Culture

International Arts Festival Opens in Perth.

by Lazylizards | February 13, 2009 at 07:48 am

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The three-week Perth International Arts Festival has opened with a fitting memorial to victims of the Boxing Day Tsunami.

The musical event was held last evening on the bank of the River Swan. The packed audience, who had come early to stake out their seating spots on the lovely Supreme Court grounds, were welcomed by Nyoongar elders with an aboriginal dance. A grass tree was ceremoniously torched followed by the screening of Karla, a film about how fire came to the original inhabitants of the Pinjarra (Bindjareb) region, told through painting, dance and visual storytelling.

It was poignant that the festival was paying tribute to the peoples of the Indian Ocean who, five years ago, faced extreme hardships following the killer tsunami. Last week, almost 200 Australians had perished in the worst bushfires on record in Victoria, 3000 km away to the east.

Red Cross WA executive director, Steve Joske thanked the people of Perth and Australians in general for their generosity. While they had donated more than A$100 million to countries hit by the tsunami disaster, this time around, they had rallied round to help fellow Australians made homeless by the terrible fires by giving more than $75 million, and who knew what the final figure would turn out to be?

In a joyous tribute to the people of the region, the groundbreaking Laya Project brings together more than 25 international musicians, dancers and performers. This exuberant performance with music from Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia, the Maldives, Myanmar and India is accompanied by a screening of a beautiful award-winning documentary taking you on a spellbinding journey through their world.

While a few days ago summer temperatures nearly touched 40 degrees, that evening I was shivering from the unusually cool breeze which I had not prepared for, a stark reminder of the nature's upper hand over Man.

I could not wait for the evening's splendid show to end.

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