WOMAD 2018: Day 1

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As always 13th Floor photographer Michael Flynn has unfettered access to all the stages at WOMAD. This year Tim Gruar is along to add words to Michael’s pictures. Here’s their report from Day 1.

A capacity crowd have packed out the Bowl of Brooklands, in New Plymouth, this weekend for one of New Zealand’s favourite all-ages festivals.  From the get-go there’s colour, revelry, food, spirit, passion and, of course, music!

It may seem like a cliché but it’s totally true – the sun always shines on WOMAD.  Yes, indeed, all day Ra played hide and seek with the clouds.  However, come 6PM it all cleared away.  And, with the exception of a well time ‘cleansing’ shower during MP Andrew Little’s welcome speech, the rain stayed away.

On first, was the Brazilian mega-funk act Bixiga 70, who opened with huge sound of brass and Latin/Afro-beats supported by a video of protest actions from around the world.  Although their music was instrumental, the juxtaposition between it and iconic protest scenes like the the man who defied the tanks in Tiananmen Square or women in San Paulo covering their naked bodies in anti-rape stickers was extremely moving.  The band really knew how to get a message across.   However, this was the only time the band got so political.  The rest of their high energy material was all about dancing.  Which is exactly what the the 9,000 or so who’d already turned up were here to do.

By the end of the night it was expected up to 17,000 would be on site.  Every year this festival gets bigger and bigger. Young and old had made it to the festival, pitched up their tents, parked up their prams or walkers and were intent on having a great time.

To add a bit of colour, audience members were invited to dress up for the night and, looking around I saw some pretty amazing efforts.  There were plenty of colourful tied died costumes, animal noises and up-dated Victorian bodices and lace.  But my favourite was a lady in a leather steampunk helmet with WOMAD spelt out across the spikes on her hat.  Although, later that was topped by two ladies dressed as glowing jellyfish.

Worth spending time at was a workshop with Aussie miners The Spooky Men’s Chorale, who held a workshop under a canopy of ancient trees on the Te Paepae Stage.  They had the assembled group all singing back a selection of chants and atonal notes, over which they sung creating an impressive sound and the perfect way to show how they create their music.  It was not only informative but great fun, too.

One not to miss, Aldous Harding and her three piece down on the Bowl Stage put on an intimate and compelling show.  Not easy to do when you’re a separated from the audience by a duck pond.  She started very quietly with the delicate I’m Sorry and Blend.  When she played Horizon, you could have heard a pin drop.  Cloaked in blues and purples, backed by puffs of moor-smoke, her song, in all its intensity, drifted across the glass lake some ghostly spectre from Wuthering Heights.  Comments afterwards, some from well seasoned Womadians, confirmed how captivating her performance really was.

Bringing the party to the Gables Stage were five Canadians, Le Vent du Nord, who mixed up their modern take on ‘folk’ with hurdy-gurdies, accordion and bouzouki alongside the usual guitars and fiddles.  They mainly sung in French, accented with various other languages to provide a bit of joie de vivre.  I particularly enjoyed Nic Bourerice’s flourishes on the hurdy-gurdy which he played with absolute grandeur.  Nearly everything they did was based on some kind of familiar Celtic reel or stomp, so they were instant favourites with the crowd, who danced and clapped along, spinning like whirling dervishes.

For a bit of variety, I went off to check out the Taste The World tent, hosted by Master Chef star, Jax Hamilton.  She had in Jojo Abot, who will play on Saturday.  The wonderfully funny and charming young Ghanian performer made us all a ‘Red Red Curry’ with chick peas, peanut butter, coconut cream and a whole stack of chilli to blow your mind.  With it she gave sage advice, about following your dreams, to the young ones in the front row and explained how, with music, it is possible to learn many languages.  She herself sings in a number of African tongues as well as French.

The big decision of the night was a split between two headliners – On U Sound System pioneer Adrian Sherwood or USA EDM music heroes Thievery Corporation, who were playing down on the Bowl stage.  It really was no contest in the end.  Whilst Sherwood showed off his DJ skills mixing up a selection of dub and reggae tracks – recent and ancient – Thievery Corporation brought  a big show, featuring every one and everything but the kitchen sink.   They opened with Facing East, featuring Eric Hilton sitting cross legged on the the Sitar.  Later he’d play us a couple more jams.  The other part of the duo, Rob Garza, remembered his trademark silvery jacket and stood out behind the keyboards and techno-toys.  We got plenty of material from the new album, The Temple of I and I.  Highlights included Racquel Jones doing Letter To The Editor, Notch’s honey sweet vocals on Children of Zion and later his energy on the punchy Weapons of Distraction.  Rapper and showman Mr Lif led a stomping version of Fight To Survive, which morphed into a brilliant finale incorporating the title track and a blazing guitar solo from Hilton.  Later, Lif came back and helped resurrect the band’s big hit The Richest Man In Babylon for the encore.  On my stereo, their new album sounds kind of mellow but on stage tonight it was bursting at the seams with fire.  It was a brilliant set for the first night at WOMAD.  As one punter said, as we were walking back to the camp: “The ‘Thieves’ were definitely the highlight of the night.”  I’d have to agree on that.

Tim Gruar

Click on any image to view a photo gallery by Michael Flynn:

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