Every year WOMAD Taranaki serves up a veritable feast of incredible talent from across the world. It always blows us away when artists who come from such far-flung places as South Sudan, Tibet or even Iceland stump up and travel the thousands of miles to be here. It’s a huge trip, made in many cases on the smell of an oily rag, the love of their craft and the joy of performing their unique and diverse music to a receptive audience ready to accept them no matter their religion, beliefs or backgrounds.
Every year there is a glorious smorgasbord of choice on the bill. So where do you start? Well, every WOMAD experience is different. Here, Ambient Light writers Rob and Tim give you their personal favourites. They’ll both be at WOMAD this year and reporting back on the three day festival, reporting on the shows, interviewing artists and soaking up the food, music and culture. It’s going to be a hard choice, but feet to the flame here’s their final selection of what they NEED to see and hear this weekend!
Anthonie Tonnon
Saturday, 12:30pm, Gables Stage. Sunday, 5:00 PM, Dell Stage.
I’ve seen Whanganui’s elevator operator and most famous public transport advocate Anthonie Tonnon a few times now and he never fails to impress. Last time we crammed into a tiny music shop in Cuba St., during the Verb Festival, to hear about his unorthodox music writing and partake of some of his latest experiments with synthesizers, samplers, and drum machines. His lyrics are dense, thought provoking, sometimes political and a feast of narratives. You might be familiar ‘Two Free Hands’ or his Machiavellian take on local government politics in ‘Water Underground’, both from the Taite Music Prize winning album, ‘Leave Love Out Of This’. He often performs with just guitar and keyboards but this time he goes full Monty with a full band line up to created a promised ‘hybrid human-electronic form that combines the control and connection of technology with the physicality of a live rhythm section’. Can’t wait.
-Tim Gruar
Bailey Wiley
Sunday, 2:00pm, TSB Bowl Stage
Bailey Wiley is no stranger to these ears. Her lush velvet rich vocals meld RnB grooves, soul, and jazz. But she can also be a firecracker of fearless and emotive creativity. Tracks like ‘Between The Lines’, ‘Down 4 U’ and ‘Lady’ are sexy and sultry. But her slow jams are empowering odes to the strength of all wāhine. She can find energy and belt them out, too – especially on numbers like ‘The 101’. Her sound is dripping with neo soul beats. Those lucky enough to see her support Fly My Pretties last year at WOMAD and elsewhere on the road already know her gig this year is the one to watch. Her journey has taken her from Hāwera to the dynamic nightlife of Berlin and that comes out in her songs of love, motherhood and her love of retro rhythms.
-Tim Gruar
Good Habits
Saturday, 1:30pm, Dell Stage. Sunday, 4:00pm, Gables Stage.
Everyone likes a great folk act. Especially one that plays upbeat quirky music. Good Habits is that small but delightful package that’s just and brimming with folky festive goodness. Their songs are a scrapbook of poetic life lessons. Music is an upbeat set of tunes made traditionally with ‘the vibrant power of cellos and accordions.’
Four years ago Singer/cellist Bonnie Schwarz and accordionist Pete Shaw, who originally hail from the UK, were on a three month tour when they dropped Down Under. ‘Nek minnut’, guess what? Like Amanda Palmer, they found the borders had locked up and they were stuck. So, they holed up in and, as many musicians did at that time, started to work on a project, including material for their debut album ‘Going For Broke’. Since then, they’ve been out on the road again, touring and making more music with a beautiful sound that just washes over audiences with a warm hug, lifting them to their feet.
With a bag of originals and covers like the Stone Roses’ ‘She Bangs The Drums’ Good Habits is a contemporary, upbeat party favourite. We get them off the back of a euphoric performance at Glastonbury. And we promise this time, we won’t be holding anybody down – except for an autograph or two.
-Tim Gruar
Halfqueen
Saturday, 10:15pm, Dell Stage
Every year WOMAD showcases a rising star in the world DJ space. This year it’s Halfqueen, a boundary-pushing DJ who makes beats that are unapologetic, yet empowering. Specializing in global club sounds, their sets blend nostalgia and modern tracks effortlessly, making hips sway effortlessly and arms pump the sky with unfettered joy.
Shaki Wasasala AKA Halfqueen is the motivator behind a range of specialist events, including FILTH, a QTPOC prioritised Auckland club night run by them and JessB. They are a self-professed twerkhall DJ, a filmmaker and creative. Halfqueen DJ’s for inclusion, representing all sisters including those from her own Fijian and Pakeha whakapapa and their city’s ever widening, ever-evolving local and global diaspora.
Renowned for her eclectic curation, their reputation reaches well beyond underground communities here and worldwide. They’ve DJ’d a huge vibrant tapestry of gigs across the motu, including supporting larger tours of international artists such as YG, Brooke Candy and Earthgang.
-Tim Gruar
Strawpeople
Friday, 7:00pm, Brooklands Stage. Saturday, 1:30pm, Taranaki Offshore Partnership Taste the World
There was a time when tracks like ‘Trick With A Knife’, ‘Taller Than God’ and ‘Sweet Disorder’ dominated the airwaves. That was the soundtrack to the 1990’s in Aotearoa. Those beloved tracks and many others were well ahead of their time, scraping the best beats and electro-pop fabulousness from outfits like Portishead, Tricky and Massive Attack. Strawpeople were the epitome of nineties cool in Aotearoa.
Conceived as a studio only group by Paul Casserly and Mark Tierney in the late 80s, Strawpeople amassed a collective of undeniable talent – including the distinctive voices of Leza Corban, Stephanie Tauevihi, Bic Runga, Jordan Reyne and Fiona McDonald. Then add to that key collaborators like Greg Johnson.
Strawpeople, as a live act have rarely performed. Even this year they will only appear a handful of times.
Fans can also get a chance to share McDonald’s cooking when she shares her recipe for Louisiana Gumbo in the Taste the World tent.
-Tim Gruar
Leenalchi
Saturday, 12:30pm, TSB Bowl Stage. Sunday, 8:45pm, Gables Stage.
WOMAD is probably one of the few places that you’ll see a Korean alternative k-pop and pansori band on the bill, right next to a Queer DJ, a Jamaican Reggae act and UK Folk duo.
It would be challenging to try to categorize Leenalchi because they play such incredible genre-defying music. It’s familiar – but then it’s unfamiliar – jarring, disturbing, even. Yet it’s still wildly danceable all at once. To the Western ears it’s exotic, yet alluring. The group sings verses from the traditional Korean folk tale and reinvents them into contemporary styles.
Originally from Seoul, Leenalchi is a seven-piece band with four traditional vocalists, delivering musical storytelling through a variety of solo performances, choral singing, rapping and even dance pieces. The band also has a a drummer and two bassists. That alone should draw interest!
Musically, the work will have a background beat and basslines that draw inspiration from 1980s New Wave. Their methods include destroying and re-arranging traditional elements to create a new work that challenges, and yet honours the past. K-pop meets trad-folk, you might say.
-Tim Gruar
Morcheeba
Sunday, 6:30pm, TSB Bowl Stage.
Formed in England in the mid 1990s, Morcheeba led the atmospheric ‘trip-hop’ movement and Lounge music scene in the UK during the mid-‘90’s. The soulful vocals of SKYE quickly made them a household name. Big tracks such as ‘Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day’ and ‘The Sea’ are still firm favourites on most club and bar playlists because they still exude an ‘effortless cool’.
They mix influences from trip hop, rock, folk rock and downtempo. Morcheeba – now Skye Edwards and Ross Godfrey, who formed the band along with Ross’ brother Paul – continue to make captivating, moving music. They have released ten studio albums since 1995, and they are still going, having released their latest ‘Blackest Blue’ recently, delving into “the soul of the band’s genre-mashing musical heritage” according to the band’s own press.
-Tim Gruar
WITCH (We Intend To Cause Havoc)
Friday, 6:00pm, TSB Bowl Stage. Sunday, 5:00pm, Brooklands Stage.
Dubbed ‘the Beatles of Zambia’ because of their immense popularity, WITCH is the band that came back from the (almost) dead. The popular ‘Zamrock’ pop/blues/psych-rock outfit originally formed in the backstreets of Lusaka, Zambia, in the early 1970s and were seen as one of the most popular bands on the Continent. Headed by lead vocalist Emanuel “Jagari” Chanda, they came together during Zambia’s post-independence golden days and toured extensively, especially through the nation’s ‘copper belt’ (the rich industrial mining states). But by the late 1970s, economic collapse and increasing government authoritarianism saw WITCH, like most Zamrock bands, fading away. There were crackdowns on musicians and various social restrictions. Plus the AIDS epidemic. This is a common story with WOMAD artists from Africa, with personal hardship being a constant theme, sadly.
An unexpected revival came in 2011 when Now-Again Records reissued a career-spanning collection of the band’s music, which subsequently went viral online.
Now, with a new lineup that is international and inter-generational, the band’s only remaining original member “Jagari” Chanda comes all the way to Aotearoa to revive and re-invigorate that 70s ‘Zamrock’ sound – “a riotous rock’n’roll sound infused with heavy African percussion”. This is a party you don’t want to miss.
-Tim Gruar
Lisa O’Neill and Cormac Begley
Friday, 6:00pm, Gables Stage. Saturday, 2:30pm, Te Paepae Stage (Workshop). Sunday, 7:45pm, Dell Stage.
For a contemporary spin on Celtic music, it’s hard to go past Lisa O’Neill and Cormac Begley. With O’Neill’s distinctive voice and Begley’s mastery of 13 concertinas, the pair perform both traditional and contemporary songs that tell stories of a shared humanity that is Irish and at the same time deeply personal. O’Neill’s 2023 album All Of This Is Chance has been described as “a timeless piece of work, wholly unbound by style or genre, a universal shot of medicinal magic” (Folk Radio) and cements her reputation as a distinctive voice both on the Irish and international music scenes. Begley plays concertinas that range from the bass to piccolo register, and with his daring, soul-stirring approach won Best Folk Instrumentalist 2022 at the RTÉ Folk Awards.
Such has been their reach that Lisa was ‘Ordered by the Peaky Fucking Blinders’, no less, to sing the song accompanying the final scenes of the series, a cover of Bob Dylan’s “All The Tired Horses”.
In December 2023, O’Neill performed a rendition of “Fairytale of New York” alongside the Pogues and Glen Hansard at Shane MacGowan’s funeral service-and now she’s playing for us in little New Plymouth! With a trajectory such as this, this would be the perfect time to catch this duo up close and personal, while we still can – and I, for one, will!
-Rob Harbers
Baaba Maal
Saturday, 6:30pm, Te Paepae Stage (Workshop). Sunday, 8:45pm, TSB Bowl Stage.
It’s an integral part of the nature of WOMAD that you’ll see performances from past masters of their craft, bringing the legacy of long careers for the benefit of us all, and a shining example of this in this year’s program is Senegal’s Baaba Maal. After more than four decades of recording, performing and refining his hybrid of tradition and innovation, he is one of the most compelling and surprising musicians in the world.
His International wanderings have led to collaborations with John Leckie, Brian Eno, Damon Albarn’s Africa Express, U2, Peter Gabriel , Mumford & Sons, and many more. He co-produces the annual Africa Utopia festival with the Southbank Centre in London. Despite his international perspective, he has always acknowledged his roots by singing in Pulaar, the Fulani dialect of the Senegal River valley, and in 2005 established his own annual festival in Fouta, Blues du Fleuve (Blues of the River), to draw attention to his home turf.
He is also a strong activist, who has campaigned for women’s rights, HIV/AIDS awareness, debt relief, climate issues and education. He is a Youth Emissary for the United Nations Development Program and a global ambassador for Oxfam.
-Rob Harbers
Arooj Aftab
Friday, 8:00pm, Gables Stage. Saturday, 1:30pm, Brooklands Stage.
Coming in fresh from her appearance at the Aotearoa Arts Festival, Arooj Aftab has experienced a few firsts over the years, not least being the first winner of a Grammy Award for Best Global Music Performance, but also being the first of Pakistani descent to even be nominated for a Grammy, let alone to win one!
This was for her single “Mohabbat”, also included by President Barack Obama’s official 2021 Summer Playlist, and led to her performing at the 2023 Grammys with WOMAD NZ alumnus Anoushka Shankar.
Brooklyn-based, this singer, composer and producer’s music has been described as a blend of jazz fusion,jazz, electronica, neo-Sufi,folk, Hindustani classical, classical music, indie pop, minimalism,and acoustic music. Her spellbinding performance style has earned her a place on the New York Times’ best concerts list, and appearances at Coachella, Primavera Sound and Glastonbury, among others.
Born in Saudi Arabia, she moved with her parents to their native Pakistan when she was about 10, and found inspiration for her music in Lahore’s lush gardens, intricate architecture and Urdu poetry. Later moving to the US to study at Berklee College of Music, she is now part of the vibrant jazz and new music scene in New York.
-Rob Harbers
Equus
Friday, 9:00pm, Dell Stage. Saturday, 4:30pm, Gables Stage. Sunday, 4:00pm, Te Paepae Stage (Workshop).
Named for the horses that are such an integral part of Mongolian culture, Equus brings together three Australian musicians with Bukhchuluun ‘Bukhu’ Ganburged, master of Mongolian throat song and the cello-like instrument, the morin khur.
Making their first overseas tour to appear at WOMAD, Equus fuses Mongolian tradition with the Middle Eastern instrumentation played by John Robinson (oud, Turkish baglama and saz) and jazz players Bertie McMahon (acoustic bass) and Peter Kennard (percussion). This creates a very cohesive sound, as Robinson says, because the Turkish music he plays is closely related to the sounds of central Asia.
Embodying the spirit of a thousand generations, the textural soundscape of Equus is a bewitching blend of traditional Mongolian folk, ethereal lullaby and uplifting rhythms. Succeeding in creating a sound that is familiar and altogether new, Equus are an evocative and otherworldly experience, one that will be sure to intrigue listeners.
-Rob Harbers
Gilberto Gil
Friday, 10:00pm, TSB Bowl Stage.
A pioneer of the Tropicália movement, a hybridization of rock music, samba, funk, soul, and other styles that reflected the upheaval characteristic of the late 1960s, Brazilian singer-songwriter Gilberto Gil has had a career spanning six decades and enjoyed hits in each one. At the age of 81, he is now on his farewell tour.
Known for his musical innovation and political activism, this tour will showcase his extensive repertoire of folk, samba, bossa nova, reggae, disco and funk with his family band. Tropicália was found by the military dictatorship then in power in Brazil to be such a threat to the social order that it arrested and imprisoned Gil in 1968, releasing him in February 1970 on the condition that he leave the country. He moved to London, where he first came into contact with the reggae sound, before returning to Salvador in 1972. Gil has recorded more than 60 albums, at least one record nearly every year and sometimes as many as three or even four in a year, experimenting with many different styles. By all accounts, he produced some of the most expressive examples of Brazilian pop music. At the same time he has won nine Grammys and sold tens of millions of recordings worldwide. He was Brazil’s Minister of Culture from 2003 to 2008, and his work has been recognised by awards such as UNESCO Artist of Peace (1999) and France’s Légion d’Honneur (2005).
As mentioned earlier, this is his farewell tour-quite literally the last chance to see him on the stage, so I for one, will be hanging out for this one, on the TSB Bowl Stage on Friday at 10pm – come join us!
-Rob Harbers
Theia X Te Kaahu
Saturday, 3:30pm, Brooklands Stage. Saturday, 7:30pm, Taranaki Offshore Partnership Taste the World. Sunday, 10:00pm, DELL Stage.
The final act on my must-see list is the multifaceted Em-Haley Walker, playing two sets, one under each of their personas – the sardonic, no-bullshit dance pop phenomenon Theia, and the angelic voice of Te Kaahu, channelling a voice that brings to mind Julee Cruise in its sheer purity, through a Te Reo lens that is hugely needed in this time of redneck revival!
But there’s very little I could say that hasn’t already been said by Tim in his interview with them – so go check it out and get ready for the joys to follow!
In addition to these must-sees, there are certainly a good few others who I’ll be checking out if I can, among them:
- Dakhabrakha
- Ibibio Sound Màchine
- Mari Kalkun
- Moonlight Benjamin
- Mauskovic Dance Band
- Mo’ju
WOMAD is always a smorgasbord of awesome world music. These are just a few tasters. Ambient Light will be there for all three days – so check in next week for what we saw and what we loved!
-Rob Harbers
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