This year, for the first time, I attended two nights of WOMAD. WOMAD has been a yearly affair for me for several years now. Each time, it's a discovery of something new, a glance of another world. From the haunting voice of Yungchen Llamo and the dàn bâu (Vietnamese one-string zither) to DJ club sets, it had both the traditional and the new.
Expectation was high for this year as it's the tenth anniversary of WOMAD in Singapore. I wasn't too excited by the programme initially. It seemed highly skewed toward African, Middle Eastern and Indian music/musicians. The only exception was the Japanese Oki Dub Ainu Band.
Saturday's event was fairly sedate. Except for Youssou N'Dour and the Super Etoile de Dakar, I couldn't get into the groove of the music presented. The musicians of David D'or's band was great, and it had a fantastic tabla player. It's just that the music doesn't make you get up and dance. The treat of the night was a drum workshop by the very charming Johnny Kalsi of Dhol Foundation. At the end of the "workshop", everyone was on their feet dancing to bhangra.
Sunday started off much better with a crowd rousing performance by Sengalese hip-hop trio Daara J. Not only did the trio get the crowd dancing, they got us singing as well. We were all hyped up for the grand finale, a jamming session with all the artists. Saieed Shanbezadeh of Ensemble Shanbehzadeh opened the finale on the neyanbânn (Iranian bagpipe). It was exhilarating hearing traditional Iranian, classically-trained Israeli, and rapping Senegalese musicians, among others, harmonise their music. This is real music. Needless to say, I danced, and screamed myself hoarse again. I'm doing this again next year.
Expectation was high for this year as it's the tenth anniversary of WOMAD in Singapore. I wasn't too excited by the programme initially. It seemed highly skewed toward African, Middle Eastern and Indian music/musicians. The only exception was the Japanese Oki Dub Ainu Band.
Saturday's event was fairly sedate. Except for Youssou N'Dour and the Super Etoile de Dakar, I couldn't get into the groove of the music presented. The musicians of David D'or's band was great, and it had a fantastic tabla player. It's just that the music doesn't make you get up and dance. The treat of the night was a drum workshop by the very charming Johnny Kalsi of Dhol Foundation. At the end of the "workshop", everyone was on their feet dancing to bhangra.
Sunday started off much better with a crowd rousing performance by Sengalese hip-hop trio Daara J. Not only did the trio get the crowd dancing, they got us singing as well. We were all hyped up for the grand finale, a jamming session with all the artists. Saieed Shanbezadeh of Ensemble Shanbehzadeh opened the finale on the neyanbânn (Iranian bagpipe). It was exhilarating hearing traditional Iranian, classically-trained Israeli, and rapping Senegalese musicians, among others, harmonise their music. This is real music. Needless to say, I danced, and screamed myself hoarse again. I'm doing this again next year.
2 comments:
I quit Womad since 4 yrs ago. I think the quality at that time too inconsistent for me. Glad to know the event has grown from strength to strength. Maybe join you next year.
SL - it's quite inconsistent this year too. Thank goodness the finale is great. And it made me realise I missed a good act! The Iranian bagpipe sounded fascinating.
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