WOMAD, or the World of Music, Arts and Dance is one of the biggest names in the festival scene, both in the UK and worldwide. Founded more than 40 years ago, it has grown into a sprawling family of events, centred on the UK edition, hosted on the grounds of Charlton Park, where, this year, more than 40,000 people descended to see some of the best music from all around the world.
This number, 40,000, by the way, is the first thing you should note about WOMAD— it is bloody enormous. While only 20% the size of Glastonbury, WOMAD dwarfs the vast majority of UK festivals. Despite this, the site is well-arranged, and transit across it isn’t the worst I’ve encountered, however initially getting into the event was extremely confusing, and if you’re camped at the wrong end then the arena is a big old walk through the tent fields. This size extends to the crowds too— all the stages are pretty much always busy, no matter the weather, and getting a good view for an act tends to require arriving a little early, especially if you are on the shorter side.
If you are willing to negotiate your way past these enormous numbers of people, however, then the festival has a lot to offer. The variety of food available was better than any festival I have ever attended, with many cuisines I have never even tried tantalising me from their stalls. Beyond food, the world of wellness offered endless therapies and treatments including various types of massages, homoeopathy, gong baths and herbal tinctures. On top of this, I am pretty certain I saw a purveyor of divination. I felt like I was Harry Potter walking down Diagon Alley, the variety of magical and pseudo-magical products being offered to me was so great.
If this hippie-dippy sorta stuff is not your speed, WOMAD probably still has you covered. The Insititute of Physics and the University of Hertfordshire brought a nice blast of rationalism to the festival, with talks ranging from AI to the environment to simple engineering, and a planetarium to show off the wonders of the universe.
Other fantastic workshops and stalls enabled by the festival’s great size included a Kora class, where people learned the basics of the African stringed instrument, a shop selling a series of awesome anglerfish sculptures, and a bookshop, with a carefully curated stock to perfectly appeal to a festival audience. The Kings of Ping even offered attendees the chance to test their skills with a bat at their Hip Hop Ping Pong club.
Youngsters are also well catered for, with the children’s area playing host to circus workshops on a titanic scale, as well as activities including unicycling, music, traditional crafts, and even a climbing wall. Other, stranger, things have also been laid out for the kids, with the chance to operate a pair of giant freaky puppets grabbing my attention in particular. I’m not a parent, and I haven’t been a kid in years, but suspect it would take a particularly nervous, unenthusiastic and antisocial child to be unable to have fun here.
While endlessly engaging, these workshops and stalls were not the core point of the event and did not take centre stage: instead, that role was taken by the fantastic musicians attending the event. As one person, I obviously couldn’t see everything, but the sensible layout of the festival, and careful organisation of the set times did allow one to catch an amazing amount of the acts.
The first act I saw was a cellist native to Cuba, named Ana Carla Maza, paring her instrument with her beautiful voice. She was playing on the Ecotricity Stage, one of the smaller stages at WOMAD, surrounded by trees in the Arbouretum. Sneaking through the trees for a better view, I was enchanted by her gentle, loungy take on reggae.
After her performance came to an end, I ventured further into the festival, passing by a pair of noisy fairground rides, before passing into a massive blue tent I later learned was called the DnB Tent. What I heard was not DnB.
The Dahk Sisters, hailing from Ukraine, are unlike anything you have ever heard before. Before I could get a handle on the language, I was reminded more of recreations of ancient Sumerian music than anything from the modern world. This soon morphed into something closer to hip-hop but played on a string quartet with a piano. Discussing a variety of issues, with lyrics shown on the display screen, they offered an extremely interesting viewpoint on the world, simultaneously patriotically supporting their country while challenging its many social problems. If you get the chance, this is one hell of a performance.
Following them, hosted by the Charlie Gillet Stage was the Manchester-based Riot Jazz Brass Band. Silly, funny, and technically fantastic, this band fuses Jazz with more accessible genres creating a lively dancy atmosphere. Their covers, particularly Pendulum’s Tarantula, went down a storm, turning the crowd into a roiling mass.
By the time I made it to the main stage, Mokoomba had just started playing. These guys, billed as the next chapter in Zimbabwean pop, began by deploying a combination of traditional and modern instruments to create a gothic, almost ambient soundscape. This burst into fast powerful vocals, creating a sound reminiscent of a mythic clash of titans. Playing a mixture of acapella and guitar-based tunes, if Mokoomba is where Zimbabwean music is going, I should buy a ticket to Harare.
Heading back to my camp, I stumbled upon Mellowmatic, playing at a venue called Molly’s Bar. Sited at the entrance to the festival proper, in the late hours, Molly’s turns into a popular spot for nighttime debauchery, a quick walk from tent-land, and despite being on earlier in the evening, Mellowmatic fit that vibe well. Playing a funky mix of lounge jazz, swing, and RNB, Mellowmatic is very mellow and very matic.
After watching a few minutes of Bombay Bicycle Club, I was reminded that the band wasn’t really my thing, so I headed on, looking for something to my taste. Entering the DnB tent, I discovered Snapped Ankles. Wearing Masks that look like something from the cult Youtube Series Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared, this ghillie suit-obsessed crew played a wild, difficult-to-genre, bassy set that could broadly be described as synth rock. Snapped Ankles is a high-energy show, and I’d suggest you prepare yourself mentally for this beforehand so you can make the most of it.
By this point in the evening, the skies had opened, and WOMAD was rapidly turning into WOMUD, so I headed to bed, only stopping briefly for a brief blast of live swing at Molly’s.
Waking up on Saturday, I saw clear skies and headed out with joy to see Dele Sosimi and his Afrobeats Orchestra. Mellow, funky, and soulful, with wonderful vocals, fantastic keyboard sound and a big brass section, Dele’s music is beautifully relaxing and fitted the brief moment of sunlight perfectly.
After Dele Sosimi, I ventured to the furthest point of the festival, The Siam Tent. Possibly the largest tent I have ever seen, early on Saturday afternoon it played host to the Orchestral Qawwali Project. Combining Sufi poetry with Indian and Western classical elements and featuring the London-based Abi Sampa singing, the project has been referred to as the biggest leap forward in the Qawalli tradition in decades. Knowing nothing about the tradition, I cannot vouch for this, but Rushil Rajan’s project was certainly a fantastic soundtrack for lying in the sun going through the festival program and planning my day.
Heading over to the main stage, I heard the tearing roaring sound of Cha Wa. Hailing from the famed city of New Orleans, this Grammy-nominated band feels like it got its influences from a whole load of different sources, including rock and roll, traditional Latin music and even dub and reggae. With an organ sound vaguely reminiscent of the Doors, garish clothes and irrepressible energy, this funky outfit are a new favourite of mine.
My true highlight of the Saturday however was The Comet is Coming. Closely reminiscent of their name, The Comet is Coming was an absolute bath of noise, shaking the earth as would a giant lump of ice from space. They go damn hard and I felt it in my whiskers, I felt it in my nose hair. Parts of it were close to noise music, while other elements were beautiful art or jazz-rock. Call them whatever you like, they are unlike anything you will have seen before.
Waking up on Sunday, I heard the pitter-patter of rain on a thin ceiling, and knew, the mud had come. While up till this point the site had held up to the rain relatively well, come the sabbath, the rain and relentless pounding of thousands of sandaled feet had finally broken it.
While the campsites were still relatively green, the arena and every pathway had been turned to roiling brown sludge. Woodchips were promptly distributed, and hard pathways put down, but the ground itself was sticky and heavy, and made movement and dancing harder.
Still – I had music to see, so I set off in a hurry. The first on my list was The Ollam. Featuring beautiful pipes, almost reminiscent of Peru, this Belfast/Detroit band’s folk post-rock fusion soothed my mud-soaked mind and helped me prepare for my adventures ahead.
Speaking of adventures, I had a lot left to come. First up was Pullup, an Estonian Duo whose musical talents were only outshined by their sense of humour. Playing an instrument called the Talharpa bowed lyre, these two geniuses got the crowd linking arms, and walking sidewise in snakey lines, which soon included most everyone watching and then became a fast-moving, enticing, hilarious, tangled mess when the lines joined together at the ends.
After Pullup, I followed a bystander’s recommendation and hurried over to Lova Lova. From Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lova Lova is a fusion of dancehall and punk, and 100% thundergod. With a hypnotic bassline and a heavy metal sound, this entrancing act would not be out of place at Download.
I then took a quick break from the music to prepare for the parade – somehow I had been inducted into the Insecurity Guards and joined them in their preparations to march. The parade itself was titanic in length and featured dozens of different groups, including kids showing off their arts and crafts, theatre and charitable groups, two independent marching bands and a bloody dragon. This riot of colour slowly wormed its way across the festival, grabbing all who it passed’s attention and linking the whole event into one.
Following the mayhem of the parade, I excitedly made my way to the main stage to see reggae legend, Horace Andy. While he started a tiny bit slow, he quickly warmed up and a man in his 70s cannot be blamed for such things. Playing a succession of hits from his extensive back catalogue with no low moment, I was a bit disappointed not to hear Riding for a Fall, but greatly enjoyed the show nevertheless.
Rushing quickly to the Charlie Gillett Stage, I managed to then catch Kuunatic, a Japanese three-piece which could best be described as “unconventional”. Describing themselves as “tribal tale dreamy folk music”, I thought they had a progressive, psychedelic, doomy sound at times, and on other occasions tuned almost scary, with the creepy united singing of all three members, drones, and chimes infecting your mind.
Headlining the Sunday was Femi Kuti. The prodigal son of Nigerian Afrobeats pioneer Fela Kuti, Femi has, if anything, outstripped his father. An amazingly energetic frontman, as well as an absurdly talented musician taking on lead vocals, keys and sax himself, Femi gave us a jaw-dropping show. Backed by a big band, with varied percussion and a blaring horn section, this enchanting performance is Afrobeat the way it is meant to be.
While WOMAD is very cool and offers a lot of different music and activities, I can’t say it was a perfect festival. With tickets starting at more than £200 and 40,000 people in attendance, I have to say, it felt a little poor value, often only having two acts playing at once. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as a choice between two amazing acts is better than a choice between five “just ok” ones, and all the acts in attendance did reach an absurdly high standard, there were not that many people performing. Many festivals offer a similar amount of activity for crowds a tenth of the size paying substantially less for their ticket.
Another negative I felt across the festival was just a vague sense of commerciality. I saw more points where ice-cold water was sold than taps, and while the bars were fairly reasonable at £6 a pint, the cups were, surprisingly, disposable. In addition, while I understand Lush is a very morally respectable business, a high street store’s presence at a festival seems very strange, as did the substantial number of police officers wandering the site.
In general, however, I really enjoyed my time at WOMAD. Despite minor negatives, it is a decently run event which offers a line-up which, in genre, cannot really be matched in the UK. While it struggles with its own size at times, the festival has a lovely atmosphere, and its scale does allow it to host a huge number of interesting side activities. In addition, as a somewhat shy individual on my own, I managed to quickly make friends, proving that the crowd is lovely.
A final big upside of WOMAD is the potential for discovering new music. As the festival is focused on all music from all around the world, there is very likely to be a brilliant act you have never heard of in attendance, and most will go away with a head full of new and exciting things to listen to. I would highly recommend WOMAD to fans of varied, interesting music from around the world, and am very pleased I attended.
WOMAD have explained there were 84 free water supply points across the site so no festivalgoer would have had to pay for water, and that the line-up included 260 performances by 150 performers from over 40 different countries.
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