My Island Home is a snapshot of modern Australian cultural excellence - a celebration of a confident nation rejoicing and showcasing the wealth of talented performers that call the earth’s largest island “home”..JPG)
It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House for the APEC Australia 2007 Gala Cultural Performance. Sydney is a truly global city with two defining icons – the world heritage listed Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Tonight’s performance provides a snapshot of modern Australia and features over 200 young performers and famous artists showcasing the very best of contemporary Australian performing arts.
The Asia-Pacific is a region that has emerged as the fastest growing and most dynamic in the world, and tonight’s performance embodies this spirit. It spans a diversity of genres, including classical and indigenous music, modern dance and musical theatre, and traditional ballet and opera.
‘My Island Home’ takes us all on a journey through a diverse programme sharing Australia’s cultural heritage with our friends from around the Asia-Pacific region.
The Hon John Howard MP
Prime Minister of Australia
So, what did our international guests enjoy last night during the APEC Australia 2007 Gala Cultural Programme?
The evening got off to a bang with conductor Andrew Greene leading the Australian Opera & Ballet Orchestra in the main title theme from the film The Man From Snowy River.
Yes, that's right - The Man From Snowy River. Isn't it astonishing that we had to travel back to 1982 to find a film worthy of playing the main theme from.
To give you some perspective, the equivalent would be the US getting the New York Symphony Orchestra to play Gandhi or ET to display their cultural might in 2007. But wait - it does get better. .JPG)
This was soon followed by, as promised, You're the Voice (1986) performed by soloist Robert Adam and an array of kids from Gondwana Voices and the Sydney Childrens Choir. The John Farnham retrospective was swiftly followed up by the 'Somewhere Medley'.
What, may you ask, is the 'Somewhere Medley'?
Well, let me tell you...
Picture, if you will, six singers (Sophie Carter, Amelia Cormack, Ben Lewis, Alexander Lewis, James Millar and Christina O'Neill) centre stage in the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall.
The lights come up on young Sophie, Amelia, Ben, Alex, James and Christina who earnestly look into the crowd. Picture if you will, the world leaders - Vladimir Putin, George Bush, Hu Jintao, Shinzo Abe, Gloria Arroyo looking back. The sextet then slowly start singing Somewhere Out There:
Somewhere out there, Beneath the pale blue night, Someone's thinking of me, And loving me tonight. Somewhere out there, Someone's saying a prayer, Then we'll find one another, In that big somewhere out there.
After polite applause they then get a little more serious and tackle that ever-faithful anthem of earnestness Over the Rainbow:
Somewhere over the rainbow, Way up high, There's a land that I heard of, Once in a lullaby.
The song trails off as the performers transport the world leaders to Oz... yes that's right Toto, to Oz!
The audience by this point must be wishing that if they click their heels they are transported somewhere... please god... anywhere! .JPG)
Which makes the power of the next song so relevant and cruelly ironic - none other than Somewhere from West Side Story:
There's a place for us, Somewhere a place for us, Peace and quiet and open air, Wait for us, Somewhere.
Let me take a short interval here by saying that this programme would have to be one of the most embarrasing elements of the entire APEC Forum. It could beat the Chaser team making their way past two security posts or even George W Bush calling APEC - OPEC and Australia - Austria or it could even beat the non-existent aspirational and non-binding climate change targets set by the forum...
To think that the staff and advisers from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet would serve this up can only be described as nothing short of bad taste that is utterly blind to the actual cultural activities in this country.
The programme was appalling. The Somewhere Medley for goodness sake! What on earth is a Somewhere Medley?
Let me be very clear about this. This programme of events must have been altered, changed and re-jigged until the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet had officially approved it and I don't think that any blame could possibly be passed onto the exceptional artists involved.
And the world leaders and delegates and international media are told by the Prime Minister that this event is 'showcasing the very best of contemporary Australian performing arts'. You may as well have given the politicians and world leaders a lagerphone and a gum leaf. Here you go Skip!
The arts industry should be furious at the department for allowing this type of event to even make it onto paper. If I was an original composer I would be most particularly concerned at the complete lack of original Australian composition used in the gala. The amount of American and European content in this production is stupefying. And this is the ASIA-PACIFIC Economic Forum. You could be forgiven for thinking behind those security fences that cultural diversity in Australia is something you only find in restaurants.
There should be complaints made by the arts industry and multicultural bodies to express worry into how our culture is portrayed by this government on an international level.
With the activities of the Australia International Cultural Council now provided with $20.4 million of funds over four years through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, I hope to god that events like last night are not the norm in how we present the very best of contemporary Australian performing arts.
Let me concede at this point that it is oh-so-thankful that Artistic Director Stuart Maunder put in a bit of Bangarra Dance, Taikoz, Australian Ballet and Opera Australia to soften the blows - otherwise the entire affair could have gone down in history as the worst concert ever staged in the Sydney Opera House.
There's a time for us, Some day a time for us, Time together, With time to spare, Time to look, Time to care, Someday, Somewhere.
We'll find a new way of living, We'll find a way of forgiving, Somewhere, There's a place for us, A time and place for us.
Hold my hand, And we're halfway there, Hold my hand, And I'll take you there, Somehow, Someday, Somewhere...
By god, we better find a way. Somehow. Someday. Somewhere. Go on, readers, hold my hand.
As published on Crikey.com
Sunday, 9 September 2007
My Island Home
Posted by Nicholas Pickard at 12:46 pm
Labels: Ballet, Dance, General Comment, International Production, Local Culture, multicultural arts, Theatre
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5 comments:
What, nothing from "Priscilla"?
Mr Pickard, you have expressed your indignation with grace, and it is hard not to agree. It is appalling. It makes the opening ceremony of the olympics look visionary. And I recall Barrie Kosky's summary of the international reception to that cultural experiment: that it was not quite as embarrassing as everyone was expecting it to be. The same cannot be said about this little fiasco...
However, I can see Howard's affinity with Johnny Farnham, who said he was retiring and then gave another concert, then another, and another...
... and his manager ended up in prison for tax evasion.
I wonder why there is not a similar penalty for governments who misappropriate our taxes. Oh, but wait. There is! It's called an election.
And I for one will be getting my money's worth on that day! If you haven't changed your details with the AEC yet, do it NOW. Under new Howard Government legislation, the polls close at midnight on the day the election is called ... and some are predicting that Howard may call a snap election after the latest Poll and the disastrous APEC meeting.
Thank you for raising Howard's (or should I say his wife Janette's) complete lack of regard for the arts in Australia.
The bell tolled for a performance to 'showcase our talent' such as this to when Howard first moved into his offices at Parliament House. No doubt acting under direction from Janette, he ordered the removal of specially designed and made furniture, by young, innovative interior designers and craftsmen working in materials like salvaged huon pine, all working to preserve the design integrity of making the Parliament House a building that would properly symbolise a future Australia - made by Australians for Australians.
What did he (or Janette) replace them with? A pile of chesterfields, seemingly transported in time from Winston Churchill's cigar-smoke filled bunker of 70 years ago. All abstract art was removed and replaced with the kind of sun-drenched nostalgic landscapes framed with heavy gold frames.
In the last 24 hours, for the first time in his 11 years, Mr Howard has admitted that his Government should focus on the future.
Frankly, that means he ought to start embracing it - something he is singularly incapable of doing.
I have it on absolutely no authority what-so-ever that the theme for the 'performance' was arrived at when the Russian President's conversation with the Chinese President was overheard. The Chinese President apparently asked Mr Putin where Moscow was in relation to Sydney. Pointing south, Mr Putin apparently replied: "Somewhere ... out there."
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