Womad

Siyaya

In a comment that iconic Liverpool manager Bill Shankly would surely have approved of, one of the members of Siyaya explains the 13-strong Zimbabwean collective's motivation for getting on stage - "for us, song and dance is not a luxury, but a necessity." It's as much about the message as it is the groove they hit as they reinterpret traditional tales from their homeland and recast them for more modern times, always underscored by a rousing pan-African sound. And let's not forget that on a jubilant past WOMAD performance, they caused the man from The Guardian to report how the crowd was forced into "whooping ovations through sheer musicality and energy".

Biog by Nige Tassell.