WOMAD

WOMAD is on in New Plymouth now until the 18th March

Former colleagues of mine make it an item of faith to go to WOMAD in New Plymouth every year.  However, they are a lot more “intellectual” than I am, so I thought I would do a bit of research to see what WOMAD is.

It is a festival of international music that was set up in 1982 by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Brooman.  It has been held in 21 different countries since then.  WOMAD stands for “World of Music, Art and Dance”.

The only artists at this year’s festival that I recognised were The Black Seeds.  About half of the artists are truly international like a percussion group from Burundi, the others seem pretty much Australasian.

I wonder if it will end up going the way of the Big Day Out?  Last year about 30,000 people attended which seems pretty good.  I found this site that reviewed last year’s event - http://libel.co.nz/blog_posts/887-womad_festival_march_12_14th_bowl_of_brooklands_new_plymouth