The World At WOMAD
By Judith Schrut - Email: judith0777@gmail.com
WOMAD stands for World of Arts, Music and Dance, and is simply the biggest international music festival on earth. This year’s WOMAD, which takes place at the end of July, promises to bring together hundreds of performing artists from dozens of countries and around 40,000 world music fans to its beautiful open air site in the rolling hills of rural Wiltshire. A stunning global lineup includes Sahara Desert-inspired rock’n roll from Tinariwen, tantalising tango from Argentina’s Orquesta Tipica Fernandez Fierro, blazing folk rhythms from Bellowhead and mad gypsy punk sounds from Molotov Jukebox. Look out too for some particularly strong and strident female voices like UK’s Laura Mvula and Eska, Ethiopian-Israeli Ester Rada and Turkish-Kurdish Olcay Bayir.
But WOMAD is much more than a chance to experience a wall-to-wall feast of music from the four corners of the globe, it’s also a place for dancing or drumming the night away, singing in a Bedouin tent, xylophone making, kora playing, meeting a human book at the Human Library and music-inspired cooking at Taste the World.
The dedicated Kids Zone, annual Children’s Parade and relaxed vibe makes WOMAD an especially good choice for families. And if you’re in need of a break from the hullabaloo, nip into the World of Wellbeing, a cool, calming space among the trees of the Arboretum, and sample delights such as laughter yoga, song baths, didgeridoo healing, sound meditation and some excellent tea and cakes. For a little extra indulgence, invest in a weekend pass to the Womad Spa, an oasis of pampering treatments, wood-fired yurt sauna, jacuzzi spa, cocktail bar and that luxury of festival luxuries, hot showers.
Traipsing from stage to stage in the fresh air sharpens the appetite and WOMAD is well prepared for this. WOMAD’s a big place but you’re never far from the Global Market, where you can eat your way around the world from a mouthwatering choice of international food as well as browse the tempting range of crafts, clothing, music paraphernalia and worthy causes on display.
WOMAD, 24-26 July 2015 www.womad.org
Photo: Wonderful WOMAD - Photo by David Hedges.
