Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club added to WOMAD line-up

Adding more fuel to the already scorching hot line up, Cuban stars made famous by the 1997 Wim Wenders movie, Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club are set to make their first ever New Zealand appearance exclusively at WOMAD 2015 .

Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club represents the distillation of more than 1000 shows over 16 years involving more than 40 musicians, forging a dynamic, multi-generational big band that celebrates Cuban musical tradition with flair and élan.

WOMAD Artistic Director, Emere Wano is elated commenting, “This was such an exceptional opportunity to be able to bring these players to our WOMAD, we had to make it happen. They are the epitome of Cuban Cool along with the classic cars and fine cigars, our audience are in for something sublime.”

In 1997, an assembly of renowned Cuban singers and musicians revived a forgotten repertoire of beautiful music – son, bolero, danzan and guajiro – that became famous as the soundtrack to the movie Buena Vista Social Club, which has over platinum sales (15,000) in New Zealand with global sales over eight million today, the soundtrack has been described as "world music's equivalent of Dark Side of the Moon".

Now, after a hectic 16 years of thrilling audiences around the world, the Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club is set to bid adios with a farewell world tour. The group has toured in different combinations since 1997, but the current line-up – under band leader and original trombonist Jesus "Aguaje" Ramos – will feature stars from the original album and film, including the incomparable diva Omara Portuondo, trumpeter Guajiro Mirabal and laúd virtuoso Barbarito Torres (who also played with the Afro-Cuban All Stars). They will be joined on stage by veteran tres player Papi Oviedo; Havana's young star pianist Rolando Luna; a superb rhythm section comprising double bassist Pedro Pablo and percussionists Andres Coayo, Filiberto Sánchez and Alberto La Noche; a three-man trumpet section led by high note specialist Luis Allemany and celebrated singers Carlos Calunga and Idania Valdéz.

Completing the line up for 2015, dream-folk darlings, French For Rabbits, have been confirmed. Their live show has been described as "a gorgeous, soothing blend of swoonsome folk". Having already captured the attention of U.S. label Lefse Records / Fat Possum who've released their debut album, this duo is primed to spark your imagination and charm your socks off.

An un-missable WOMAD experience awaits – book your tickets now.

Earlybirds Sold Out, Limited Three Day Tickets Available Now

Buy A Three Day Ticket Now – Get Three Days For The Price Of Two

via the WOMAD website WOMAD TICKETS

Camping and Glamping options available.

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

Tickets available from Womad Website HERE

WOMAD HAS BEEN ON THE HUNT FOR SOME EXCITING NEW ZEALAND-BASED TALENT.... AND THANKS TO PUBLIC VOTES, WE HAVE A WINNER!

Congratulations to Wellington Batucadawho will perform at WOMAD NZ,
in New Plymouth, sometime between
Friday 13 - Sunday 15 March 2015.

WOMAD THE FESTIVAL

WOMAD - World of Music, Arts and Dance the internationally established festival, brings together artists from all over the globe. The central aim of the WOMAD festival is to celebrate the world's many forms of music, arts and dance.

As an organisation, WOMAD now works in many different ways, but our aims are always the same - at festivals, performance events, through recorded releases and through educational projects, we aim to excite, to inform, and to create awareness of the worth and potential of a multicultural society.

Since the first festival in the UK in 1982, WOMAD has held more than 160 festivals, creating events in 27 countries and islands all over the world. Womad internationally has presented more than one thousand artists at the festivals, bringing the expression of more than 100 different countries to a live audience of over one million people.

First created in the UK by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Brooman over 30 years ago, WOMAD was first presented in Taranaki in 2003, and celebrates its 11th anniversary in 2015. In its tenure the WOMAD festival in Taranaki has had 150'000 visitors through its gates and generated over 70 million dollars for the local economy.

WOMAD New Zealand is committed to its environmental efforts, and each year measures and offsets its carbon footprint. WOMAD NZ is a carbon neutral event.

WOMAD in New Zealand is presented by TAFT – Taranaki Arts Festival Trust.

CEO – Suzanne Porter

WOMAD Event Director - Chris Herlihy

WOMAD Artistic Director – Emere Wano

ends

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