WOMAD Abu Dhabi

It has been a big weekend with Womad in town and what a fantastic weekend it has been. Again this year the event was held on the beautiful Corniche ( beachfront ), again free, the weather is warm at this time of the year, there was a pleasant evening cooling breeze, fantastic artists and a few that, for me anyway, were among the best I have ever seen. There are two main stages and a smaller open tent area where workshops and Taste The World shows were held as well as a childrens fun space, food and drink and some craft stalls. It was extremely well organised, the sound was pretty much faultless and everything went to schedule. And of course there were flags, the odd monster and happy faces everywhere.

Photos are in order of artist performance.

Evening One.

Starting with Orchestra National de Barbes from France. This bunch of guys were immediately enjoying themselves and the crowd soon joined in. A great start to the proceedings.
Next we moved to the small stage to see Khyam Allami, who plays Oud, from Iraq and Andrea Piccioni, percussion, from Italy. After some excellent instrumental duets these two entertained us with some cooking. Khyam cooked up some Iraqi Kababs ( meatballs ) and Andrea with usual passionate Italian flair, some pasta pomodoro. Being right down the front relaxing on comfy cushions we were lucky enough to get to try a little of each dish.
After that pleasant interlude we ventured off to South Stage for Paloma Faith who hails from Hackney in London. She was certainly colourful and enthusiastic and had a good voice, but, to my mind not what Womad is really about. Although the crowd enjoyed her she was a bit run of the mill Pop for my tastes. She did however have the most interesting shoes of the weekend so she scored points for her footwear selection.
On to the event of the evening, the staggeringly amazing Manganiyar Seduction by Royston Abel. Now this is what Womad really is about and much more. Arranged on the stage were a stack of boxes 9 wide by 4 high, with red velvet curtains and lightbulbs around the front perimeter. Interesting.
The Manganiyars are a caste of muslim musicians who traditionally played for the kings of Rajasthan.
The performance started with the curtains opening on one lighted box revealing a turbanned and well moustached fellow in traditional Rajasthani dress playing an Indian violin. Slowly more and more lighted boxes opened their curtains as other musicians and singers ( all wearing turbans and every one moustached ) joined the production and the level of intensity increased, decreased then increased again in usual Indian raga type fashion, slowly building to the most amazing finale where all the boxes were open, the performers all singing and playing for all their worth. Lasting about an hour this had the crowd completely awe struck. To see the ecstatic looks on the faces of the many Indians in the audience was a real treat. Most often Indians are the poorly paid workers over here and seldom get the chance to attend events so this was their big day and they were in heaven. I've noticed that this show has travelled the world, playing in Auckland, Sydney and many other cities so I hope that at least some of you have witnessed this unique masterpiece.


























































Evening Two.

I had been rather looking forward to this evening as one of my very favourite musicians was to play - I was very excited. I have written about Toumani Diabate in previous blogs, his instrument the Kora has such a beautiful sound and he is undoubtedly the master.
First up was a pleasant performance by the Terem Quartet playing folk songs from Russia.
There are 2 big screens at each of the main stages and coupled with the sound system playing you can watch and listen to what is on at either stage. I had decided to grab a front row middle position ready for Toumani and so was able to enjoy Aurelio Martinez from Honduras on the other stage. This proved a wise decision as Toumani and his band came on early for sound checks and instrument tuning and this was a little taster for what was to follow.
I have previously described the Kora as being like chocolate for the ears and I'm quite partial to chocolate and the Kora. So it now seems are many others.
Toumani's set was with his Symmetric Orchestra and they have great african beats. Around the middle of the performance Toumani was able to tell us a little about the Kora - it is a kind of African harp, has 21 strings and has been around for over 1000 years. He is the 71st generation in his family, passed from father to son, to play this incredible instrument.
It was a very special night indeed to witness this beautiful man playing such beautiful music.
Next up were the Afrocelt Sound System. I had seen these guys before at the 1st ever NZ Womad at Western Springs and they still have the ability to get the crowd moving.
Last act for the evening was ( Dr. ) Jimmy Cliff. Again a crowd pleaser, everyone was up dancing and having a good time especially when he did a medley of his old hits – The Harder They Come, Many Rivers To Cross, You Can Get It If You Really Want and I can See Clearly Now. Great stuff.


























































Evening 3.

Tonight was a bit of an unknown quantity, having heard only a little of the performers from the Womad sampler issued a week beforehand. Some surprises were in store.
First show of the night was Sain Zahoor, a Sufi poet from Pakistan, having spent most of his life, he is over 70 years old, singing and playing outside small neighbourhood shrines in return for applause, food and maybe a bed for the night. He was only recently discovered by Pakistan radio and T.V. And also the BBC. He was a real find and he and his band of percussionists and harmonium were delightful, colourful and lots of fun.
Next up was a pairing of Tarab El Emirat ( music from the Emirates ) and Omar Bashir a Hungarian oud player of Iraqi descent ( and not a dodgy Sudanese dictator president of the same name ). This local group was a very pleasant surprise, and I hope to be able to hear them again. There are so many very good Oud players and I will be looking out for more of Omar Bashir's music.
Another big surprise of the weekend was the next group up - El Tanbura from Port Said, Egypt. They are a collective of master musicians, singers, fishermen and philosophers. This large ensemble had been playing most nights in Tahrir Square during the demonstrations in Cairo. With this sort of uplifting, inspirational revelry happening it is no wonder the people of Egypt managed to overthrow Mubarak so quickly.
Joined for the evening by Hindi Zaira, a great singer from Morocco, this was a performance of such exuberance and the many many Egyptians in the crowd along with everyone else were partying like mad.
I managed to catch most of the next act, the very energetic Speed Caravan. Fronted by Mehdi Haddab who has been described as the Hendrix of the electric Oud. High energy, fast paced, fusion Middle Eastern and rock.
The final performance of the weekend was from Goran Bregovic Wedding and Funeral Band from Serbia/ Macedonia/ Bulgaria. A great party act to close out a wonderful Womad. If this is what funerals and weddings are like in their part of the world I wouldn't surprised if they are not booked up for years to come – they must be real fun events indeed.

Well done again Abu Dhabi for hosting such a wonderful event. Everyone I know who went or talked to discovered something or more probably a whole lot, of new, exciting and wonderful music from around the globe...Too much good as they so rightly say over here and very, very excellent.