The Moment Of Ruth

Upcoming young female rock singers always seem to have to endure comparisons with Janis Joplin or Joni Mitchell – just as new singer/songwriters used to be burdened with the suggestion that they might be “the new Bob Dylan” (when in fact there was only one of that kind).

Irksome as it may be, I would have to say that Olivia Ruth, a force of nature from Queensland, Australia, brings to mind elements of both Janis and Joni, with the raw power of the former and the vocal acrobatics of the latter.

Ultimately, she is more Janis than Joni... and in fact more Janis than Janis, in that, to my mind, her passionately beautiful voice, which seems to come from every fibre of her being, leaves Joplin in the shade.

In a bizarre way, her phrasing and the tendency of her voice to dominate, dictate and embody the whole feel of a song, remind me more of the amazing David Surkamp, frontman of prog rock greats Pavlov’s Dog, than of any other singer.

Olivia Ruth crowdfunded her current tour of the UK which I was lucky enough to catch at the New Cross Inn, south London. She is backed up by an excellent three-piece band, but, to be honest, she doesn’t need anything but her guitar and that remarkable voice. The more we hear of that, the better.

Austral Whacks

Drummers are always on the lookout for new sounds. One of the world’s oldest types of drum enlivened the Henley Festival at the weekend — and was completely new to me. An ensemble of Torres Strait Islanders played their “warups” to accompany the dancing of the Purple Spider Dance Group (above).

The Purple people were not only dancing for the first time in the UK, but for the first time outside their homeland.

The Torres Strait Islands are between Australia and Papua New Guinea, and are part of Queensland; their people have a culture that is relatively untouched by outside influence.

And their drums, one of which I was honoured to have a go on, had a wonderful power. About four feet long and fashioned from a hollow log, the drums are topped off with an interesting head — made from iguana skin. Not something you can get down the Charing Cross Road. 

But the really eccentric and clever bit is the fact that blobs of beeswax are fixed to the centre of the head to give an extra resonance and vibration — a bit like an antipodean snare drum.

I did have misgivings about whacking a waxed iguana... but it’s a hell of a sound.