Festival Blues

One of the things that Sydney, and its people, pride itself on is it liveability. At this time of the year every weekend there are all manner of festivals and activities for people to get involved in as the weather hottens up and people lose interest in doing anything other than having fun.

This weekend, Sunday to be precise, I had the pleasure of experiencing two very different festivals - The Spanish Quarter Festival and the Newtown Festival.

Spanish Festival
Sydney is a real multicultural city with different ethic and cultural districts representing different ethnicities. The Spanish Quarter lays at the back, or bottom end, of the city immediately adjacent to the Chinese Quarter. Approaching the area the place was buzzing with people and the sounds of Latin American drums and Salsa music resonated throughout the streets nearby. As we approached you could see thousands of red, yellow and orange colour circular flags flying or to be more precise dangling from the lamp-posts throughout the streets. Stalls lined the alleyways and streets which had been closed selling all manner of Spanish food as well as pizzas and hot dogs which I found really peculiar! One could have been forgiven for believing you was in Spain as walking through the densely packed streets was liking stepping into the heart of Spain itself. The sound of the Spanish language echoed through the streets. Spanish and Latin Americans artists on two stages entertained the crowds. One stage had a two different drummers playing in sync with a dancer who wore tap shoes in what must have been a tiring performance. However, the syncronisation and expertise was phenonmenal. On the other stage a Spanish band played salsa and Spanish themed rock music.

Two Spanish looking ladies on stilts dressed in Spanish costumes with what looks a million different colours walked between the two stages rattling their hand instruments as they walked whilst stopping occasionally to pose with tourists and locals who wanted their photos. What also amused me was that people seemed to have bought their deck chairs with them and sat quit happy and entertained between both stages. Along the side of the streets closed if you looked up above the flying colours you could see people hanging out on the balconies and relaxing. It was in many ways the way one could imagine a festival being held in the small streets and closed streets of a typical Spanish city.

Newton Festival
The other festival which was being held was the Newton Festival which was near where I am staying in Newtown. Newtown is a fascinating place. Its an area which feels like it really belongs back in the 1960s. Signs dangle from every shops advertising everything from tattoes to cosmetic products to book stores. Its also a very very liberal place with a large gay community, especially lesbian. The festival reflected this outlook.

The festival was held down the back streets of the area in the grounds of a park and childrens play field the festival was U-Shape in design. You could have been forgiven for missing it had it not been the sheer number of people heading in the direction of the festival. At its peak their was thousands of people packed into a relatively small area with little room to move or think for that matter. it reminded me a great deal of the Glastonbury as it had a hugely diverse range of people attending. Families walked with their young kids, next to hippys, goths, punks, members of the gay community and a range of other people. What made me chuckle was this big buch man walking his pet ball-terrier which was dressed in the yellow and green colours of the Australian colours!!! Very amusing sight indeed!

A spectacular range of stalls lined the festival walk ways selling everything from soap and messages through to herbal remedies, hippy cloths and my favourite bird calling machines!!! I also found the Tibetan Australian Council stand next to the Republican stand highly amusing and asked them to provide me with some material on what they believed in. What interested me was that you would have expected the stand to be maned by mainly young people rather than elderly people who you would assume would be more opposite. On the contrary in this case as predominantely elederly grannies wearing 'Australia should be a republic' badges and hats stood proudly handing out information!

The festival had three stages playing different music styles. Ranging from rock and punk music through to prose and a childrens stage the choice was surprisingly wide ranging. Their was even a Writers Zoon and Eco Tent on sight!

Whitlam Dismissal Anniversary
Last Wednesday was also the 30th anniversary of the Whitlam government being dismissed by the Governor General, which is still something which upsets many Australians and causes heated debates between people. Essentially what happened, I think, is that the Government was unable to get any legislation through the Senate which was controlled by the opposition Liberal party. This prompted the Governor General, who is essentially the representative of the Queen and a kind of President to dismiss the Government and Whitlam. The debate which ranges to this day is whether the Governor General had the right or authority to take this action.