Festival preview: WOMAD

by Jon Fletcher

A sauna, food cooked by the artists, a ceilidh and a globe-trotting line-up: it can only be WOMAD

"You don’t get any of the atmospheric schizophrenia you can get with some of the newer festivals: This is a festival that knows what it is and what it wants to be"

 WOMAD
 When: Friday 25 July - Sunday 27 July
 Where: Charlton Park, Malmesbury, Wiltshire
 Official site: http://womad.org/festivals/charlton-park
 Past New Noise coverage
 No previous coverage
 Click here for line-up details.

Despite the proliferation of music festivals over the last five years (current estimates put the number in the UK alone at over 500, with a combined capacity of over 2 million), there’s still no event quite like WOMAD.

In part that’s down to the all-inclusive festival ethos – children are not just tolerated; they’re welcomed with open arms, while the line-up boasts acts that span genres and the globe, from Algeria’s Rachid Taha to Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry.

In part though it’s also due to the festival’s pedigree – it’s now in its 26th year. That means that you don’t get any of the atmospheric schizophrenia you can get with some of its newer competitors, perhaps due to the fact that many of the crowd are now seasoned veterans. This is a festival that knows what it is and what it wants to be.

Last year’s WOMAD (which stands for World of Music and Dance), in common with almost every other major outdoor event in the UK, suffered from torrential rain that turned the site into a mud bath. This year, the festival organisers open their website with the upbeat observation, “The sun has got his hat on...” It’s the sort of spirited optimism that defines the whole event and brings the crowds back to Wiltshire year after year.
Moderate Rock said on July 2nd 2008 [report abuse]

Back to Wiltshire? Didn't WOMAD spend 25 years in Reading?

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