|
Now in its 26th year, WOMAD reinforces its reputation with Charlton Park - the quintessential UK music festival, with a stellar line-up of artists. Over 70 world-class acts from 35 countries will play across this three-day weekend; household names, names to discover, names too numerous to mention. Whatever your bag - Cuban rumba, drum 'n' bass, sub-Saharan blues - you will find it at WOMAD Charlton Park, in the stunning wilds of the (easily accessible) Wiltshire countryside. Here are just a few of the highlights.
Friday sees the triumphant WOMAD return of French-Algerian star, Rachid Taha. A diminutive yet formidable singer and activist, Taha unleashes his trademark guttural growl over a driving mix of Algerian rai and Western rock. Call him the North African Joe Strummer if you like - he does a blinding version of Rock el Casbah - but he'd prefer it if you didn't. "I'm like Rai Cooder/Rai Orbison," the recent BBC Award for World Music winner quips, shrugging off attempts to pigeonhole his sound. "My music enables me to express my multiple identities."
Saturday comes alive with the fabulous Martha Wainwright,, a Canadian/ American singer/songwriter - part ingenue, part punkster - who has broken free of her family's musical legacy (she's the daughter of folk legends Loudon Wainright III and Kate McGarrigle and sister of acclaimed singer/songwriter Rufus Wainright) and established herself as a refreshingly different musical force. All unpredictable chord changes and vocal swoops, her unswervingly honest songs of love, loss and catharsis have won her an international army of fans; at WOMAD Charlton Park, she shows why.
We predict a riot when the Sharon Shannon Big Band explodes into action with a traditional Irish ceilidh the same evening. Renowned as queen of the accordion, Shannon has been expanding the horizons of traditional Irish music for nigh on two decades; this is her version of the party-style music and dance sessions that take place in pubs and clubs of Ireland each day of the year. A who's who of Irish music royalty will be hopping on and off stage - steel yourself for guests turns by Mundy, Damien Dempsey and Lord Pogue himself, Shane MacGowan - before coming together for an unhinged, no-holds-barred finale.
Fancy something serene? Malian instrumentalist Toumani Diabate is today to the kora, the 21-string harp lute, as Ravi Shankar was to the sitar four decades ago. Born into a lineage of hereditary musicians stretching back 71 generations, this self-taught visionary genius has been lauded for both preserving the legacy of traditional kora music and exploring its creative possibilities. Having collaborated with everyone from the late great Ali Farka Toure to Björk and Damon Albarn, Toumani brings his lush, meditative and intensely melodic instrumentals to the glorious Charlton Park, backed by a four-piece band.
Recent Real World signings and multicultural fusionists Dengue Fever are burgeoning superstars: a Los Angeles band with a Cambodian-born singer and five American alt-rockers who have made it their mission to revive the psychedelic Khmer rock and roll of the 1960s. Their sonic stew - think kitsch surf guitar, spaghetti Western cool, klezmer, ska, Cambodian pop and Ethiopian jazz - had the Times newspaper proclaiming them among the music stars of 2008. "If there is any justice in pop music," it declared, "we'll all catch Dengue Fever before the year is out."
Saturday also welcomes the legend that is Eddy Grant back to the stage. Supported by his Frontline Orchestra, the purveyor of such hits as Electric Avenue and Gimme Hope Jo'anna brings his deft blend of reggae, pop and rock to WOMAD Charlton Park. The opportunity to catch a true Caribbean icon is too good to be missed; for while Grant's business accomplishments were said to inspire Bob Marley's Tuff Gong label (he is the only major artist who over a forty year career owns all his own recordings), most of his songs are singalong affairs that combine biting social commentary with feel-good dance rhythms.
Guaranteed to keep feet moving - and knees up - is the much acclaimed, multi-award-winning DJ Shantel. A descendent of the refugee Bucovina Germans and a former techno turntablist, Shantel is the man behind Europe's infamous Bukovina Club nights and the undisputed king of the Gypsy/Balkan party scene. Having won a BBC Award for World Music, compiled the soundtrack to the Borat movie and contributed to a wealth of albums including the compilation Electric Gypsyland and his own Disko Partizani, Shantel and the Bukovina Club Orkestar promise a cocktail of brass tunes, electronic beats and unexpected Latin rhythms. Oh, and mass delirium.
The quality at WOMAD Charlton Park never lets up: Sunday boasts an appearance by the remarkable Orchestra Baobab, that near-mythic collection of Dakar, Senegal-based musicians who wowed Africa throughout the 1970s and 80s with their laid-back, Latin-tinged sound. Though their 1989 album Pirate's Choice - a reference to the appeal they held for bootleggers - made them an international name, then broke up soon after its release. Their magical return at the start of the Noughties is something all lovers of African music are thankful for; this is some of the hottest, most dignified dance music you'll hear all year.
Squeeze are enjoying a similar renaissance. Having come to prominence in Britain's New Wave/power pop-loving1970s, this south London-based outfit worked their way into international hearts and minds with a swathe of finely crafted pop vignettes - Cool for Cats, Up the Junction and Black Coffee among them - before finally breaking up in 1999. Now leading lights Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook have reformed the band that everyone from Razorlight to Ron Sexsmith cite as a major influence. Nearly three decades on, Squeeze are as relevant today as they ever were.
Sporting a name that sounds like a bell on a bicycle, Sa Dingding is one of China's most prominent musical stars, with two million albums sold in South East Asia to date. Born in Inner Mongolia she developed an early interest in the 'ethnic minority music' of the region. "Before we start to talk, we know how to sing," she says. Sa Dingding's talents are nothing short of astounding: a multi-lingual multi-instrumentalist who has studied the zheng, a 25-string Chinese zither, horse head fiddle and percussion, she fuses the music of Chinese folk traditions and minority religions with Western dance music and electronica. Inevitably kitted out in blazing finery, she's also drop-dead gorgeous.
Then there's Ernest Ranglin, the renowned Jamaican-born guitarist whose session work at famed Studio One and Island Records helped give birth to the ska genre. In 1959 Ranglin recorded Shufflin' Bug - a rhythm which exaggerated the jump beat heard on New Orleans R&B records - and paved the way for a sound that led to rock steady, reggae, ragga and other Jamaican innovations; in 1964 he made history again when he and Millie Small recorded My Boy Lollipop, the first Jamaican song to achieve international success. In recent years Ranglin has made various cross-cultural collaborations, deploying his fluid and versatile jazz guitar style on albums including 2000's Modern Answers To Old Problems. Earlier this year Ranglin became the first lifetime winner of Jamaica's Reggae Legends award. He really is that good.
Charlton Park Tickets and Travel.
Tickets are available:
On-line at www.womadshop.com
By phone on +44 (0)845 146 1735.
(Telephone orders incur a higher booking fee)
Visit our website for information on tickets, line-up, site details, accommodation, location and more:
www.womad.org/charltonpark.
Travelling by train to WOMAD Charlton Park couldn't be easier - there are connections from all over the country to the local stations at Chippenham, and First Great Western provide frequent services and offer great value fares.
First Great Western
How to get to WOMAD Charlton Park
|
