In the end it was inevitable. No obstacle was going to stop the joy that manifested when thirteen musicians from Sydney’s Music of Joy were welcomed by their Adelaide hosts and their audiences over the weekend. Cancelled flights and cyclonic swings in the weather could not stop the communion of performers, organizers and audience that took place.
The first concert was held outdoors, at Glenelg, on Saturday evening. The moment of truth came when, at the last minute, every available man, woman and child helped to lift the entire stage and move it up the hill to a more sheltered location! Soon after, the first few audience members started arriving in their Eskimo suits. They were followed by those who came to dance…and cart-wheel and welcome in the year of the rabbit. By the end, the audience had swelled and all around people came out on to their balconies as the setting sun broke through the storm clouds. Everyone wanted just one thing – to share in the joy that was being gleaned from thin air.
On Sunday morning the air was calm and the sun shone on the ABC Centre in Collinswood. For this second concert, the accompaniment came not from the fury of nature but from her stillness as the band explored the hallowed acoustical terrain it was now sharing with its audience. In the end though, it was time to celebrate the victory of joy. The floor filled with dancers; while some preferred to remain still and let their hearts do the dancing. A man in his eighties sat in the front row and played along on some small brass bells he had brought with him; his face dignified and beaming at the same time. And in that joy, we all knew it; everyone felt it. The yoga – the union – had taken place.
– Richard Kennett (Singer)