Word of mouth is a wonderful thing among friends. A friend told me to check out Ondara who I had never heard of and after a few listens of his catalogue I was hooked. I advised other friends and they too were on board for his performance at the Trinity Sessions.

First up tonight was an excellent support set from local Sasha Marsh. I had not seen Sasha for a while and was very happy when she was announced as support. Sasha is an alternative indie-pop performer and tonight she mainly showcased new songs that she wanted to test out and that she will hopefully release soon. My favourite of the new ones was this dark brooding and sparse alt-country-like song which showcased her beautiful voice. I was not sure of the title but some of the lyrics were “I can shoot anytime”. At the end of the set she played both Can I Call and 10 Days both of which have been released in the last few years and were wonderful.

I love the Trinity Sessions and it is one of my favourite venues in Adelaide. The audience concentrates on the acts and it helps that Roger and Yvonne Freeman who run the place close the bar during the actual performance. Secondly, they know which acts to book because their musical knowledge is exceptional. Without any notes, before the start of the concert tonight, Roger advised us of all the acts coming up this year with all the dates memorised.

Next on stage was Ondara who led us on a wonderful journey through his soulful repertoire. He opened with A Seasonal Amnesia and straight away we were treated to his beautiful rich soulful vocal style. This song and the next three were all from his brilliant 2022 album: Spanish Villager No.: 3. The three songs follow a theme and they are titled A Shakedown in Berlin. A Seminar in Tokyo and Blackout in Paris. After each of these songs, he funnily said they were all actually about Adelaide.

In 2013 Ondara moved from his birth country, Kenya, to the USA after winning the Green Card Lottery, he taught himself to play guitar and then started playing shows in coffee houses. He next played Lockdown on Date Night Tuesday from his 2020 Lockdown album after being inspired by Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska album. He apologised for playing depressing songs and jokingly told us that he had we were all happy and he needed to do something to fix that. He might call his songs depressing but I call them hauntingly beautiful.

Next, he played some deeply poignant songs from his 2019 album Tales of America. My favourites were Torch Song and Lebanon. The last two songs of the set were two unreleased tracks from an album he has already recorded in London and will hopefully be releasing soon. After leaving the stage and receiving a huge response from the Adelaide audience Ondara came back on and played Saying Goodbye which is a moving and emotional song and was the perfect end to the night.