WOMAD, today announces a new slate of inspiring artists from around the world to Wiltshire’s Charlton Park from Thursday 25 to Sunday 28 July 2024.
Announced for this year’s festival is the Sicily-born reggae superstar Alborosie [Italy] who will absolutely get the party started on Thursday night. This Jamaica-residing singer and producer has collaborated with the likes of the Wailing Souls and King Jammy. DJ Paulette has consistently broken the mould as a female DJ, trailblazing the way for others, from ruling the Hacienda in the early ’90s to touring the globe many times, she is a true icon.
Joining them will be the varied musical talents of singer and composer Sid Sriram [India / USA], who combines Indie and R&B with his native Carnatic music, forming the unique sound he is known so well for. Another exciting announcement is that Ghana Special [Ghana] will be performing, including an all-star line-up and some bona-fide highlife legends; Pat Thomas, Kwashibu Area Band, Charles Amoah and K.O.G, they’re sure to showcase the rich sounds of this corner of West Africa.
Also announced is LINA_ [Portugal], regarded as one of the finest interpreters of the Portuguese fado tradition and exploring the more bluesier influences, Leyla McCalla [USA / Haiti] who takes her cello into the folk traditions of both North America and the Caribbean, an homage to her mixed heritage. Also added is New York-based singer-songwriter Emel [Tunisia / USA], whose barbed political songs have often been banned on the airwaves in her native Tunisia, golden-voiced singer Brittany Davis [USA], who takes inspiration from Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys and Erykah Badu, and the all-female Pankisi Ensemble [Georgia], whose stirring four-part harmonies are sure to bring the drama.
On top of that, Gnawa Blues All Stars [UK / Morocco] join the lineup, bringing together the deep and irresistible grooves of North African Gnawa with the sounds of West Africa, South America, Asia and beyond, and a rare female take on the same sound the warm voiced Asmâa Hamzaoui fronts the bluesy intensity of her all-woman band Bnat Tombouktou [Morocco].
Orange Blossom [France], who take their deep appreciation for the music of North and West Africa with a masterful command of electronica, Flamingods [UK / Bahrain] who deal in mind expanding electronica-seasoned psych-rock, and Maria Türme [Spain], who as one of Spain’s leading DJs encompasses much from Balkan beats, ghetto funk, electro-swing and much more.
The much-loved trio from Montreal, Genticorum [Canada], who delve deep into Québécois folk traditions using an array of instruments will also be gracing the stage, as will the five-piece Gangar [Norway], who fuse their homelands folk heritage with that renowned Scandinavian love for various shades of metal, and folk trio Hack-Poets Guild [UK] will be resurrecting generations-old broadside ballads that still find their voice in the 21st century.
Bringing the sounds of classic-era Latin jazz from Havana and New York city are the New Regency Orchestra [UK], who add a contemporary London re-rub to the genre, GS Collective [UK], whose heartfelt and heady musicians, MC’s and singers brilliantly deliver performances of jazz-inflected hip-hop and R&B, Levitation Orchestra [UK] who create a spiritually progressive form of London Jazz that absorbs and reshapes electronica and ambient sounds and ten-person juggernaut of sound Bixiga 70 [Brazil], brilliantly fusing the urgency of Afrobeat with the cool of Latin Jazz.
Flying in from Ho Chi Minh City is Saigon Soul Revival [Vietnam], who revisit the classical sound of sixties and seventies Vietnamese soul and rock, Mangrove Steelband [UK], 11 time national steel champions of the irrepressible sound of carnival, and TC & The Groove Family [UK], a ten-strong outfit who supersede the musical boundaries of Afrobeats, Jungle, breakbeats, highlife and ska, combining them all into a unique groove, and Skarra Mucci [Jamaica] who is equally at ease with reggae, dancehall and hip-hop.
Giving a live set at WOMAD will be Romare [UK] bringing his much admired cut’n’paste creations to vivid and vivacious life, funk DJ WBBL [UK] with wall-shaking drum & bass, hip-hop and house, Mista Trick [UK] with his extensive record collection perfect for getting the crowds dancing away, musical polymath Jason Singh [UK], and O.B.F. [France] the much-lauded dub-wise sound system, inspired by dub-cultures of Jamaica and the UK, who over the weekend will welcome grime MC Iman [UK] on the mic.
They will bejoining the showstopping lineup which includes multi-genre hero Sampa The Great [Zambia], progressive hip-hop trio Young Fathers [UK], electronic trailblazer Alison Goldfrapp [UK], bluesy duo Amadou & Mariam [Mali], cultural visionary Baaba Maal [Senegal], punk-rock showstoppers Gogol Bordello [USA] and the first hip-hop group to rap in Arabic, DAM [Palestine].
WOMAD is not just about incredible music; it has an abundance of activity; more announcements on the World of Words coming next week.
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