On Wednesday 14th August members of the Music of Joy group traveled to North Queensland to perform at the Townsville Cultural Festival. The next day they traveled on a ferry to Magnetic Island, a little way from the coast for a picnic and sight seeing. It is a lovely island with little beaches all around it and interesting rock formations. One large rock looked exactly like an elephant lying on the sand!
That night the rest of the group arrived and plenty of music was joyfully played in anticipation of the performances the next day.
The Townsville Cultural Festival was held in a park on the sea shore – Magnetic Island could be clearly seen off shore. Not far from the festival grounds was a huge bare rocky monolithic hill called Castle Mountain. It looked very ancient and helped to give the area a very special atmosphere.
The festival was a family friendly event with no alcohol or smoking on site and it was wonderful to walk around with people from so many different cultures all obviously enjoying themselves. The acts included all ages, from tiny children to the seniors. There was a lot of dancing and plenty of singing, some of the singers enthralling the crowds with their own compositions. There were many food stalls show-casing food from various countries around the world. Also there were craft stalls and it was great to watch people weaving sturdy hats or bags from leaves.
Music of Joy played to morning and afternoon crowds over the next few days on different stages and also at the Sahaja Yoga meditation tent. Many audience members could be seen dancing and moving in time to the music. After the performances some interested people came to talk to the band members and ask if there were cds for sale. Luckily the new Music of Joy cd was available for them. There were a pleasing number of people who also wanted to discover more about meditation and had the opportunity to experience this in the tent.
At night, back at their accommodation, Music of Joy continued to play music well into the night., living up to their name.