WOMAD 2015 Line-Up announcement

EMBARGOED TO THURS OCT 23, 2014

WOMAD
2015 Line-Up announcement

It's confirmed! Fresh from her jaw-dropping headlining performance at WOMAD UK, Sinead O’Connor will be exclusively joining 28 top-class music acts from around the world at WOMAD NZ March 13-15, 2015

Among those joining her are Bombino from Niger whose breakthrough album was produced by multi Grammy winner, Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys. Voted by Rolling Stone Magazine as one of the Top 20 Guitarists of All Time British folk legend Richard Thompson is set to astonish us all with his celebrated songs and guitar playing.

Joining this exquisite combination of talent, are revered artists Rufus Wainwright and Youssou N’Dour - suggesting that festival go-ers should prepare themselves for one of the best WOMADs ever!

Set in the stunning 55-acre Brooklands Park and TSB Bowl of Brooklands, WOMAD NZ, has gained a reputation as one of the most beautiful outdoor festivals in the world. Located a short walk from New Plymouth’s centre if you book early you could even get a motel or hotel within walking distance.

The main stage is set at the base of a natural amphitheatre and not only provides a stunning setting, but an acoustic experience second to none. The other stages are located throughout Brooklands Park, with every square inch oozing the vibrancy of WOMAD, including the Global Village’s food and art and craft stalls and workshop spaces. Even the Brooklands Zoo plays a part in hosting the colourful Kidzone area.

The maximum capacity for WOMAD is 12,500 ticket holders per day so you’ll never feel like you are in a mosh pit – in fact bring a blanket and chill out for a bit in the new Pinetum Chill Zone and soak up the warmth of the WOMAD vibe.

EMBARGOED TO THURS OCT 23, 2014

In alphabetical order:
Balkan Beat Box (Israel/US) • Bombino (Niger) • Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino (Italy) • Che Sudaka (Spain/Argentina/Colombia) • Estere (New Zealand/Aotearoa) • Fanfare Ciocarlia (Romania) • Flavia Coelho (Brazil) • Flip Grater (France/New Zealand) • Jupiter & Okwess International (Democratic Republic of Congo) • Lake Street Dive (USA) • Luzmila Carpio (Bolivia) • Malawi Mouse Boys (Malawi) • Meeta Pandit (India) • Mel Parsons (New Zealand/Aotearoa) • Myele Manzanza & The Eclectic (New Zealand/Aotearoa) • Osadia (Spain) • Public Service Broadcasting (UK) • Puerto Flamenco (Spain/Australia) • Ramzi Aburedwan (Palestine) • Richard Thompson (UK) • Rufus Wainwright (Canada) • Sinead O’Connor(Ireland) • Tahuna Breaks (New Zealand/Aotearoa) • TaikOz (Japan/Australia) • The Gloaming (Ireland / US) • Toumani & Sidiki Diabate (Mali) • TrinityRoots (New Zealand/Aotearoa) • Youssou N’Dour (Senegal)

Tickets available from Womad Website HERE

Balkan Beat Box
Israel/US
Straight out of Brooklyn via Tel Aviv, Balkan Beat Box flirts with Mediterranean-inflected, globalised electronica. Fronted by Israeli-born Ori Kaplan, Tamir Muskat and Tomer Yosef, the band’s explosive live shows are underpinned by handcrafted beats, piercing saxophone and tough lyrics, adding spice and exotic harmonies to hard, eastern-inspired rhythms.

Che Sudaka
(Shay Sue-darka)
Spain / Argentina/ Colombia
As four illegal immigrants from Argentina and Colombia, they forged their sound on the streets of Barcelona in 2002. Now, Che Sudaka stand as the flagship group of Mestizo Music – the fiery Native American and European hybrid of cumbia, ska and punk, laced with strident socio-critical lyrics and wild on-stage energy.

Flavia Coelho
(Flavia Que-low)
Brazil
Her album Bossa Muffin defined Flavia Coelho’s distinctive meld of samba, bossa nova and ragamuffin. With sexy melodies and her striking appearance, Flavia presents a fresh mode of smart, sunny Brazilian songs, swirling around a sweet rhythmic collision of Brazilian and Caribbean styles.

Jupiter & Okwess International
(Jupiter Ock-wess International)
Democratic Republic of Congo
Jupiter Bokondji is the rebel general of Congo’s music scene. He sings heavy political and social messages laced with a sense of danger and urgency over jangling guitar riffs, funky beats and brass. He calls it Bofenia Rock – a tight, edgy combination of Afropop, traditional Congolese rhythms, funk and rock music, played with fierce energy by his band Okwess International.

Malawi Mouse Boys
Malawi
Recalling the power and purity of Sam Cooke’s 1950s gospel recordings, Malawi Mouse Boys have the world mesmerised with their distinctly African interpretation of gospel music. Soaring six-part harmonies sit atop soprano guitars and ukuleles fashioned from scrap tin and percussion tapped on drink cans with spoons – primal, yet universal.

Myele Manzanza & The Eclectic
New Zealand/Aotearoa

The fearsomely talented Myele Manzanza presents his new project, the afro-electro-jazz-n-funk ensemble 'The Eclectic'. Leading from the drum-kit Myele's concoction of 7 of Aotearoa's finest features leading ladies Rachel Fraser & Lisa Tomlins, Myele's father, afrobeat maestro, Sam Manzanza and the powerhouse rhythm section of Dan Hayles (Keys), Dan Ryland (Guitar) & Marika Hodgson (Bass).

Public Service Broadcasting
UK
Art rock returns in serious specs and leather elbow patches. Corduroy-clad J. Willgoose, Esq and drummer Wrigglesworth sample old public information films, archive footage and propaganda material, then set them to anthemic new soundscapes. On stage, films are screened simultaneously as the songs are performed, to teach lessons of the past through the music of the future.

Rufus Wainwright
Canada
Praised for his genuine originality, Rufus Wainwright is one of the great male vocalists and songwriters of his generation. Sharp, erudite, emotional and dexterous as a singer, pianist and guitarist, his repertoire spans from indie pop to Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, classical to composing two operas and staging a celebrated Judy Garland tribute.

Richard Thompson
UK
Named by Rolling Stone Magazine as one of the Top 20 Guitarists of All Time, Richard Thompson is also one of the world’s most critically acclaimed and prolific songwriters. Having co-founded the ground breaking group Fairport Convention as a teenager in the 60s, Richard Thompson and his mates virtually invented British Folk Rock.

Bombino
(Bom-bean-O)
Niger
Tuareg guitarist Omara “Bombino” Moctar has dazzled the world with his heavy-duty recalibration of desert blues. He brings a distant Islamic culture unexpectedly close through the universal language of rock'n'roll – aided by his collaboration with producer Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, who recorded Bombino’s breakthrough 2013 album Nomad in Nashville.

Estère
New Zealand/Aotearoa
Estère is a girl with an MPC she calls Lola. With Lola, Estère samples and records a wide variety of sounds she then uses to create a canvas of pulsating rhythms and evocative melodies. Her accompanying elastic voice and inquisitive lyrics help paint Estère’s own unique genre of Electric Blue Witch-Hop.

Flip Grater
France/New Zealand
Paris-based New Zealand singer-songwriter Flip Grater has a penchant for sharing. Apart from memoirs and recipes, she pens highly personal, nostalgic and at times melancholic indie-folk songs. Her new album, Pigalle, pays homage to her inspirations and influences from both France and New Zealand, while maintaining her uniquely intimate sensibility.

Lake Street Dive
US
Jazz-schooled, DIY-motivated and obsessed with classic pop, Lake Street Dive is a luscious musical curiosity. This quartet’s vivid, largely acoustic, groove-driven strain of indie-pop presents the soaring, forthright vocals of Rachael Price in catchy songs that are lean yet laced with heavenly harmonies, and injected with an irresistible blend of abandon and precision.

Meeta Pandit
(Mee-ta Pan-dit)
India
India’s new classical singing star is Hindustani vocal virtuoso Meeta Pandit, continuing her 200-year-old family tradition of elite singers through six generations. Her melodious yet robust voice stretches over three octaves – a talent that has won critical acclaim, and elevated her as a youth icon in India.

Sinéad O’Connor
(Shin-aid O'Connor)
Ireland
A peerless singer, gifted songwriter and strident voice in popular culture. Sinead O’Connor, through 30 years and 10 albums, bravely challenges the status quo with her music and messages. From crunching rockers to tearstained hit Nothing Compares 2 U, her mighty musical testaments celebrate the indomitability of the human spirit.

Puerto Flamenco
Spain/Australia
Puerto Flamenco - Arte Kanela is a compelling artistic collaboration of cutting-edge flamenco. Ultimate authentic style, displaying unrestrained energy, raw emotion, and sheer passion for dance! This powerful show receives standing ovations from crowds worldwide. The company works in a powerful and intimate line-up featuring some of the finest and internationally acclaimed artists from Seville and Australia.

Tahuna Breaks
New Zealand/Aotearoa
Tahuna Break’s live act is energetic, raw and large. It combines aspects of the 60s, 70s and 80s and is influenced by artists as varied as James Brown to Daft Punk. The band is well known for being unafraid to mix genres and have honed their sound on the live stage that encompasses funk, disco, soul, live electronics and roots.

Toumani & Sidiki Diabaté
(Two-marni & SiD-EEki Dia-barTAY)
Mali
More than any other kora player, Toumani Diabate has brought this unique 21-string West African harp to global attention. Born into an exceptional musical family – with 71 continuous generations of kora players – Toumani is modernising musical tradition while still honouring it. He will perform with his eldest son Sidiki, a griot, master kora player and Hip-Hop star in Mali.

Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino
(Carn-zion-aire Gresa-nico Sa-len-tino)
Italy
From southern Italy, Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino is champion of the furious, trance-like pizzica that propels the frenzied taratantism folk dance. The seven-piece acoustic ensemble rocks like crazy, with insistent pounding of the tamburello frame drum over layers of violin, bouzouki, bagpipes and accordion. It conjures an exotic mystique blending tradition and modernity.

Fanfare Ciocarlia
(Fanfare See-O-Car-lia)
Romania
The 24-legged brass beast that is Fanfare Ciocarlia brings ancient Balkan gypsy traditions into modern clubs. The big Romanian brass orchestra plays at breakneck speed, with ripping rhythms across sweet and sour horns. Their fierce Balkan funk has kept the true spirit of gypsy music alive through nine albums and 1500 international concerts.

The Gloaming
Ireland/US
Irish super group The Gloaming brings together five extraordinary musicians treading a new path in traditional music. With masterful fiddlers Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh and Martin Hayes, singer Iarla Ó Lionaird (from Afro Celt Sound System), guitarist Dennis Cahill and gifted New York pianist Thomas Bartlett, The Gloaming takes unmistakably Irish songs in captivating new directions.

Luzmila Carpio
(Luz-milla Carpio)
Bolivia
Celebrating the ancient songs and cultural ways of the Andes, Luzmila Carpio sings in the 2000-year-old Quechuatongue. Her shrill voice is unique; Yehudi Menuhin described her as a “singing violin”. Wearing colourful traditional costume, she sings about the Quechua’s ancestral veneration of the earth as her rebellion against western ways over indigenous traditions.

Mel Parsons
New Zealand/Aotearoa
On the cusp of releasing her 3rd album, folk troubadour Mel Parsons is highly regarded as one of New Zealand’s rising songwriting stars. With a dynamite live show, Parsons is armed with a unique sensibility to melody and harmony, and is a two-time NZ Folk Album of the Year finalist.

Osadía
(Osa-dia)
Spain
Osadía is a street theatre company from Barcelona founded in 1996 by multifaceted hairdresser, make-up artist, artist and performer Alex Rendon. The company is made up of Alex and 4 collaborating artists who represent the show alternatively in groups of two to four artists at a time. Josephine Grundy, Petra Rochau, Lindsay Dos Ramos and Adela Silvestre Sanchez are all performers who come from dance, music and theatre backgrounds and have all been trained in the art of hair sculpturing to perform with OSADÍA.

Ramzi Aburedwan
(Ram-Zee Abdur-ed-wan)
Palestine
A virtuoso of the violin and the Palestinian long-necked bouzouk, Ramzi Aburedwan tells the heartfelt story of modern Palestine through searing instrumental pieces. His compositions embrace deep emotional and historical threads in his concert performances, as bandleader of Ensemble Dal’Ouna (a group dedicated to Palestinian music and causes), and with the Palestine National Arabic Music Ensemble.

TaikOz
(Tike OZ)
Japan/Australia
TaikOz has established an international reputation for dynamic performances that combine the traditions of Japan with a contemporary style all their own. From the most delicate, ethereal flute melodies to the thunderous, visceral impact of the odaiko drum, a TaikOz performance is at once meditative, dramatic, joyful and profound.

Trinity Roots
New Zealand/Aotearoa
The music of TrinityRoots embodies the very essence of our home, land and sea. Buoyed by seemingly boundless renewed energies flowing around the band, Trinity Roots will bring to WOMAD the fruits of their new album as well as the hits we have known and loved.

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