Damn and blast Ursula Yovich. Here I am, or was, a self-respecting, male gub, trying to maintain my best facade of impervious, incorruptible machismo, and she has to come along and make my eyes well with tears. And it was all I could do to stop them festooning down my cheeks.Magpie Blues is, more-or-less, the story of Ursula's life. A cabaret, but one with much less artifice and affectation than is customary. Thus, the above-mentioned tears weren't crocodilian. This, despite my having lived in Darwin for five odd years (as opposed to five-odd), the very town in which Ms Yovich grew up.
Like a magpie, she's part black, part white; a songbird. Half her people hail from Maningrida, in northwest Arnhemland. The other half from Serbia. Caught in this linguistic no woman's land, a Serborigine, speaking English with a Serbian accent, she was ignominiously sent to ESL classes, a veritable foreigner in her own land. The same girl swam a croc-infested river to make it to the airport, to fly the coop, at just 18.
I first saw her as a waif-like singer in Darwin, circa '96. Few were paying attention, at that low-key community gathering, but her voice, and original song, blew me away. I used to play the odd track on Top End radio, but after that, heard nothing, as I recall, until some years after, when she surfaced in a play, in which she shone. So, it's been an on again, off again relationship. I couldn't be happier it's on again: long may it reign. Of course, while I might've been oblivious and preoccupied with more mundane things, Ursula hasn't exactly been idle. She won a 2007 Helpmann award for her role in Capricornia and was nominated a couple of years earlier for The Sapphires. But that's the thin end of the wedge. She's had countless castings on stage and screen: Baz Luhrmann's extravagant Australia; Jindabyne; The Wizard of Oz. And let's not forget the star-studded Black Arm Band.
Her mother left when she was quite young (8, I think) and, since her Balanda father was working long hours to support his four black kids (two of each), Ursula, the eldest, was charged with maternal duties. Almost overnight, she had to leave behind her carefree, clothes-free days, rolling 'round in the dirt on the homelands, to be bound by apron-strings and heady responsibility. Somehow, amidst it all, she found time to create an imaginary performance-space, in her room: the stereo was her band; she even went to bed with a speaker under her pillow, as she didn't have headphones.
These early, formative years are encapsulated in snippets of songs from the radio: everything from Roxette, to The Eagles, Madonna, Tina Turner & Barnesy. There are other entertaining interludes besides. Her father didn't need much English, monosyllabically issuing commands: 'enough!'; 'sleep!' She didn't even need to fully-understand Serbian, as much was discernible from tone & context. And sometimes her father would instruct them in her mother's tongue, Brada.
The whole dreaming of her life began with Yovich's search for family photos, and the memory, or rediscovery, of a faded Polaroid of her mother, in red wraparound skirt, white tee, leaning against a car, her hair windswept. This was Pauline Mirilman, for whom her father instantly fell. It was a whirlwind: Pauline gave birth to Ursula at just 16. It didn't work. The rest is deeply-felt personal history, manifest in Yovich's deeply soulful delivery; the warmth of her voice, in the lower register of her prolific range, resonant of the late Ruby Hunter.
Her most moving songs tend to be the ones she's written herself, including one or two for her brothers and sister, who she clearly feels she left behind: her maternal, caring, sharing, nurturing instinct is overwhelming. She even seems to nurture her audience and, unlike many cabaret artists, never stoops to patronise with disingenuous patter. Her authenticity is palpable. And the musical territory she traverses is rich, uninhibited and unpretentious (see above). The slogan for Magpie Blues is 'part black, part white; all blues'. This reflects the centre of her vocal talent: she was born to sing blues and soul. But there are songs one doesn't expect, like Caruso, recently made inescapable by Andrea Bocelli. Both she and Tina Arena seem to have been captivated by a Sorrento moon and the romanza that attends it.
The fact is this courageous, upright young woman could sing anything and give it meaning. This performance culminated in Somewhere Over The Rainbow. Ursula Yovich has as many colours.
Riverside Theatres in association with Adelaide Festival Centre's Adelaide Cabaret Festival presents
Magpie Blues
Ursula Yovich
Venue: Riverside Theatres | Corner Church and Market Streets, Parramatta
Date/Time: Friday, 21 May at 7.30pm
Bookings: Riverside Box Office 02 8839 3399 | riversideparramatta.com.au
