Sunday 09/03/08 Day 3 @ WOMADelaide, Botanic Park, Adelaide

Jazz has never been a huge part of WOMADelaide, but Billy Cobham, one of the world’s finest drummers, seems intent on making up for that. Last year he played a fascinating solo set; this time he presents his septet, which features bass, guitar and keyboards along with a three-piece horn section (trombone, sax and trumpet). Cobham first made his name with jazz fusion, one of those genres that has had a bad press in certain quarters, and has often deserved to. While his septet nods very firmly in that direction, they’re generally tight and direct and avoid any but the slightest hints of the old noodling excess. Right at the start the bass player lays down an enormous groove, and it’s obvious then that we’re going to get a brilliant performance, delivering music that engages both the body and the brain. At times, however, everything can be just a little too smooth. When the full band is playing together the tonality – and feeling – of individual instruments can be lost. Heather, one of Cobham’s earlier compositions, is introduced as being about the atom bombs in Japan, but, in certain sections, sounds as if it was written as lift muzak. It’s also a long and hugely ambitious piece of music, and at its best it’s truly beautiful. When Cobham takes a solo it’s debatable that it adds anything to the composition, but it proves beyond any doubt that a great drummer can go beyond keeping time into expressing emotion.

Mamadou Diabate promises a set of mainly traditional kora pieces, many taught to him by his father and some by his cousin, Toumani, who headlined on Saturday night with his Symmetric Orchestra. Though Mamadou has moved to the US while Toumani still lives in Mali, on the evidence here it’s Mamadou who takes the more traditional approach to the music, and he openly credits his cousin with bringing a new, more improvised style of playing to the instrument. That aside, it would be a brave listener who made an unequivocal call on one being better than the other. And there’s one thing they certainly have in common with their solo work: the moment you close your eyes, your ears cease to believe that there’s only one musician playing. But the real highlight comes when Toumani joins Mamadou on stage for the last two numbers, immediately making it clear that the respect runs both ways. Though Mamadou trained with Toumani, this is billed as the first time that they’ve played together. Something is said to the effect that they didn’t have time to rehearse, choosing to talk about family matters instead. Once again, it’s barely believable. Both play more simply than they would on their own, but the interplay between them is breathtaking. During their second number (which opens and closes with a quote from a spaghetti western) they’re freely trading licks and finishing each other’s runs. When they finish, there’s not a moment’s hesitation from the crowd: we’re on our feet immediately to give them a lengthy standing ovation. We all know that we’ve just seen something really special.

After a few years when the All Star Gala has been one of the highlights of the weekend, tonight’s performance is better described as a disjointed disappointment, albeit one with some wonderful interludes. Tonight’s event was pulled together by Don McGlashan (most famously of New Zealand band The Mutton Birds), but it turns out that The Joji Hirota Trio are at the centre of most of the highlights, providing a useful and very solid anchor with their taiko drumming. Victor Valdes and The Real Mexico Mariachi Band, all the way from Sydney, represent one of Womad’s less heard genres, and they immediately divide their audience in two. There are those who love them already, from their earlier performances, and there are those of us who are kicking ourselves for missing them. The scheduled climax comes when McGlashan returns with a huge band, approximately 30 strong, to run through the old Hunters & Collectors hit, 'Throw Your Arms Around Me'. Some sing along; others cringe.

Thankfully though, the eagle-eyed stage MC (Lucky Oceans) had noticed earlier that Farafina were watching The Joji Hirota Trio with undisguised admiration, and gets both groups out on stage for an unplanned encore. That it starts so badly only adds to the beauty of what happens next. The leader of Farafina knows far better than anyone that something isn’t quite working, and gestures for his drummers not to stop playing, but to start listening. A little later they find a rhythm they can share, and suddenly, perhaps for the first time, there’s an Afro-Japanese collaboration that surpasses what either group did on it’s own. Moments like these, of course, are what make WOMADelaide such a magical – and important – event.