24 November 2022 - 0 Comments

Today, WOMAD NZ adds four international and two local acts to the 2023 festival.

Romany folk supergroup Taraf de Caliu; three-time Grammy-winning rock and roll, funk, R&B activist Fantastic Negrito; 11-strong German techno marching band MEUTE, Argentinan Grammy Award-winning ensemble; Astor Piazzolla, Pacifica Women's ensemble; Le Moana and Japanese Drum Team, Narukami Taiko. These incredible acts join Sampa The Great, Deva Mahal, Fly My Pretties, Mdou Moctar, Youssou N’Dour & Le Super Étoile de Dakar, and many more in celebrating WOMAD NZ's 20th anniversary at the award-winning Bowl of Brooklands and Brooklands Park in New Plymouth.

Taraf de Caliu (Romania)

After more than three decades of relentlessly touring worldwide, the founding members of Taraf de Haidouks returned and started a new project: Taraf de Caliu. The musicians from Clejani are the last generation of lautari that carry on this authentic traditional music from Southern Romania, the music that made them acclaimed as one of the best gypsy bands in the world. Under the lead of Caliu, the iconic violinist of the Taraf, they are on the road again...They are the last generation of their kind.

Fantastic Negrito (USA)

Born Xavier Amin Dphrepaulezz, Negrito grew up in an orthodox Muslim household in Oakland, CA. After a car cash nearly robbed him of his ability to play guitar, he began an unlikely redemption arc in 2015, when he won the first NPR Tiny Desk Contest. In the years to come, Negrito would go on to take home three consecutive Grammys for Best Contemporary Blues Album, tour with everyone from Sturgill Simpson to Chris Cornell, collaborate with the likes of Sting and E-40, launch his own Storefront Records label, perform at nearly every major festival on the map, and found the Revolution Plantation, an urban farm aimed at youth education and empowerment.

MEUTE (Germany)

The eleven musicians from Hamburg in their iconic red jackets love to break the rules and defy boundaries. What started as a small experiment on the streets of the district of St.Pauli quickly became a globally acclaimed phenomenon and led to joint performances with artists such as Laurent Garnier, Stephan Bodzin, Flume, Solomun and Marc Rebillet. The band revolutionizes techno music and redefines the concept of brass bands using acoustic instruments only. It provides for viral hits, sold-out clubs, and real electronic frenzy. Enjoy the bliss of a colourful, thrilling experience that will get everyone onto the dance floor.

Quinteto Astor Piazzolla (Argentina)

A virtuoso bandoneonist, Piazzolla’s music is a mix of traditional tango, classical music, jazz, and popular styles such as Neapolitan song and klezmer. His New Tango attracted admirers and collaborators from distant regions of the music universe, including classical luminaries such as Yo-Yo Ma, Gidon Kremer, and the Kronos Quartet; jazz masters such as Gil Evans and Al DiMeola, and even dance music diva Grace Jones, who turned one of his pieces into the club hit. Modelled on his sensational 60’s quintet, his wife, Laura Escalada Piazzolla, founded Quinteto Αstor Piazzolla after the composers passing, with the mission to protect and promote the maestro’s rich musical legacy.

Le Moana (Pacifica Women's Ensemble) (Aotearoa/New Zealand)

Le Moana are an organisation of artists based in Aotearoa. Le Moana is a vessel for the exchange of stories, concepts and ideas through the medium of live performance. The company was established as a pathway for cultural exchange and the development of Pacific storytelling locally and internationally.

Narukami Taiko Drumming (Aotearoa/New Zealand)

Narukami Taiko 鳴神太鼓is a Japanese Drum Team based in the Wellington region and founded in 2014. Taiko is the creative, powerful, and physically demanding discipline of Japanese ensemble drumming. Taiko incorporates movement and rhythm using the whole body to create powerful performances that command audiences.

From; Afghanistan to Zambia, psychedelic rock to incredible vocalists, classical to hip hop, Grammy award-winning to up-and-coming, traditional to contemporary, memoirs to mathematics. WOMAD NZ 2023 features 29 music and dance acts and ten thought-provoking speakers, all set to celebrate, inspire and entertain. With more to be announced!

The 2023 festival celebrates its 20th anniversary at the award-winning Bowl of Brooklands and Brooklands Park in New Plymouth.

The World of Music, Arts and Dance festival boasts eight stages, each featuring an eclectic and cross-cultural line-up with talented musicians, artists, and inspiring speakers for three days and nights of extraordinary music and culture like nothing else in Aotearoa.

Situated in a natural amphitheatre over a lake, the iconic Bowl stage is a venue with the wow factor. While the Dell Stage is an intimate affair surrounded by gentle native bush. Both The Gables and the Brooklands stages are known for their high energy and late-night sets. The Kunming Garden hosts the World Of Word stage, which celebrates diverse and exciting voices designed to inspire people to think, talk, laugh, listen and learn and the OMV STEAM Lab is a place of wonder where Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics unite, with inventors, innovators and people at the top of their fields pushing boundaries and challenging the status quo. Unique to Aotearoa, Te Paepae proudly hosts Māori Culture workshops and activities, and music, food, and conversation are at the heart ofTaste the World.

Loved by all ages, WOMAD NZ 2023 is a worldly fix without leaving the country—the ultimate culmination of sounds, scenery and good vibes.

Chief Operating Officer for WOMAD UK, Mike Large, states,"WOMAD, first and foremost, is a great festival to enjoy and discover music, arts and dance. But it was born with a purpose and created in response to difficult times. There was apartheid aboard, race riots and terrorism at home in the UK. Our founder Peter Gabrel believed that by bringing great artists together in a family-friendly environment, the audience would forget their fears and prejudices and open their hearts to the music instead... WOMAD and what it stands for feels more important now than ever."

Tickets to the three-day camping festival are on sale now from www.womad.co.nz .This year, WOMAD has teamed up with PayPlan making it easy for festival-goers to book tickets now, pay in regular, easy payments, and be dancing under the mighty Taranaki Mounga in March 2023. Camping and glamping options are available.

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