Eventadelaide were delighted to be invited this interesting audiovisual explosion. As part os the Oz Asia Festival, the performance is a collaboration between Barcelona-based composer Grey Filastine and Indonesian neo-soul vocalist Nova Ruth.
According to the Urban Dictionary, Drapetomania is a term that derived in the 19th Century slave days. It was used to describe the “disease” in which the symptoms were “a slave that was addicted to attempting escape or escaping slavery…”
As we entered the Nexus Arts Centre, we walked into an intriguing polyphonic world of live cinema, dance and music. The Drapetomania journey took us through oceans, cities and desserts during the musical search for escape. Music consisted of beats, basslines and mesmerising sounds to capture the crowd.
Going by the promotional video, I did expect more from this performance. It was a quiet and small crowd as opposed to the loudness and huge dancing crowd on the promo video. Some parts of the performance were drawn out with repetitive slow beats alongside repetitive visions of abstract patterns on the background cinema screen. This created boredom at times as one stretch of beats continued for 15 minutes.
Words by Angie Apostilides
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