WOMAD Day 1: Beauty out of Darkness, 15 March 2019 (Concert Review)

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It was a terrible and dark thing, to be at a music festival celebrating multi-culturalism and to hear of the heartbreaking events at two mosques in Christchurch; the massacre of all that WOMAD stands for. But if ever there was a powerful antidote to despair, a reminder that love and music can unite us across language and borders, it was Sona Jobarteh.

This mesmerising musician plays the kora – the 21 stringed harp that resembles a lute on steroids – traditionally only played by men in ‘Griot’ families in West Africa. Taught by her brother from a young age, she is the first female from a Griot family to play the instrument professionally.

Having been listening, pre-WOMAD, to her suede-soft, quavering voice and the gentle, shimmering beauty of the kora, I was at first disappointed to see her on the Dell Stage, one of the smaller venues. But it didn’t matter. Sona and her band acted on us like a magnet. The crowd at first sat and stood in the still night, hushed and reverent. Then gradually we drifted, hypnotised, towards the stage. It was the song Gambia that had everyone dancing, and from then on we were under her spell. Sona played the kora with all the skill and virtuoso dexterity that has seen her defy centuries of tradition; engaged in a fiery and comical kora versus drums  ‘duel’ with the delightful Mamadou Sarr on percussion; switched languages and rocked out on the guitar (“different languages, different instruments” she told us), and taught us to sing along to the fast-paced and catchy Jarabi in her native language. She spoke of the tragic events of the day, dedicated a traditional Gambian song to ‘peace and the absence of suffering’, spoke of how music heals, and we roared and whooped our agreement.

Sona was for me a stand-out on an opening night that began with a slick performance by 23-year-old NZ soul singer TEEKS. He thrilled us both with hits songs including If Only. “It’s such a buzz hearing people singing a song you wrote,” he tells the crowd, along with news that the reason WOMAD is one of his few recent live performances is that he’s been working on a new album.

At the end of the night we gravitated to the main stage to listen to the big drawcard – The Original Gypsies. The 12-piece band, featuring founding members of the 1980s sensation The Gypsy Kings, is an impressive lineup of no less than eight guitarists. The raw, raspy vocals, the dizzying flamenco-inspired guitar and get-up-and-dance latin rhythms had the audience in a frenzy. The Original Gypsies have lost none of their fire over time.

But still…. On a heartbreaking night, it was a young female musician from The Gambia who stole my heart.

Maria Hoyle
Photos by Kevin Woollett

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