Waking under a cloudless blue sky in the Wiltshire countryside to the sound of distant djembe drumming and the smell of frying bacon, it could only be WOMAD. The previous evening had built a slow crescendo starting with Dub Collusus’ fusion of Ethiopian jazz and Jamaican dub. This was followed on the main stage by another Afro-Caribbean collaboration in the shape of AfroCubism, a remarkable project bringing together some of the greatest Malian and Cuban musicians including Toumauni Diabate, Bassekou Kouyate and Elias Ochoa. Intricate kora riffs and desert blues solos are layered over catchy Cuban rhythms building in speed and complexity and producing an elegant, mellifluous sound.
Alabama 3 produced their usual crowd-pleasing performance in the Siam Tent and were followed by the headline act on the open-air stage, Ivorian reggae legend Alpha Blondy. While his old songs such as “Jerusalem” provided a spine-tingling burst of nostalgia, his more recent work was not of the same standard. “Vuvuzela” may have had a serious message about safe sex (“Protect your vuvuzela before you waka-waka, don’t let HIV take your life”), but caused some chortles among the crowd. Alpha Blondy’s presence also attracted a small but vocal group of protesters who held up placards denouncing his decision to perform at a music festival in occupied Western Sahara earlier this year.
Baaba Maal’s set on Saturday night was perhaps a little too mellow for a headline act, but this illustrates that fact that the most rewarding performances at festivals are seldom headliners. Instead they are the unexpected gems such as Honduran musician Aurelio, Malian newcomer Fatoumata Diawara, or Susheela Raman whose performance amid the trees in the arboretum conjured up the gods and spirits of south India. Singing in Tamil, her deep, soaring voice filled the warm afternoon air, the crowd emulating her ferocious dancing with their hands lifted by the soaring bamboo flute.
Vieux Farka Touré played an impeccable set blending desert-blues with rock, reggae, funk and R&B. Combining strong catchy baselines with intricate guitar work and gentle vocals, he seamlessly fuses traditional Malian music with modern instrumentation to produce a distinctive trancey sound. Unlike some desert blues, which is raw and deliberately dissonant, Farka Touré’s sound is rich and warm. His songs are heavily instrumental and at times he drifts into wonderful labyrinthine guitar improvisations that last a full five minutes. Although comparisons with Ali Farka Touré are inevitable and although at times his style is reminiscent of that of his father, Vieux’s sound is very much his own.
With ticket sales up by 29 per cent, WOMAD’s 29th edition attracted 35,000 people of all ages. With under 13s allowed in for free, the World Of Kids and the steam fair were full of children indulging in entertainments varying from storytelling and face-painting. With three days of wall-to-wall sunshine, this year’s WOMAD is certain to meld into the happiest of their childhood memories and the weekend also brought broad smiles to the faces of the adults.
