Friday 9 April 2010

Friday Flaneur (7) - Four Winds Music Festival

The dark clouds were upon us quickly, and as the Gregorian Chanters were only partly into their bracket, the skies opened and the tumult descended upon us. What use now the thin ponchos, what use now the oversized brollies? Blue tarpaulins floated upon waterlogged terraces. Drowned faces peered out from beneath flimsy shelters, a mixture of wistfulness and guilty pleasure writ large. What did Janis Ian sing ‘Take me walking in the rain’?

From the performance shell, the heroics of the audience – their audience! – moved them to tears. A mexican-wave of brollies had flowed down the amphitheatre, but no-one left the terraces until the torrent had subsided and Genevieve declared a respite. Like many others, I headed for the 44-gallon drums of burning logs scattered across the hillside, valiantly endeavouring to dry a soggy body. Equilibrium restored, chant one more resounded up the valley.

As a flaneur, it is not my wish to review the programming or the performances, suffice to say that I have already booked accommodation for 2012. It is the sounds, the smells, the people, the idiosyncracies that come together to make this festival unique in the pantheon. Older gentlemen, with flowing beards and brown corduroy trousers held up by a belt, stockman’s hat perched on their thinning pate. Gentlewomen with padded hips and a befuddlement of dress, huddled together gossiping softly as only women of-a-certain-age know how. Hale fellow well met, to the right of me, g'day mate to the left.

Easter Sunday dawned soft and clear, as a glorious blue seeped high into the sky, above the paddocks, above the lilies in their pond, above the swooping eastern rosellas, above the spotted gums. God was in his heaven, and the conductor tapped the podium.


Four Winds Music Festival, Bermagui, Easter 2010

19 comments:

Piyush Garyali said...

Lovely portraits Julie !

Unknown said...

I enjoyed your prose this morning. You do know how to make the best of a rainy Sunday. And lovely photos too.

brattcat said...

Oh, Julie, I think you ought to take this time you've discovered to write, write, write. Your prose today is absolutely top notch. As is your photography.

Lois said...

After reading your prose, I wish I could go to the next one!

Gunn said...

I like the top photo the best.

Clytie said...

Beautifully photographed, beautifully written. You make an excellent Flaneur!

TheChieftess said...

Love the top photo!!!

Eleonora Baldwin said...

Your splendid prose matches the striking images to perfection.

Ciao
Eleonora xx

Unknown said...

The images you have captured are stunning. I love the crowd, the stage, with the clouds... and I love the visualizations of the words with the iamges... I felt like I was there.

Ann said...

NOw we're talking. Been waiting for these. You haven't lost your touch with the portraits but you do things with words that I can't even dream of.

Marka said...

I like that you've included a photo of crocheting.

Debbie Courson Smith said...

Cheers to a good time.

Jim said...

Sounds like a great festival.
Sydney – City and Suburbs

bitingmidge said...

And here was I thinking artificial flaneur was a flavouring in a fizzy drink!

I've loved this past week.

Sunshine Coast Daily Photo - Australia

Rinkly Rimes said...

A glorious slice of Australiana!

Anonymous said...

It is a very pretty spot and it looks so fresh. Maybe because of the rain.

diane b said...

It sounds like you had a good time despite the rain. Your photos and prose paint an excellent picture of your weekend. A fabulous post.

Bill said...

Looks like it was a great event with the odd glass of claret flowing and a spot of rain couldn't dampen the enthusiasm.

Joan Elizabeth said...

I so associate with the gentlewomen with padded hips and a befuddlement of dress and the one doing crotchet at the bottom.