Cultural Dessert

WOMAD 2008

29 July 2008

The weather was the star at this year's WOMAD Festival at Charlton Park in Wiltshire. After the rain and mud of last year we enjoyed a very hot weekend of almost unbroken sunshine. At first the positioning of the BBC Radio 3 stage in the arboretum, with a tree directly in front of part of the stage, seemed bizarre. But by Saturday afternoon, as the temperature soared, this leafy shade was much appreciated. Everything seemed to work effectively this year and it became apparent how much more room there is at Charlton Park compared to the previous festival site in Reading - a much more pleasant experience all round.

Pacing myself more carefully than in some previous years (it was hot!) I still saw 12 full performances and dipped in and out of many more – seeing a total of 28 bands in 3 days! Highlights included the wonderful Israeli Ladino singer Mor Karbasi, Malian diva Mamani Keita, the mighty Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba (reviewed here in December 2007) and the legendary Orchestra Baobab. It was a great nostalgic thrill to see recently reunited Squeeze singing 'Up the Junction', 'Cool for Cats', 'Pulling Mussels (From The Shell)' etc. And Martha Wainwright gave an amazing performance on Saturday evening: very much the rock star, looking like Debbie Harry and sounding like The Pretenders - I'm really enjoying her new album, 'I know you're married but I've got feelings too'. But my pick of the festival were the six-piece male polyphonic vocal group from Marseille, Lo Cor de la Plana - unaccompanied singing (except for a collection of hand drums, foot stomps and hand claps) in the Occitan language of southern France. Their close harmony singing and solos with drone-like accompaniment are reminiscent of the singing shepherds of Sardinia (reviewed here in June 2007). Lo Cor de la Plana are incredibly rhythmic and exciting, weaving a trance-like quality into songs that build ever more frantically to thrilling conclusions.

Labels: Albums, Concerts, Festivals, Music

posted by Robin Simpson @ 4:54 pm