One of the vital drastically anticipated highlights of the British summer time competition season, WOMAD has been going sturdy since 1982, when Peter Gabriel conceived an occasion to showcase the music, artwork and dance of world performers. After overcoming hurdles confronted early on, the competition has grown into an enormous four-day occasion, presently held within the sprawling expanse of Charlton Park close to Malmesbury within the Wiltshire countryside, with numerous phases and exercise areas unfold throughout the positioning.

As a result of continuous development that has taken place through the years, there has inevitably been a point of commercialisation, but WOMAD has retained its integrity and in step with its authentic mission, nonetheless presents the musical delights of gamers from each continent, offering enlightening schooling in addition to leisure, and engagement with the burning problems with the day, together with local weather change, human rights, and Palestine. By way of professionalism, WOMAD is exemplary, with the dedicated group making certain easy stage changeovers that follow the schedule with no annoying bleed-through from different areas. Quite a lot of care and keenness is behind the competition, which all provides to the attraction, and the viewers are on the entire a blended bunch of lefties, an easy-going crowd who’re there for the music, with loads of elders, in addition to giant households with children.

When the climate is with us, WOMAD is pleasant and after a variable summer time that noticed an excessive amount of torrential rain and under-par temperatures in Britain, the climate gods smiled on WOMAD this yr, the wonderful sunshine that graced the weekend heightening the amiable environment.

The occasion started on the night of the final Thursday in July, however as I didn’t arrive till the Friday, I missed Alborosie’s closing set on the primary Open Air stage, which apparently went down a deal with. The Italian-born singer with Sicilian roots who has lived in Jamaica for some appreciable time has been within the midst of a grueling tour along with his Shengen Clan band that has straddled the Atlantic, and WOMAD’s placement of Albo on the primary stage exhibits the competition’s openness to reggae music and willingness to gamble with the lineup. On this occasion the gamble paid off since Alborosie reportedly received over the gang via favourites like ‘Kingston City,’ delivered mid-way via the set, and for the encore, a troublesome take of Marley’s ‘Get Up, Stand Up.’ The blended band of black and white gamers stored the music rolling and the horn part was a spotlight, in response to a dependable witness.

After I reached the competition grounds on the Friday, I headed straight for the primary Open Air stage, the place the Qawwali Flamenco undertaking was in full swing. This impressed pairing introduced collectively the Pakistani devotional singing ensemble led by Faiz Ali Faiz with Spanish flamenco guitarist Chicuelo and his accompanying gamers, emphasising the widespread root of each types. It’s the sort of collaboration that received’t essentially work however on this case the on-stage communication was spot-on and the ensuing sound a really charming one, being the sort of surprising discover that all the time makes WOMAD so interesting.

Then it was subsequent door to the Siam tent to catch Kumbia Boruka, a Lyon-based cumbia band whose frontman accordionist, Hernan Cortes, hails from Monterrey in northern Mexico. The band’s love of Jamaican music was evident from the beginning once they provided up reggae-infused takes of cumbia classics, invoking the spirit of Rastafari or ‘cumbia Fari’ because the bassist and guitarist pounded their low-slung axes. Because the set progressed it grew to become an actual cumbia reggae celebration with wah-wah guitar breaks, mesmerising accordion licks and sophisticated cumbia rhythms, the on-stage shouts of ‘Booyaka! Booyaka!’ pushing the groove into dancehall territory.

Amadou and Miriam on the most important stage virtually felt like a comedown after that, which isn’t to counsel that there was something improper with their efficiency, simply that the power wasn’t fairly as excessive for the rocky husband-and-wife duo from Bamako, although the viewers was with them each step of the best way. Then, Gnawa Blues All Stars on the Charlie Gillett stage provided a hybrid of Gnawa chants, blues riffs and reggae undercurrents, a heady combine that drew a powerful crowd response, whereas over on the Siam tent, Palestinian rap act Dam delivered a reliable set of politically-relevant rhymes, delivered with type, zest and feeling. Down on the Ecotricity stage, in a forested space considerably away from the primary web site, Harare’s Gonora Sounds conjured the guitar-led jit type popularised by the Bhundu Boys and the 4 Brothers within the Eighties, a welcome reprise of a long-absent type. And because the Edinburgh-based hip-hop trio Younger Fathers took to the primary stage, it was time to get some badly-needed relaxation.

On Saturday, Ghana Particular delivered a superb set on the Open Air stage that for me was some of the excellent of the competition. The Kwashibu Space Band had been tight, competent and funky, offering a superb Highlife backdrop for the veteran Pat Thomas, and youthful challengers Charles Amoah and Ok.O.G. Thomas’s mix of Highlife, funk and Afrobeat was completely wonderful, Amoah veered into disco territory and Ok.O.G. introduced within the dancehall and gangsta rap parts, all very pleasurable and with by no means a boring second, because of the Kwashibu Space Band’s ease with amping up the musical rigidity.

Within the Siam tent, Asmaa Hamzaoui and Bnat Timbouktou proved that girls can ship Gnawa simply in addition to the boys. The sacred therapeutic music of the Moroccan Gnawa, who’re descended from black slaves, has been handed on from father to son for time immemorial, however Asmaa selected to imagine the Gnawa mantle from her father, the famend grasp musician Rachid Hamzaoui. The trance-inducing set had the viewers on the sting of their seats for your complete efficiency, anointing Asmaa and her ensemble with showers of reward.

Feminine empowerment was additionally the theme of the music of Nana Benz du Togo, a postmodern voodoo music undertaking primarily based round three Togolese feminists, certainly one of whom performs a Korg synthesizer. With a bloke bashing the drums and one other hitting hole bamboo pipes with flip-flops, theirs was a really uncommon sound, although extra harsh and grating than anything.

After the solar went down, the attractive set by Faiz Ali Faiz within the Siam tent was splendidly meditative qawwali, the singers spurring one another to larger heights as Faiz scatted his method to glory; closing off with a rendition of Nusrat Fatah Ali Khan’s ‘Mustt Mustt’ was a pleasant contact too. 

At midnight, over within the D&B Soundcape tent, Rico from France’s OBF sound system started his set with dubplates of John Holt’s ‘Police In Helicopter’ and Max Romeo’s ‘Chase The Satan,’ easing the gang into the reggae vibes earlier than slowly turning to the digital ‘steppers’ type of dub music with which OBF made their identify. With white British toaster JMan preserving issues energetic on the microphone, Rico’s deeper dives into dub had the gang skanking away with reckless abandon, closing out the Saturday in high-quality type.

Beneath the scorching sizzling solar of the early Sunday afternoon, the mighty Mangrove Steelband performed a stunning set on the primary stage primarily based on soca, reggae and pop hits, celebrating WOMAD’s first partnership with the Notting Hill Carnival. With a slimmed-down lineup that includes 5 girls and three males, Mangrove had been on high-quality type, working a flying cymbal interlude into their rendition of Marley’s ‘One Drop’ and scoring delirious cheers from the gang as they tackled Ed Sheeran’s ‘In Love With Your Physique.’

Bixiga 70’s efficiency of the Vapour album within the Siam tent was one other true WOMAD spotlight. Brazil’s first Afrobeat band are primarily based in Sao Paulo however the strictures of the pandemic noticed the group reconfigure itself with some recent blood and previous mates, together with the percussionist Simone Soul, who was relegated to the drumkit for this set, and one other feminine percussionist was on a riser behind the stage, delivering thrilling beats on the congas. The three-part horn part by no means let the motion drop and between the guitarist, the bassist and the synth warrior, the sound veered into psychedelic area rock and Afro-Brazilian grooves, a top-notch set that had everybody screaming for extra. Vapour is superb and this set showcased the work in all its chaotic glory.

After the funky New Orleans mardi gras sound of the 79ers Gang on the primary stage, Norwegian band Gangar was a pleasing diversion within the Siam tent and Zambian act Witch fused blues and psychedelia with Zamrock on the primary stage; as ever, the WOMAD carnival procession supplied some enjoyable gentle aid. I then stumbled upon Irish band the Outdated Time Sailors, whose prolonged set at Molly’s Bar whipped the large viewers right into a dancing frenzy, proving that unknown acts can rouse a crowd at WOMAD, as long as the music is nice!

Switzerland-based Jamaican vocalist Skarra Mucci’s set at D&B Soundscape clashed with that of Baaba Maal on the primary stage and because the crowd was so packed there, I received caught within the thick of it. Maal had a recent band with younger Senegalese musicians, and he provided loads of between-song commentary about world points, however the set was a bit messy in locations, and possibly would have benefitted from a number of extra rehearsals, not that the gang discovered any fault. Then, Leyla McCalla, previously of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, delivered a well-executed set of quietly introspective private songs within the Siam tent, taking part in guitar, banjo and cello as she intoned her distinctive lyrics, whereas her backing musicians providing refined and inobtrusive help. It was a fittingly mellow finish to a wonderful weekend, which had me leaving the competition web site with a smile on my face. 

Thanks, WOMAD, for one more nice version – wanting ahead to extra subsequent yr!

By David Katz