming Festival. First published in ART+law, September 2007.
The Dreaming Festival is held at the Woodford Folk Festival site on 8 – 11 June and celebrates Indigenous artists and performers. This year’s festival featured many different types of performances, including dance, music, theatre, comedy and film.
The dance theatre works included the evocative Koiki production with Torres Strait Islander dancers, which was produced by Gail Mabo about her father, Eddie Mabo. There was also a stirring performance by Frangipani who are Samoan dancers from New Zealand.
There was a wide range of live music acts such as festival regulars funky, reggae style Blue King Brown and the soulful voice of Emma Donovan. Other fantastic artists included the beautiful Christine Anu, Joe Geia, Archie and Ruby, Nocturnal, Dan Sultan and Street Warriors. The music ranged from hip hop to country, to soul and rock. Every music style was covered by the great range of musicians and these live music performances were always a crowd pleaser.
The Messagestick films, shown earlier this year at the Sydney Opera House, were screened during the festival. One of the films shown was a touching documentary made by a man from the ShonShone community from Nevada, USA. His documentary talked about the community’s spiritual relationship with their land and nature and discussed their respect for the land and belief that the land will provide for their people. It looked at some ancient rock paintings and hieroglyphics that his ancestors had recorded. It was amazing to see another Indigenous culture using rock art to express their understanding of nature. It is always very special to hear a fellow Indigenous person talk about their cultural beliefs and struggles.
The diversity of the festival and the fantastic performances provided a great opportunity for celebrating the high standard of Indigenous artists both in Australia and overseas.
