My eyes welled with emotion on Friday night under the splendidly restored ceiling of the Ghuriya, adjacent to the footbridge in Khan El-Khalili, as I watched Freshwater perform their catalogue of songs that evoked the colors, sounds and spirit of Australia.
Cairo doesn’t see too many class international acts, so like the romantic “Clancy of the Overflow from Australian literature, dip a thumb nail in tar and scratch this into your diary. Freshwater are performing nightly at the Australian Food and Wine Festival from Feb. 1 to 8 at the InterContinental CityStars Hotel.
I admit that this column was slagging off hotels last week, but after hearing these four sweet women from Australia’s river country sing, I will be swallowing my pride and heading out to enjoy the Aussie cuisine prepared by a Sydney chef, with a cheeky drop of Penfolds and listen again to the songs inspired by the peoples along the Barwon, Namoi and Murrumbridgee rivers.
Freshwater told me they are not a band, but I am telling you dear reader, they are a fair dinkum act, which I am sure everyone will find enchanting. Nardi Simpson, the eldest of the three sisters in the foursome, plays an acoustic guitar and the group also use a few percussion instruments, but it is their vocal quality and stage charisma that make their songs sing.
Freshwater sing original stories, both in the indigenous languages of their traditional country and in English.
None better than, “Diamonds on the Water, by Kaleena Briggs, best friend of the group’s sisters, who sings with the range and class of Katie Melua, and the lyrical talent of Kirsty MacColl.
The group was brought together by middle sister, Jida Simpson, who was asked to join a cultural tour of Eastern Africa. The synergy of the group developed as they sang from village to village, being joined by the locals and promoted by word of mouth on the bush telegraph.
The last stop on that original tour was Dubai’s Rotana Towers. Singing for their supper in the swanky Emirates hotel, Freshwater was “discovered and ever since have become informal cultural ambassadors of Australia.
As well as the eight night booking at the InterContinental, Freshwater will also play in Abu Dhabi, Amman, Beirut and Kuwait during February.
Freshwater played at the Cultural Wheel in Zamalek two years ago and have returned to again take part in the embassy’s celebration of Australia Day, which was last Saturday, a date the island continent shares with the sub-continent.
But in true Aussie style, the party continues.
A special exhibition titled “Corroboree will be held at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo from Feb. 4-March 4 to mark the 25th anniversary of cooperation between Australia and Egypt in pursuit of archaeological booty.
The Egyptian Museum holds a special fascination for Australians, as on display are a number of boomerangs, very similar to that iconic weapon of indigenous Australia and favorite metaphor when loaning something like a book, to remind the borrower it is a boomerang, not a stick – it comes back.
Along the banks of the River Nile in Agouza grow Australian River Red Gums. Great trunks and gnarled branches, the trees drop deep roots, their crowns arching over the river in front of the British Council. They are a peculiar site for a boy from the bush like me, but also a wonderful reminder of my island home every time I see them.
The Neil Murray song, “My Island Home, is sung with such deep longing by Freshwater that it was during this number that my eyes began to well and my spirit was again among the Red Gums of the western rivers, swinging from a rope and leaping into the fresh water, which for me at least, is one of life’s greatest pleasures.
Cooee! Is the call of the Australian bush when looking for someone. And I am sending out my own Cooee to all Aussies and sympathisers in Cairo to get along to Al Bustan Restaurant or Bellini Bar at the InterContinental CityStars Hotel on Friday Feb. 1 to welcome Freshwater to “our country and be Australian again for a night.
For further information on Freshwater, the Food and Wine Festival at the InterContinental or the archaeological Corroboree, please contact the embassy at Tel: 2575 0444 ext. 218 or 402.
