The Alice Desert Festival will share the stories, songs and unique lifestyle of Central Australia’s arid region. Featuring a vibrant program borne out of the desert landscape, the event allows for the dynamic exchange between cultures in the heart of Australia.
Artists, dancers and musicians from some of the most remote communities in Central Australia will travel to the Alice Desert Festival. Highlights of the program include a concert by emerging female Indigenous artists, Desert Divas, along with the Bush Bands Bash that showcases Aboriginal culture and language through music.
After wowing audiences over previous years, Asante Sana at Trephina Gorge will return in 2010, with 70 voices joined in harmony, building bridges across cultures and the community through their song.
The Hermannsburg Historical Precinct will host performances by solo cellist, Nicolas Hempel and world-famous musician Django Reinhardt, a descendant of the Reinhardt clan, who will explore a fusion of different styles - from Flamenco, Latin, and Brazilian Jazz - which will be brought to life with his own artistic style and Gypsy influences.
After its world premiere at the Darwin Festival, the play A Head Full of Love will also be included in the program for the Alice Desert Festival. Directed by Wesley Enoch and starring Collette Mann and Roxanne McDonald this production explores the relationship established between two women at the Alice Springs Beanie Festival.
For the foodie, there will be two bushfood-inspired events, with founder of the Red Ochre Restaurants, Andrew Fielke, conducting cooking classes and utilising produce native to Central Australia. The following day, Fielke will produce a spectacular degustation menu for the Alice Desert Festival Gala Dinner.
The competition, which has wooed the taste buds of renowned chefs, Maggie Beer and Stephanie Alexander, will return with hundreds expected to enter the Bushfoods Recipe Competition, where entrants get creative with local fare to develop a unique award-winning recipe.
For more information on the event, log onto www.alicedesertfestival.com.au.
