30 Mar 2024
UsernamePassword

Remember Me? | Join | Recover
Click here to sign in via social networking

Music News - WOMAD 2017 - that's a wrap!

WOMAD 2017 - that's a wrap!

20 March 2017 - 0 Comments

The 13th anniversary "of the most beautiful outdoor festivals in the world" WOMAD 2017, set in the stunning 55-acre Brooklands Park and TSB Bowl of Brooklands, New Plymouth was one of the highest selling WOMAD weekends in its 13 year history, including a completely sold out Saturday, putting the site at capacity with 12,500 audience members and over 16,000 people in total including all of the workers, artists and vendors. Friday audience numbers were 11,500 with Sunday numbers looking to be similar.

Event Director and NZ Programme Manager, Emere Wano said the festival team was thrilled with the attendance and good weather. “The magic of WOMAD is the journey of discovery, finding a new favourite food, point of view and of course, artist. We really tried to provide a diverse line-up that was appealing to all age groups, and this year with the inclusion of Mt Eden and BAYNK, we definitely widened our demographic."

Suzanne Porter, Taranaki Arts Festival Trust CEO, comments,  "It was a very solid line up across the board. The new programme World of Words went off and was very successful, especially the Poetry Slam which was at capacity. Poetry Slam judge, Penny Ashton performed a very moving, original poem that left not a dry eye in the crowd."

WOMAD delivered on its promise of being a place of discovery. Much sharing talk at the water stations included trading favourite moments, including the lively folk trio from Canada, The East Pointers doing their cover of David Bowie's "Heroes" and Vietnamese War survivors Hanoi Masters rendition of Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze" while New Orleans funk band Hot 8 Brass Band delivered a sizzling party set with covers of Marvin Gaye, Bob Marley and Snoop Dogg. 

While the rude boys and girls of the 70's were reliving their youth at the Bowl Stage with The Specials (UK) on Friday night, the youth of 2017 were creating their first festival memories at BAYNK (NZ) with the chant "I Love BAYNK and BAYNK loves me!" heard echoing out across the Gables lawn. 2017 put the "D" back into WOMAD with The New Zealand Dance Company, dressed simply yet stunningly in all black and white, enthralling the all-seated audience. It was a year that also saw an exceptionally strong female line up with Oumou Sangaré (Mali), Ana Tijoux (Chile), Aziza Brahim (Western Sahara/Spain), Nattali Rize (Jamaica/Australia) and Inna Modja (Mali) - known for their work in speaking to political issues - delivered stunning performances to enraptured crowds.

Keeping festival-goers dancing right up to the very end, Austrian Electro-swing band Parov Stelar and New Zealand's own producer and multi-instrumentalist Lord Echo closed Sunday night's festivities. After a weekend of truly spectacular Taranaki weather, this was the perfect finale to what is being touted as one of the greatest WOMAD NZ festivals yet!

Check out the stunning pictures and reviews that came in over the weekend, and keep up to date with 2018 news and announcements at WOMAD NZ:

WOMAD NZ Official WebsiteFacebook / Twitter  / Instagram


Next: US Pop-Rock Trio Hanson Announce One NZ Show This June

Prev: UK Pop Legend Alison Moyet Announces Three New Zealand Tour Dates for October 2017

Comments

There are currently no comments for this article. Please log in to add new comments.

Return to News Archive

NZ Top 10 Singles

  • WE CAN'T BE FRIENDS (WAIT FOR YOUR LOVE)
    Ariana Grande
  • BEAUTIFUL THINGS
    Benson Boone
  • END OF BEGINNING
    Djo
  • LOSE CONTROL
    Teddy Swims
  • TEXAS HOLD 'EM
    Beyonce
  • STICK SEASON
    Noah Kahan
  • PRAISE JAH IN THE MOONLIGHT
    YG Marley
  • CARNIVAL
    Kanye West And Ty Dolla $ign
  • SATURN
    SZA
  • LOVIN ON ME
    Jack Harlow
View the Full NZ Top 40...
muzic.net.nz Logo
100% New Zealand Music
All content on this website is copyright to muzic.net.nz and other respective rights holders. Redistribution of any material presented here without permission is prohibited.
Report a ProblemReport A Problem