We set off just before nine and got to Tamworth at eleven. We stopped for coffee and a bit of shopping before heading to Barraba.
We arrived at one thirty and Jean had to eat some lunch and go for a sleep. I spent the afternoon unloading the Motley. I didn't get everything and we will have to make several more trips before all is in order.
In the evening, I had a Lions Dinner Meeting which went on a fair bit longer than usual and I didn't get home till ten.
This is the weekend of the Barraba International Festival and this year's theme is Chinese. Many of the shops are decorated in theme and lots of people are wearing Chinese type gear.
In the evening we went to the RSL for dinner. Pixie Jenkins, a country and western violinist from Tamworth, was appearing. We had first seen him at the Canberra rally in 2001 and were much impressed. We had also seen him at the Toowoomba rally in 2004 and had been disappointed because the sound system was so bad that we missed most of the punch lines of his jokes. We wanted to see if our first impression was a truer reflection of his talent. We had a wonderful evening and came away very pleased that we had seen him again. I was so impressed that I bought his latest CD.
In the morning we went to town to watch the Festival Parade. Sadly it was raining as it was for last year's festival. We met the Samins and an old friend who is staying with them and had morning tea with them in our favourite cafe.
We went to the RSL Memorial Hall for the morning concert and were entertained by George Washingmachine and his band, the Australian Chinese Music Ensemble, the three local school dance troops, and Barrapella, a local choir in which John Samin sings. The entertainment was of very high standard and we were glad we went despite the crush.
In the evening we went to the Festival Dinner, a Chinese banquet, and chatted with some friends from the Wine Club, some visitors fro Norwich in the UK and with a local farmer we had not met before. The dinner was excellent.
After dinner, we went to a show which featured the Australian Chinese Music Ensemble who played some fascinating stuff on their traditional Chinese instruments, a bamboo flute, a mouth organ unlike any we had ever seen, a four stringed lute and a two stringed violin. All the instruments were impressive but the violin was hauntingly beautiful.
One of the pieces was a traditional Chinese melody called Jasmine which we were told features in Puccini's opera, Turandot. A Chinese envoy to Italy was asked about the Chinese national anthem, since there wasn't one at that time, he had his musicians play Jasmine. Puccini heard this and incorporated it in the opera as the theme for the entry of the Emperor.
The other act was a lady called Lyn Shakespeare who had been a hit at last years festival. She did a very funny new show set in China in keeping with the theme of the Festival.