Thousands Enjoy Durbs fest

The festival - supported by the Save Our Seas Foundation - swept into town with a buster on Sunday 26 July but the wind eased for the outdoor screening of Fly in the Champagne at the Bay of Plenty that evening. About 1000 people enjoyed that hyper competitive expression of hoo-ha endemic to the cut-throat world of competitive surfing. Ocean Minded made the outdoor event possible. Thanks to Tim Starke and crew.

Made by Irons Bros Productions, the movie documents the rivalry between Andy and Kelly. Crazy hoot-worthy footage of perfect waves and breath-burst barrel rides runs concurrent to the coldly jealous world of two big ego bubbles bouncing around in a vast, vacuous world of consumer adulaton.

Wavescapes then moved to Suncast Casino from Monday 27 to Friday 31 July, with about another 1,700 people pulling in to watch the indoor films at Cine 6, Nu Metro. The decision by our big daddy parent DIFF to move to a bigger 150-seat cinema was vindicated. All the 8pm shows were sold out, and several 6pm shows as well.

The premiere of the Red Bull film Perfect Ten went well on the Wednesday, with the Bananaland surfing cognascenti pulling in to marvel at the mad antics of 10 years of Red Bull Big Wave Africa. Curiously, for the curators of Wavescapes, the surf forecasting was not covered, being relegated to "The Internet". Damn shame, we thought, after 10 consecutive years of headache, heartache and hernia-inducing stress. *sigh*

Moving on, the audience showed their cultural side by voting Musica Surfica the best film at the festival. What an epic film it was. And what sophistication by you, cuz, and you, for such a surperb indication thereof.

Directed by Mick Sowry, Musica Surfica is (in the words of some mullet who wrote the citation), "a melodic surfing documentary that resonates with the spiritual duet etween a violin virtuoso and surfing provocateur as they embark upon a radical experiment to explore creative expression. Using their instruments - a priceless del Gesù violin and surfboards with no fins - they weave a sublime aural and visual symphony that takes surfing to a profound new level of inspiration and innovation".

Chah brah.

The two blokes mentioned above are of course Derek Hynd (provocateur) and Richard Tognetti (virtuoso). They go on a crazy week of finless surfing and intensive musical exploration that is mind-blowing.

But how's this! The violin that Tognetti plays is believed by some to be the finest violin in existence, with an estimated value of A$10 million (about R65 million). Check out the January 2007 press release by the Australian Chamber Orchestra about how this came about:

"The Australian Chamber Orchestra is thrilled to announce that an anonymous Australian private benefactor has acquired one of the world’s rarest violins, valued at AUD$10,000,000, for the use of the ACO’s Artistic irector, Richard Tognetti. The violin, created by Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù in 1743 and known as the ‘Carrodus’, is one of the very finest in existence. The best violins in the world were made in the 18th century in Northern Italy and Antonio Stradivari and Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù were the undisputed kings of this golden epoch of violin making. There are 600 Stradivari violins but only 100 del Gesù violins in the world today. Guarneri del
Gesù has been the maker of choice for the greatest violinists of the 19th and 20th centuries – Paganini, Wieniawski, Ernst, Heifetz, Menuhin, Stern and Kreisler."

As Tognetti says, "It's like walking around with the Mona Lisa under your arm."