WOMADelaide 2008 Preview

Since the inaugural event in 1992, WOMADelaide has grown into a 75 000 strong musical and cultural festival. The festival aims to bring to together and celebrate the worlds best in musical, dance and arts culture, and from this want to educate the world of its potential as a unified multicultural society. As in its usual fashion WOMADelaide is promising to excite in 2008 with a diverse experience including a unique fire display by La Compagnie Carabosse.

The festival however is not a purely performance based festival, comprising of a strong stalls section. The Woods Baggot Global Village shall comprise of over 100 stalls, all showcasing a number of delights to engage the senses. As in previous festivals, there will be a wide variety of worldly culinary delights of you to gorge yourself on at your leisure. There will also be merchandise for sale, including t-shits, CDs of the performing artists and a selection of texts. This section provides you with a chance to feel like your travelling the world in a single festival alley!

The addition of the ‘Artist in Conversation’ to the usual workshop program will also enrich the weekend long festival experience. This addition will allow artists to share experiences and interact with the audience, as well as giving short performance. These workshops are all ages, as is the entire festival, as to give younger citizens the chance to experience a cultural enrichment of which only occurs in six locations throughout the year. Also for those aged 3 and over, there will also be the Kidzone, which is comprised a number of free attractions and workshops. The festival provides for people of all ages and walks of live, which helps to create a rich festival vibe.

The first artist announcement has done nothing to disappoint, as in previous years, with a fantastic blend of music, dance and cultural arts. So far two artists have been announced from the USA; firstly percussion legend Billy Cobham Septet returns after a stunning performance in 2007, alongside Sharon Jones &The Dap Kings who promises to inspire audiences with their blend of deep south blues and northern funk. Also set to stun is morna artist Cesária Évora, gypsy legends Taref De Haidouks and Russian folk artists the Terem Quartet. This is aside from the dynamic choreography masterpiece of New Zealand dance group Black Grace, south Indian flute performer Dr Natesan Ramani, 32 piece Black Arm Band performing their visual and audio sensation, Marundak and the exotic eastern sounds of Titi Robin.

With a first announcement like this, one can only ponder in awe at what the second round of artists already being prepared for January 17th has in store.

Cover photo by Tom Brookman, WOMAD 2006