Latest news with #WOMADelaide
ABC News
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Chris Kamu'ana Rohoimae's family musical legacy documented in 'A Song For My Father'
When his father passed away, Chris Kamu'ana Rohoimae, a renowned panpipe player from Are'Are in the Solomon Islands was left with more than just memories - he was left with a song. The track 'Naratana Manu' made Chris the winner of Pacific Break 2024, a music competition which propelled him to the international stage. Premiering on ABC Australia this Sunday 13 July is 'A Song For My Father' - a documentary which captures the artist's musical journey as he prepares for the biggest performance of his life at WOMADelaide. Chris joined us this morning on the show from the Solomon Islands to share how his music has been going since winning the competition. Also in the program, we caught up with PNG reporter Scott Waide, our Pacific sports reporter Patricia Keamo, and reviewed the 2022 documentary 'Ontong Java: A Disappearing Paradise in Solomon Islands' with Stephanie Bandi for Reel Talk.
ABC News
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Pacific Break 2025 launches for first time in Samoa!
Entries are open for the Pacific's biggest music competition, ABC Radio Australia's Pacific Break which launched in Samoa last weekend with a huge, live concert at Friendship Park, Apia. Thousands of fans enjoyed performances from local Samoan favourites Mr Cowboy and Tofaga Meke as well as Pacific Break past winners Chris Kamu'ana Rohoimae (Solomon Islands), JuBen (Fiji) and Danielle (Papua New Guinea). Samoan hip hop icon Mr Tee also made a surprise appearance, getting the crowds jumping early in the night. On the main stage, ABC Radio Australia's Nesia Daily presenters Jacob McQuire and Michael Chow joined forces to MC with homegrown Samoan hero Young Sefa to keep the crowd laughing through the night. The concert was produced in partnership with the Samoa Tourism Authority and recorded for broadcast on ABC Radio Australia and ABC Australia television. ENTRIES ARE NOW OPEN FOR PACIFIC BREAK 2025 The launch concert in Apia kicks off a two-month search to uncover the Pacific and Timor-Leste's best original talent. Entries are now open until midnight Monday 25 August 2025. Pacific Break's top prize is an all-expenses-paid trip to perform in 2026 at WOMADelaide – Australia's largest international music, arts, and dance festival. The winning artist or group will be revealed on ABC Radio Australia's daily morning program Nesia Daily on Wednesday 16 October 2025. The judging panel for this year sees PNG-born Australian musician Ngaiire rejoin the team with ABC Radio Australia music presenters Hau Lātūkefu ( In The Fale ) and Sose Fuamoli ( Sista Sounds and On The Record ), WOMADelaide Associate director Annette Tripodi, along with new judge Joji Malani, Fijian-born musician and solo artist of Gang of Youths fame. For more information about Pacific Break 2025 judging panel, click here. HOW TO ENTER Submit your original track(s) in one of three ways; 1. Complete the Online Entry Form, available here. 2. Get in touch with our Pacific Break team via WhatsApp (+61 447 310 986) and send through your songs and info. 3. Send an email with all your details to pacificbreak@ including your music files as an attachment. For more information about Pacific Break, including competition details and terms and conditions, visit For all media enquiries, contact: Annalise Ramponi, Marketing and Communications Coordinator, ABC International We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn and work.
ABC News
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Nude art landed these French performers in an Adelaide prison. Three decades later, they tried again
Naked and brightly coloured, last time Ilotopie came to Adelaide they were locked up. ( ABC Arts: Eloise Fuss ) Naked, brightly painted figures meander through the Adelaide Botanic Gardens during the annual WOMADelaide festival. It's an oven-like 37 degrees, and the figures are sticky and wet, their skin glistening. They appear nonchalant despite the heat — though the sensation seems surely uncomfortable. Adelaide artist John likens the feeling of being covered in paint to having "snotty ink all over your body". It's like "being covered in the thickest sweat in every crevice of my body", another Adelaide artist, Daria, says. "Like being licked by the monster with the stickiest saliva." Daria is performing for the first time with French artists Ilotopie, pioneers of street theatre and pros at performing in wet paint. "My colour was blue, and so absorbent of heat that my head felt like an oven," they say. Daria, who has 60 tattoos, says being painted from head to toe was to see "my body completely transformed". Ilotopie invited some local Australian artists to join in their final-day WOMAD performance. ( Image: Samuel Graves ) But these local participants are taking it in their multicoloured stride. It's a rare chance to join the famed French company. For decades, Ilotopie has performed Les Gens de Couleur (People of Colour) around the world — turning bodies into vibrant, living sculptures that create surreal, imaginative scenes in everyday spaces. Artistic director Bruno Schnebelin, who has been doing street performance for 50 years, describes the work as a performance "in the middle of the audience". Among spontaneously forming crowds, "we just exist", he says. An Ilotopie performer casually poses under a tree at WOMADelaide. ( Image: Samuel Graves ) Curious children dart playfully around the figures. Smiling adults hold up their phones. The audience is ready and receptive to the striking nude presence. But 33 years ago, when Ilotopie last performed this same work in the centre of Adelaide, in 1992, the reception was very different. It led to arrests, a furious arts minister, protests about public-nudity laws and public outrage. Schnebelin was there then, too. "It's a good story," he says, smirking. Wrong kind of drama WOMADelaide director Ian Scobie was general manager at the Adelaide Festival in 1992. He never imagined bailing artists out of jail being part of the gig. And yet ... On March 10 of that year, as part of the festival, two Ilotopie performers stepped onto North Terrace, in the heart of Adelaide city, naked and painted. Drama, and not the artistic type, ensued. "I was stunned and embarrassed that such a parochial thing could happen," Scobie says, recalling the scandal that followed. Media reports say police received two complaints about the topless performers and, under public-decency laws, arrested the artists on the street, mid-performance. "Police officers intervened, arguing that they had received a complaint, which was never clarified … There was a stage manager saying, 'No, no, no, this is part of the Adelaide Festival,' and they wouldn't hear anything," Scobie says. Schnebelin escaped arrest because not all the troupe was painted up and performing at the time. But he recounts how police "really strongly" arrested his colleagues — he says one artist even had their teeth broken. "It was a very brutal approach — and careless," Scobie says. "It was obvious this was a performance. Festival staff tried to intervene … but the SAPOL [South Australia Police] individuals had made up their mind to assert themselves, and the rest, as they say, is history." Front page of The Advertiser, March 11, 1992. ( Supplied ) French performer Myriam Prijent (painted red) was charged with offensive behaviour. Fellow artist Raymond Blard (coated green) was charged with hindering police, resisting arrest and property damage — due to his green paint coming off on an officer's clothes. Like a scene from a dark comedy, the performers remained naked and slippery with paint, "sliding around the van" on the way to the police station, Scobie says. "Police added to their complaints that they [Prijent and Blard] caused damage to the police vehicle because of the paint. "They damaged the police uniform because, when they went to restrain them, they were covered in paint, so it got on the officer's clothes. "You couldn't write about it, really, could you?" When Scobie got the call about the arrests, he had to personally go to the "lock-up", the city watch house, cash in hand, to bail out the international artists. "I had to … formally pay bail to have them discharged. "And of course, they were dressed in colour, nothing else … they weren't treated very well." While the complaint to police wasn't followed up, the incident led then-arts minister Diana Laidlaw to push for legislation change so that something like this couldn't happen again. A clipping from Adelaide newspaper The News, March 11, 1992. ( Supplied ) "The legislation, which was a particular clause under which the police arrested the artists, related to a woman's breasts being bare in the city," Scobie explains. "And so, thanks to Ilotopie, that law was removed in 1992 … and the government apologised to the company and to the French ambassador. Front page of The Advertiser, March 1992. ( Supplied ) "It was a big scandal and an embarrassment for the city," Scobie says. "It is an amazing story; you wouldn't believe it." WOMADelaide director Ian Scobie reunites with Schnebelin, who was in Adelaide with Ilotopie for their 1992 performance. ( ABC Arts: Eloise Fuss ) The invitation to perform at WOMADelaide marks Ilotopie's first return to Adelaide since that event more than 30 years ago. Scobie insists that bringing them back wasn't an act of redemption; simply, it's "still an amazing show". "The curiosity and the performance … it's reflecting how we are as human beings." During performances Ilotopie members humorously gravitate to objects that share their own paint hue. ( Image: Samuel Graves ) Without any speech or explanation, Ilotopie performs a scene of publicly washing paint off performers' bodies. ( Image: Samuel Graves ) And so, more than three decades on from the 1992 arrests, Ilotopie artists are back in Adelaide. In a white tent backstage, Ilotopie's general manager Julien Bonelli maps out today's route with a WOMAD organiser — a general framework of where their meandering performance will start and end. Pre-performance, Ilotopie General Manager Julien Bonelli goes through the day's WOMAD performance route with an event employee. ( ABC Arts: Eloise Fuss ) Viewing a map of the WOMADelaide festival grounds. ( ABC Arts: Eloise Fuss ) Fingers dip into colourful tubs labelled in French as the group's seven artists coat themselves in a gloopy mixture of glycerine and natural pigment. "Every day we change colours," Bonelli explains. "We are proud to wear [these] colours." For Bonelli, the different colours represent diversity, and its power to "make the world great". "It's a really great sensation … we are totally nude but when you've coloured yourself, it's like you wear something, and it doesn't matter what the people think," Bonelli says. ( ABC Arts: Eloise Fuss ) Performing over four days, the team's work on the day ABC Arts follows them is slightly different from three decades ago and from the rest of the 2025 performance — they're exchanging an array of colours for a uniform pink. Artists lather paint all over their bodies, preparing for their all-pink performance. ( ABC Arts: Eloise Fuss ) Ilotopie performers become expert at quickly applying the paint to their whole body. ( ABC Arts: Eloise Fuss ) It's just shoes and g-strings that are worn by the performers — in hues that match the colour they are painted. ( ABC Arts: Eloise Fuss ) While the multi-coloured performances celebrate diversity, the all-pink performance is designed to raise questions about what happens when diversity isn't embraced. "Maybe society at the moment [is too focused on] uniformity," Bonelli says. He says Ilotopie performers want to "question the audience"; to prompt them to be curious. For most of the performance, performers roam around — curious, calm and playful. The paint remains sticky and wet on the body during the performance. ( ABC Arts: Eloise Fuss ) An Ilotopie performer swaggers among festival-goers. ( ABC Arts: Eloise Fuss ) The French artists move through spaces without speaking, sparking all sorts of curious responses from festival-goers. ( ABC Arts: Eloise Fuss ) The troupe aims to spread joy and encourage acceptance of differences through their performances. ( ABC Arts: Eloise Fuss ) But once they reach the far end of the park, Schnebelen, painted in white, gathers the group and loads them into an encaged trailer — looking forlorn as they drive away. "It's just [an] image," he says, rather than an "act of politique". "We don't want to be political. It's not our goal. "We just like to interact in daily life of the people; we don't have any answer, we don't get the truth. We just want to question people. "If people start questioning, it's a good beginning." Ilotopie performers are loaded into a trailer without explanation — designed to spark questions about possible meanings. ( Image: Samuel Graves ) The work brings to mind Mike Parr's idea about Russian artist Kasimir Malevich's famous Black Square painting — a blank canvas, it allows the audience to fill it with their own meaning. Here, the trailer sparks all sorts of conversations among the crowd. One attendee muses, "I'm wondering if it's a statement about othering, that they are encaged." Her sister observes, "They looked like pigs, and it was about not eating animals and caging animals." Another festival goer, holding up their phone and filming, says in the work's wake: "I thought it might have been something about refugees, like being taken away somewhere. "I don't know what it's about, but it makes you think, doesn't it?" Another observer shows me a picture on her phone of her with a performer, taken during yesterday's technicolour and collarless performance. "Absolutely fantastic," she gushes. "The colour of them and bravery with the body. They don't care what their body looks like. I wish I could do that." A long-time WOMAD attendee shows off her picture taken with a performer, gushing about the performance. ( ABC Arts: Eloise Fuss ) Schnebelen, who has spent 50 years performing in 65 countries, says taking art out of the theatre or gallery and into the streets is "the best". He says in France there is a lot of art, but only a small percentage of the population engages with it. "So, when you're in the street, you catch the daily life of the people, everybody can see you. "We're [all] the same, just normal people," Schnebelen says. Ian Scobie adds: "It starts a conversation, makes people think, and the human form is a beautiful thing." Ilotopie performers move through the Adelaide Botanic Garden, the site of WOMADelaide. ( Image: Samuel Graves ) Free the nipple? Ilotopie performed in Adelaide this time without any arrests. Does that mean society's views on women's breasts and nipples being publicly exposed have changed? Daria, a local artist who painted up and performed, says it's not that simple. When they learnt about the group's former arrests, the story resonated. "I hadn't heard until the induction on Friday, and I felt really drawn to that as someone who doesn't have breasts or nipples because I had gender-affirming top surgery," they say. Daria in blue, together with fellow local artist John (red) and Ilotopie general manager Julien Bonelli (green). ( ABC Arts: Eloise Fuss ) In their own experience, women's nipples in particular remain a very loaded body part. "[That] I don't have nipples really spins people out when they hear it," Daria says. "I thought about the women who aren't allowed to show their breasts in public. These body parts get defined either by their functional use or are sexualised … it's just a part of the body, but it is heavily gendered. "Being reduced to a problematic body part forces you to ask: Why is it a problem? Why is it confronting? It just shows where society's still at with that conversation." For Daria, participating in this work is a chance to educate the public on trans bodies and identity. Daria's tattoos begin to reappear as they wash off the blue paint. ( ABC Arts: Eloise Fuss ) "I'm so used to being reduced to my body for identity. "But it's an important conversation — why does the breast matter? "Why do our bodies matter?" "It's a beautiful practice, bearing it all before a huge crowd at WOMAD," Daria says. Performing "felt really liberating and lovely". Fellow participant John also enjoyed the experience. "It was great for me — walking around and seeing people's bewilderment and joy. So many were smiling and curious; yes, some were a bit afraid or confused, but the overall feeling was one of pure joy." Ilotopie performers finish their final 2025 performance in Adelaide — without arrests this time. ( Image: Samuel Graves ) Credits: Reporting and photography: Eloise Fuss Additional photography: Samuel Graves Digital production: Eloise Fuss and Anna Kelsey-Sugg Editing: Anna Kelsey-Sugg
ABC News
24-06-2025
- Science
- ABC News
Adapt or collapse – can we meet the moment of environmental peril
Do humans really have what it takes to change our lives – our world – to arrest climate collapse? It might be the defining question we face as a society, and the panellists from this WOMADelaide Festival discussion are throwing everything they've got at this intractable issue, drawing on knowledge from the oldest continuing culture in the world and the fields of architecture, urban planning and of course, community organising to avoid collapse. This episode was recorded live at the annual 2025 WOMADelaide festival, produced and presented as part of their Planet Talks program, held on the traditional lands of the Kuarna people. Speakers Bhiamie Williamson Leader of the National Indigenous Disaster Resilience research program and a senior lecturer at Monash University Elizabeth Mossop Dean of the UTS School of Design, Architecture and Building Emma Bacon Founder and Executive Director of Sweltering Cities Julia Lester Former ABC journalist and broadcaster (host)
ABC News
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- ABC News
ABC Radio Australia's Pacific Break returns in 2025
ABC Radio Australia's Pacific Break, the Pacific's biggest music competition, is back for 2025. From Friday 27 June 2025, the search begins to discover the Pacific and Timor Leste's best original artist. The winner will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to perform at WOMADelaide, Australia's biggest international music, arts and dance festival. This year, Pacific Break launches for the first time in Samoa with a free, star-studded concert at iconic Friendship Park in downtown Apia. On the line-up are Pacific music's biggest names including Pacific Break past winners Chris Rohoimae (2024, Solomon Islands), Ju Ben (2023, Fiji) and Danielle (2022, Papua New Guinea) and Samoan superstars, country music icon Mr Cowboy and soulful vocal queen Tofaga Meke. Pacific Break's 2025 judges have also been announced, with Australian-based Fijian artist and label head Joji Malani joining returning judges PNG-born Australian neo soul diva Ngaiire, WOMADelaide Associate Director Annette Tripodi, and ABC Radio Australia music presenters, Hau Lātūkefu ( In The Fale ) and Sose Fuamoli ( Sista Sounds and On The Record ). According to Malani, "Pacific Break has played an important role in showcasing talent from across the Pacific in a way no other competition has done before. There is a unique sophistication within our cultures—deeply rooted yet universally relatable—and Pacific Break provides a platform to share that with the world. I'm humbled to contribute, even in a small way, to this important movement.' Fuamoli said: 'It is exciting to see the return of Pacific Break for 2025! It is such a special platform for a diverse range of artists from throughout the region. In previous years we have seen how both winners and finalists have benefited from the radio, television and social support of the competition and I look forward to meeting this year's class of nominees and seeing who takes out the top honour for 2025.' Lātūkefu said: 'The talent pool in our neck of the woods is so deep. It always has been. We just need the opportunities for our musicians' talent to be seen and to be heard. That's why it's so important for something like Pacific Break to exist so the rest of our region and the world can hear the beauty that we hear. I'm super excited for this year to kick off!' Find out more about the Pacific music industry leaders who will be deciding Pacific Break's 2025 winner and what they are looking for here. PACIFIC BREAK 2025 – THE LAUNCH CONCERT Celebrate the return of Pacific Break with a free, all-ages launch concert at Friendship Park, Apia, Samoa on Friday 27 June. Come along from 5pm West Samoa Time (WST) with performances from 6pm to 9pm. Click here for more event details. PACIFIC BREAK – THE COMPETITION Competition entries open at 9am AEST on Friday 27 June 2025 and will be open until 11:59pm AEST on Monday 25 August 2025. For more information about Pacific Break visit For all media enquiries, contact: Annalise Ramponi, Marketing and Communications Coordinator, ABC International
