Music / festival
Tent-free WOMAD?
Love music but hate camping? You are not alone – which is why, as well as the usual full weekenders and sundry glamping options, local world music fest WOMAD also offer day tickets for their Saturday and Sunday lineups. And, with the festival’s Charlton Park site a mere 30 miles up the M4, it’s a do-able day out enabling the canvas-averse to combine a pan-global musical feast with a comfy night’s sleep in their own bed.
This year’s Saturday programme would be well worth the effort of finding a designated driver, with headliners including legendary Senegalese singer Baaba Maal, Indo-ambient sitar from Anoushka Shankar and the crazed P-Funk circus that is George Clinton’s Parliament Funkadelic. Less well-known but equally ear-catching treats include the hard-nosed desert rock of Kel Assouf, ferocious Galician electronic traditionalist Mercedes Peon, Ethiopian-inspired jazz from the UK’s Sons of Kemet and the timeless dub reggae of Iration Steppas.
Not that Sunday doesn’t have its charms, too – not least the sonic assault of Congotronics pioneers Konono No 1, joyous Cape Verdean vocal star Lura and the Malian all-female supergroup Les Amazones d’Afrique (led by Mariam Doumbia – pictured at the top – of Amadou & Mariam fame). Newer names include fiery Turkish folk-rocker Selda Bagcan and her Boom Pam band, Bosnian ska-punters Dubioza Kolektiv and the compelling Brazilian funkateers Cabruera. There’s also the tranquil presence of the Tashi Lhunpo Monks from Tibet to add a little Sunday seriousness.
Both look like good days in prospect but of course the weekend holds even more for those tough enough to tent it out, with rediscovered soul veteran Charles Bradley, nu-flamenco voice Buika and the irresistible guitar jangles of Malian Super Rail offshoot Bamba Wassoulou Groove among Friday’s treats and, for the really early birds, hard rocking Touaregs Imarhan warming things up on Thursday night with Asian Dub Foundation. But as always, there’s artists being added to the bill right up to the last and for all those big names it will probably be something you discover unexpectedly that will make WOMAD 2016 memorable (whether camping or not).
WOMAD 2016 runs from 28-31 July 28-31 at Charlton Park, near Malmesbury. Day tickets are now available through the website.
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