Sunday 11/03/07 Day 3 @ WOMADelaide, Botanic Park, Adelaide

Sunday afternoon, I’m sure you’ve noticed, can manage a passable imitation of Sunday morning, especially when you’ve been dancing all hours. And so it is that we start another day of WOMADelaide with the almost entirely delicate sounds of Wu Man. The sound of the pipa is probably an acquired taste – it’s very thin in comparison to a guitar – but it’s a pleasure to watch someone who is quite clearly a master of her instrument.

The blues workshop that follows isn’t – thankfully – an opportunity for audience members to exchange their favourite old delta blues licks with their betters, but a well-informed excursion into what makes the music and why it can be heard in so many folk cultures. Dom Turner starts with an example from the Vietnamese tradition, but he might easily have invited Wu Man along: depending, of course, on the scales and techniques she used, there was plenty that sounded like the blues in her set too.

Working with Mahlathini, aka the lion of Soweto, and the Makgona Tsohle Band, Mahotella Queens have recorded some of the most joyful dance music you’re ever likely to hear. Mahlathini and two key members of the band died a few years back, but after a short retirement the Queens decided it was better to keep their music alive. The result is a fantastic collection of younger musicians (drums, bass, guitar, keyboards) fronted by three women who each have more than 40 years experience to their name. It shows in their stagecraft, and in their rich, powerful singing. Mbaqanga, their style of music, may no longer be at the cutting edge, but the performance is no less potent for that.

In years past, the All-Star Jam hasn’t always worked. There have been brave attempts that turned out to be utterly disastrous, but recently the organisers have seen the drum and the leader is now invariably a percussionist. Tonight it’s Billy Cobham, just as you’d hope after watching him in action on Saturday. After an unpromising start we’re treated to an extended section where the line-up hardly changes and the groove is ferocious. Earlier on the audience response had been muted, but when the session finally ends we erupt.