Following the Bocelli and Coldplay extravaganzas, the people of Abu Dhabi will barely have time to draw breath before the next musical juggernaut roles into town.
Touching down on April 23, the WOMAD festival, a free event presented in conjunction with the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH), will take over the Corniche for three days of colour, cuisine, music and dance that could draw up to 50,000 international revellers. Headlining the event is Youssou N’Dour, arguably the most popular African musician to grace the world stage.
The event, which will also travel for a one-off concert at Al Jahili Fort in Al Ain on April 24, will be the first of its kind in the region.
WOMAD began life in 1980, the brainchild of former Genesis star Peter Gabriel, who developed an interest in the rich musical flavours of the African continent, and set up a festival in the UK to help promote his new passion. The annual event now takes place in cities all over the globe, bringing together artists from a variety of ethnic backgrounds to perform, give workshops and even introduce their regional cuisine.
ADACH promises that the event in Abu Dhabi will be no different, and has even set up an exchange program that will see local Emirati performers flying to the UK this summer to perform and record at Gabriel’s Real World Recording Studios, the fruits of which will be released on WOMAD’s own label.
A handful of artists were announced at a press conference at the Cultural Foundation in Abu Dhabi on March 3, with more to be unveiled in the weeks leading up to the event.
Performers already confirmed are Youssou N’Dour (Senegal), Abdulla Chhadeh & Syriana (Syria/Europe), Dulsori ( Korea), Dhafer Youssef ( Tunisia), Etran Finatawa
( Niger), Paprika Balkanicus (South Europe), Rizwan-Muazzam Qawwali ( Pakistan), Souad Massi ( Algeria) and Trilok Gurtu (India).
