RSS feedPosts Tagged ‘womad’
WOMAD Saturday Roundup
Posted on August 2nd, 2011 in Recent Posts by Sophie Marie Atkinson.
Technically, we kicked off Saturday with Ballaké Sissoko and Vincent Segal who – with their unique sounds of the kora and cello combined – soothed crowds late Friday night/Saturday morning at the Charlie Gillett stage. Then it was off to the Siam Tent for a taste of the awesome Pakistani qawwali singer, Faiz Ali Faiz. And finally, before heading back to our infamous motorhome, we stopped by the Charlie Gillett stage once more for some late night blues courtesy of Australian singer, guitar and banjo player, CW Stoneking – whose set was peppered with bizarre anecdotes and even more bizarre accents…
Faiz Ali Faiz in the psychedelic Siam Tent
We arose fresh-faced (ahem) on Saturday morning to glorious sunshine and headed straight over to the Siam Tent where Alejandro and The Magic Tombolinos kicked off proceedings with their Gypsy and klemzer influenced jazz, punk and tango sounds.
Other highlights included Songlines favourites AnDa Union, psychedelic cumbia band Bomba Estereo, Susheela Raman and Vieux Farka Touré. Later in the day, Brassroots rocked the Charlie Gillett stage with their brass band covers of ‘Karma Police’ and ‘Sweet Dreams’ and we heard incredible sets from fado singer Ana Moura and French/Malian singer Fatoumata Diawara. We attempted to see Rod and Gab, but unfortunately for us their over-whelming popularity got in the way. The experimental Argentinean Axel Krygier played a cracking set on the Radio 3 stage set in the picturesque woodlands and Cameroonian Roland Tchakounte wowed the audience, once again at the Charlie Gillett stage.
Vieux Farka Touré on the Open Air stage
Looking back at this list, I honestly can’t believe that we – and more importantly, WOMAD – managed to cram so much amazing music into one day. We went to bed with our ears ringing (damn those subwoofers!) and our heads spinning, but excited beyond all belief that there was still a full day of musical mayhem to be had.
Until next year…
Posted on August 1st, 2011 in Recent Posts by Alexandra Petropoulos.
Goodbye WOMAD. We miss you already! Looking forward to next year…
Thousands at WOMAD break air guitar world record
Posted on July 31st, 2011 in Recent Posts by Alexandra Petropoulos.
I am pleased to report that thousands lined up in front of the Open Air stage at WOMAD and successfully beat the previous Australian-held world record for the largest number of people air guitaring. In the end, 2,227 people, led by Justin Adams, rocked out to ‘Purple Haze’ and we were there to catch the action. Apologies for the sideways view, courtesy of the high-tech iPhone.
Photos to follow.
Check out Anda Union at WOMAD!
Posted on July 27th, 2011 in Recent Posts by Jo Frost.
For anyone going to WOMAD this weekend, I highly recommend you go and check out Anda Union who play at the Big Red Tent at 1pm on Saturday.
I was lucky enough to have a sneaky preview of the group in action at an intimate gig in central London last night. Expect high energy, raucous horse head fiddling and soulful overtone singing from this group from Hohhot in Inner Mongolia.
They’re also doing a session at the Taste the World tent and, rumour has it, they may even put in an appearance at the Songlines tent, next to the Charlie Gillett stage. Come by the tent to find out more details.
Watch out WOMAD!
