Energy, connection and country combine to build Xavier Rudd's catalogue, moving into Freedom Sessions.
Xavier Rudd has become a household name over the 20 plus years he has been releasing music. Yet this year he shared what could be dubbed as his most outstanding album to date. Freedom Sessions compiles 6 tracks, inclusive of the standout multi-part openers ‘World Order Pt.1’ and ‘Pt.2’.
Having just returned from an international tour that saw Rudd play to crowds in Europe and the USA, he is set to bring his newest show to audiences in Australia. A major date on this tour is his show Live at the Gardens, an outdoor performance set to take place at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Naarm/Melbourne.
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The show will take place on Saturday 23 November, with the multi-award winning Warnindhilyagwa woman from Groote Eylandt, Emily Wurramara singing in both English and Anindilyakwa, as well as Calypso Cora, an emerging four-piece led by none other than Xavier Rudd’s son Finojet Rudd.
Roundhouse Entertainment have teamed up with the Royal Botanic Gardens for this new multi-part concert series, with the Observatory Precinct being transformed into a unique outdoor concert space for up to 5000 music lovers to revel in the open urban green space.
Despite all the years of touring and making music, this particular show bears resonance and significance for Rudd in ways not yet experienced in his musical journey.
“When I recorded Freedom Sessions COVID was well underway,” says Rudd. “When that was happening I was focused a lot on what our freedom actually means. I also didn’t have other people playing on the record right in the heart of COVID, I did it myself.”
“That sparked the desire to want to do my first solo show in years. I wanted to play all the instruments that I played during the recordings and although I’ve been a multi-instrumentalist for years and dabbled in looping, that stuff is a real challenge. It’s a real journey and I’m locked in when I’m doing it. But the audience is right there with me and it feels like we’re all on the journey together.”
This collective journeying is a special part of Rudd’s shows, an outcome that allows for celebration of life and love even amidst the darkest of times.
“My shows are a celebration of the good stuff,” he says. “It’s always been that way. I love the natural world and that comes out in my performances, but my music remains true to the human experience. It’s about stuff that we all go through, the different struggles.
“It’s a very loving kind of environment where people seem to be attracted to the music, there’s a celebration in all of it, even if it is sad. The focus of the music is that we all struggle here and there, but we have a lot to be thankful for. If we can find that in our hearts then we can find that balance.”
This idea of collective journeying and storytelling has been apparent for Xavier Rudd for the duration of his experiences as a musician. It was the monumental moment of being given the blessing to play the Didgeridoo or Yidaki upon a time spent in Arnhem Land.
“I was given a skin name 25 years ago when I spent time in Arnhem Land, I was essentially given the spirit of Yidaki, the permission to take it, to travel with it, to use it, to share it. And despite playing the didgeridoo for many years when I’m playing music I’m not in control of it.
“I’m not part of it, I’m just holding space for it. It’s a spirit that moves through me and is part of my past, but I don’t really understand it and I don’t think I’m meant to understand it. But when I play it sometimes, I feel a presence. There’s a power in some of those old people from up there. It’s not like anything else that I’ve ever experienced.”
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The sharing of this spirit, alongside the recognition of the significance of the place on which the concert will be hosted, provides a great opportunity to work towards truth-telling.
“There’s something extra special happening down there these days,” he says. “I think about being on that country and doing a show outside, touching on how it would have been back in the day when there was ceremony. Yet still from a government point of view there’s not much progression, but on a street level there is.”
“There’s a lot of good people wanting to understand culture, wanting to understand country, wanting to get to know more Aboriginal people. There’s a real shift on a social level compared to when I started playing music, it was totally different.”
Live at the Gardens will be a great opportunity to collectively gather and work towards a future we all want to be a part of.
Tickets to see Xavier Rudd at Live at the Gardens are available now. Pick them up here.