WOMAD is going ahead as planned, despite flight chaos courtesy of an irate volcano in Iceland!!
On Thursday 22nd, Friday 23rd and Saturday 24th April, from 7pm onwards, musicians from around the world will descend on Abu Dhabi’s Corniche for WOMAD. Check out the bands heading for the capital….
Damian Marley
Bob Marley’s equally talented son will headline WOMAD 2010 on April 24. The youngest son of Reggae legend Bob Marley, singer/songwriter Damian ‘Jr Gong’ Marley has explored his musical roots, adapting traditional Reggae elements, to become one of today’s hottest performers. His hard-edged, impassioned vocal delivery and fast pace verse have shaken up stages across the world.
Three time Grammy Award winner, Damian ‘Jr Gong’ Marley has been heralded by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the “top 10 new artists to watch”. Incorporating elements of Reggae, Hip-hop, and R&B, his blistering vocal beats and mesmerising rhythms present his audacious musical identity to the global community, updating the Marley musical legacy for the 21st century.
ABRI
The powerful blend of Soul, Jazz and R&B of MTV Europe Music Awards 2008 Nominee ABRI, described as ‘the best original band Dubai has ever seen’ (Time Out), is inspired by music from all corners of the world. The UK-based Dubai band dodges the conventional trend of musical genres, with a harmonious sound with a unique, expressive vocal style.
Babylon Circus
An on-stage carnival procession, the surrealistic French Ska/Reggae punksters, Babylon Circus, carry a message of optimism in the style of musical warriors. These sonic rebels use the power of the microphone to provide an alternative view of reality. Their music is also a call to put your ‘wallflower’ days behind and join in the sonic madness led by the band’s energetic stage antics.
Chemirani’s
Chemirani’s are a renowned Persian classical music ensemble, made up of four members of the Chemirani family – master percussionist, Djamchid; his sons, Bijane and Keyvan; and his daughter Maryam. Their special chemistry and peerless virtuosity has firmly established the ‘zarb’, a traditional Persian drum, as one of the world’s foremost percussion instruments.
Drummers of Burundi
The Drummers of Burundi first took the UK by storm at the legendary inaugural WOMAD Festival in 1982. Their performances are as much a spectacle of dance as music. With tremendous energy, dancing with as much skill, expressiveness, and thunderous excitement as they drum, the drummers leap, twist and spin around a crescent of great log drums, made from hollowed-out tree trunks covered with dried animal skins.
Faiz Ali Faiz
Since their first concert in 2006, the intensity of human feeling and sheer musicality manifest in the meeting of these two artists has impacted globally. From the brilliant vocalisation of one hailed as a worthy successor to Nusrat to Titi Robin’s chiselled chords, learned from the travelling community of Anjou, this musical dialogue with its strong gypsy savour links east and west in easy harmony. Both artists show themselves at once heirs of tradition and peerless innovators as well as conceptualists who are totally at ease in this interweaving of musical worlds.
Femi Kuti
Femi Kuti, an undisputed genius of Nigerian Afro-beat, combines a funky, jazzy, heavily percussive sound with the freshness and exuberance of young Lagos and its taste for the new R&B and dance music of America and Europe. Femi’s rude, muscular sax style brings an excitement and charisma to his performances, which incorporate sharp social commentary on the politics of his homeland. The Grammy nominated artist crosses boundaries of musical genres, bringing big band sound, Jazz, Funk and modern R&B together in a spectacular fusion and has firmly stamped his own unique style on world music, enthralling international audiences for over two decades.
Hakim, Eqyption
Hakim is the king of Jeel, the offshoot of Egyptian Sha’bi street-pop. Influenced from an early age by the great Ahmed Adaweyah, Hakim has a forward-looking sound that remains strongly rooted in the working-class tradition of Sha’bi. Constantly striving to drive his music forward, Hakim has introduced new sounds and fusions of ideas to reach out to a wider global audience and keep Sha’bi music evolving.
Hanggai
Hanggai, a group of young musicians from Beijing and the Chinese province of Inner Mongolia have attracted quite a following in recent years with their interpretations of traditional songs from the grasslands. The word “hanggai” is ancient Mongolian, describing an idealised grassland landscape of mountains, trees, rivers and blue skies.
Rachid Taha
Rachid Taha’s music is influenced by many different styles such as Rock, Techno and Raï. His unique performance involves real invention, passion, and exoticism. Mixing Arabic rhythms with Rock, he adds an element of swagger and attitude combined with beauty, electronics, and huge Morroccan-sounding strings, introducing a range of musical styles to create his own very distinctive sound. Onstage, Rachid is master showman, delivering rude-boy witticisms and hilarious insights with passion whilst his band fire off raucous Rock riffs and intricate Arabic melodies. Driven by a rebellious instinct and eclectic vision, his politically minded songs defend democracy and tolerance, whilst cleverly bridging cultures.
Rango from Sudan
Rango is fascinating collective of musicians and dancers who take their name from an historic and extremely rare type of “marimba” the “rango”. Based in Cairo, they perform trance-inducing Sudanese acoustic dance music, originating from traditional ceremonies played on vintage lyres retro-fitted with electric pick-ups and accompanied by drummers and ritual percussionists wearing ‘mangor’ belts fashioned from goat horns.
Transglobal Underground
Transglobal Underground is a London-based music collective who specialise in a fusion of Western, Asian and African music styles using culturally-diverse instrumentation. The band’s line-up changes frequently, satisfying the band’s hunger for new sounds and ideas, always keeping their sound fresh. Their music incorporates sounds from all over the world – India, Africa, Egypt, Israel and Europe.
Le Trio Joubran
Le Trio Joubran, three brothers from Palestine, are descended from a family of Oud makers and players and have transformed this instrument into a passion, a skill, a life. Their mastery of the Oud is singular and so are the enchanting rhythms, harmony and synchronisation they produce. Among the most inventive musicians in the Arab world, the trio’s repertoire, made up of original creations, takes root in their knowledge of the imposing culture of traditional Maqâms and their subtle interpretations bring a new dimension to the traditional Arabic lute, thanks to the intuitive way they work together, and the emotional range of their improvisations.
WOMAD Al Ain: What the organisers say…
ADACH and WOMAD are proud to present an extended festival programme in the stunning setting of Al Jahili Fort in Al Ain. Not only will there be two days of artist performances on 22nd and 23rd April, there will also be an additional stage as well as a WOMAD workshops tent. A special feature of our festival this year in Al Ain will be the Desert Cultures stage curated by renowned guitarist, producer and international musical collaborator Justin Adams (UK). Justin will be devising a programme of music with artists from the Sahara, the Kalahari, the Gobi, Northern Rajasthan and the Arabian desert, finding out how the music of these remarkable landscapes have influenced the music and the lives of the musicians. We will be presenting displays where you will be able to find out more about the artists, their music, their arts and culture and region of the world. WOMAD will create a tented area alongside the Desert Cultures stage, where musicians will have the opportunity to hang out, jam together and even collaborate in bringing together, what might at first appear to be quite disparate styles of music. Here is the place to delve into some of the other pleasures of the desert too; a glass of mint tea, a pyramid of woven cloth, exquisite hand crafted silver jewellery and musical instruments. A space to explore and share in the lives of these musicians.
