World of Music, Arts and Dance
Encyclopedia
History
WOMAD was founded in 1980 by Peter GabrielPeter Gabriel
Peter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...
, Thomas Brooman, Bob Hooton, Stephen Pritchard, Martin Elbourne and Jonathan Arthur. The first WOMAD festival was in Shepton Mallet
Shepton Mallet
Shepton Mallet is a small rural town and civil parish in the Mendip district of Somerset in South West England. Situated approximately south of Bristol and east of Wells, the town is estimated to have a population of 9,700. It contains the administrative headquarters of Mendip District Council...
, UK in 1982. The audience saw Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel
Peter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...
, Don Cherry, The Beat, Drummers of Burundi, Echo & The Bunnymen
Echo & the Bunnymen
Echo & the Bunnymen are an English post-punk band, formed in Liverpool in 1978. The original line-up consisted of vocalist Ian McCulloch, guitarist Will Sergeant and bass player Les Pattinson, supplemented by a drum machine. By 1980, Pete de Freitas had joined as the band's drummer, and their debut...
, Imrat Khan
Imrat Khan
Imrat Khan is a leading sitar and surbahar player. He is the younger brother of sitar maestro Ustad Vilayat Khan.-Training and early career:...
, Prince Nico M' barga, Simple Minds
Simple Minds
Simple Minds are a Scottish rock band who achieved worldwide popularity from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s. The band produced a handful of critically acclaimed albums in the early 1980s and best known for their #1 US, Canada and Netherlands hit single "Don't You ", from the soundtrack of the...
, Suns of Arqa
Suns of Arqa
Suns of Arqa are a World Music collective founded in 1979 by Michael Wadada. Since the group's formation, over 200 people from around the world have played and recorded with them, and in many cases these were like-minded musicians Wadada met as he travelled the world...
, The Chieftans and Ekome amongst others performing. Since 1982 WOMAD Festivals has travelled all over the world, bringing artists to numerous locations and entertaining over one million people.
Ethos
From the outset, the WOMAD name has reflected the festival’s idea; to be embracing but non-definitive, inspiring and outward looking; and more than anything, enthusiastic about a world that has no boundaries in its ability to communicate through music and movement.Programming
WOMAD has always presented music that they felt to be of excellence, passion and individuality, regardless of musical genre or geographical origin. WOMAD encourages collaboration amongst the artists they invite to perform. The first WOMAD Festival in 1982 had Echo and the Bunnymen join forces with the Drummers of Burundi, and WOMAD Abu Dhabi 2010, saw a collaboration between TinariwenTinariwen
Tinariwen is a band of Tuareg-Berber musicians from the Sahara Desert region of northern Mali. The band was formed around 1979 in refugee camps in Libya but returned to Mali after a cease-fire in the 1990s...
, TV on the Radio
TV on the Radio
TV on the Radio is an American art rock band formed in 2001 in Brooklyn, New York, whose music spans numerous diverse genres, from post-punk to electro and free jazz to soul music....
members Kyp Malone
Kyp Malone
David Kyp Joel Malone is a multi-instrumentalist and member of the bands TV on the Radio and Iran.Malone formed Iran with film director/singer/songwriter Aaron Aites in the year 2000...
and Tunde Adebimpe
Tunde Adebimpe
Babatunde Omoroga "Tunde" Adebimpe is an American musician, actor, and director best known as the lead singer of the Brooklyn-based band TV on the Radio. His vocal method often involves improvisation, the use of effects and repeating sampled loops....
, and the French Algerian Mehdi from Speed Caravan.
- Workshops. Adult workshops are taken by the musicians and will involve dance, musical instruments and discussions. Children's workshops involve painting, circus skills, graffiti, modelling, story telling and more.
- Taste The World. Musicians cook a choice of dish from their home country in front of an audience.
- Global Market. The Global Market sells international food and wares.
Locations
WOMAD in the UKWomad Charlton Park
WOMAD Charlton Park is the name given to the World of Music Arts and Dance festival held in Charlton Park in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, England, since 2007...
takes place in the grounds of Charlton Park
Charlton Park, Wiltshire
Charlton Park is an estate in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, England. It has been owned by the Earls of Suffolk since the Reformation. It was formerly the land on which Malmesbury Abbey was built. The house was finished in 1607, having been built for Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk and his wife...
, a stately home in Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
. The arena holds at least 8 stages with a further one in the Arboretum. An old fashioned steam fair, global market, children's area, wellbeing section is also found on the WOMAD UK festival site.
WOMAD Charlton Park falls on the last complete weekend in July.
- WOMADelaideWOMADelaideWOMADelaide is an annual world music and dance festival, which was first held in 1992 in Botanic Park, Adelaide, South Australia as part of the WOMAD series of music festivals. WOMAD events are a showcase of different sorts of music, arts and dance. They encourage people to experience the music of...
, Adelaide, South Australia - WOMAD New Zealand, Taranaki, New Zealand
- WOMAD Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, UAE
- WOMAD Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain
- WOMAD Sicily, Sicily, Italy
- WOMAD Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain