Opening day of Sydney Festival 2010 had all kinds of interesting contrasts. There was an Austin, Texas ska group whose frontman spoke in cowboy and sang in Rasta. A Japanese jazz funk squad who swung like they were born in New Orleans. The bagpipe marching band that battled a jazz orchestra for bragging rights. And DJs who mashed eastern vocals, European house, and US hip-hop. But the most impressive performance was the most traditional. The Manganiyar Seduction, who hailed from India, played on a massive on-stage display that seated 36 vocal, string, percussion, and wind instrument musicians who sat on top of one another in four rows and nine columns of illuminated man-sized squares. They also blew me and my company away in the process, musically and visually. If you can go see them live when they are in your neighborhood. You can find them with a search on YouTube, but the videos don't do them must justice. If you can, look for their touring schedule see them live at a festival near you.
http://roystenabel.com/manganiyar.html
