Wellington Jazz Festival 2018

WOMAD 2018 - One More Sleep to go!

WOMAD 2018 kicks off at 6PM tommorrow night and Groove will be there.  Taking photos and blogging up what's on and what's happening.  So check in with us right here for all the gossip at the Festival.  McKenzie is also back to take photos and great memories and we'll post those in the coming days after the festival along with interviews with the artists.  The weather is looking good - so bring it on!

Two More Sleeps until WOMAD 2018!!!

WOMAD - World of Music, Arts and Dance the internationally established festival, which 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.

Peter Gabriel was one of WOMAD's co-founders: "Pure enthusiasm for music from around the world led us to the idea of WOMAD in 1980 and thus to the first WOMAD festival in 1982. The festivals have always been wonderful and unique occasions and have succeeded in introducing an international audience to many talented artists."

"Equally important, the festivals have also allowed many different audiences to gain an insight into cultures other than their own through the enjoyment of music. Music is a universal language, it draws people together and proves, as well as anything, the stupidity of racism." Peter Gabriel

WOMAD festivals are family-oriented, diverse and active musical events; sometimes offering as many as seven stages within the festival site. Since the first festival in the UK in 1982, WOMAD has held more than 160 festivals, creating events in twenty-seven countries and islands all over the world, including: Abu Dhabi, Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Portugal, Sardinia, Sicily, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, UK, and the United States of America.

We have presented more than one thousand artists at our festivals, bringing the expression of more than 100 different countries to a live audience of over one million people.

WOMAD New Zealand 2018 sees the 14th anniversary for WOMAD held at the stunning TSB Bowl of Brooklands and Brooklands Park, New Plymouth, Taranaki.

https://www.womad.co.nz/

WOMAD Song Of The Day - Spooky Men's Chorale - Sweetest Kick

As thunderous as a herd of wildebeest, as sly as a wagonload of Spike Milligans and as sonorous as a cloister of monks, the Spooky Men’s Chorale are the gift that keeps on giving...they come to NZ for their second visit armed only with their voices, a nice line in deadpan, and 15 really good hats.

www.womad.co.nzwww.womad.co.nz

NZ Festival - Photo Album

Hi, Groovers.  The CoffeeBar Kid has been out and about taking photos of some of the shows at the NZ Festival.  Here are a few photos from last week.

RUSHES

RUSHES

RUSHES

RUSHES

TEEKS

Ria Hall

Iraea Whakamoe (The Nudge)

Johnathan Crayford

Johnathan Crayford and Nathan Haines

Future Playground

Future Playground

Future Playground

Thundercat

Grizzly Bear

The Staves

WOMAD song of the day - Mista Savona - Carnival feat Solis and Randy Valentine

Australian producer Mista Savona has created a soundclash with a difference, bringing roots reggae, dub and dancehall together with son, salsa, rumba to create Havana Meets Kingston. The 14-piece band boasts the heavyweight rhythm section of Sly and Robbie and members of Buena Vista SocialClub, Los Van Van, Chucho Valdes and Inna de Yard. 

www.womad.co.nzwww.womad.co.nz

WOMAD Song of the Day - Kamasi Washington - Truth

Kamasi Washington was born in Los Angeles, California, on February 2, 1981 to musical parents and educators, and was raised in Inglewood, California. He is a graduate of the Academy of Music of Alexander Hamilton High School in Beverlywood, Los Angeles.^[1]Washington next enrolled in UCLA's Department of Ethnomusicology, where he began playing with faculty members such as Kenny Burrell, Billy Higgins and band leader/trumpeter Gerald Wilson. Washington features in the album Young Jazz Giants in 2004. He has played along with a diverse group of musicians including Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Horace Tapscott, Gerald Wilson, Lauryn Hill, Nas, Snoop Dogg, George Duke, Chaka Khan, Flying Lotus, Thundercat, Mike Muir, Francisco Aguabella, the Pan Afrikaan People's Orchestra and Raphael Saadiq.

Washington ventured into big band music when he joined the Gerald Wilson Orchestra for their 2006 album In My Time.^[Washington played saxophone on Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly. His debut solo recording, The Epic, was released in May 2015 to critical acclaim.

www.womad.co.nzwww.womad.co.nz

WOMAD Song of the day - Maisey Rika - Sink or Swim

Maori singer/songwriter Maisey Rika, has one of Aotearoa's most impressive lead vocal style, fused with her honest and thought invoking messages.  Some have described her sound similar to Tracey Chapman or Sade, with a splash of India Arie. Her spine tingling vocals and fusion of English and Maori (Te Reo) lyrics is capturing the hearts of soul seekers both in New Zealand and abroad.

www.womad.co.nzwww.womad.co.nz

WOMAD New Zealand 2018 is on at Brooklands Park, New Plymouth, from March 16 to 18.

www.womad.co.nzwww.womad.co.nz

The internationally established three day world music, arts and dance festival is known for its exciting and diverse line-up and this year’s event is no exception.

Over the weekend Brooklands Park will ring with the sounds of a melting pot of folk, afro-funk, hip hop, classical, jazz and punk rock performed on violins, ouds, koras and squeeze boxes. With artists from countries as varied as Cameroon, Canada, Chile, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon and Mauritania delivering a blend of traditional and modern performances; expect diverse languages, cultures, harmonies and rhythms from the big names and to discover glorious artists you’ve never heard of. 

Making up the 33 exciting and eclectic artists from across the globe performing at WOMAD 2018 will be familiar festival favourites; the pioneer of bass-dominant, dub flavoured dance tunes, UK’s Adrian Sherwood, the heavy metal inspired acoustic guitar duo from Mexico, Rodrigo y Gabriela and Washington D.C. based DJ collective, the uniquely diverse dub inspired Thievery Corporation. 

Joining them will be; the highly anticipated Los Angeles saxophonist, composer and jazz superstar Kamasi Washington, the Indian classical and progressive sitar virtuoso Anoushka Shankar and classic Kiwi band Dragon. 

Brazilian 10 piece, Bixiga 70 will deliver dizzying heights of progressive Afrobeat, Tinariwen will delight audiences with their scorching Mali desert blues and Havana Meets Kingston's sound-clash of reggae, dub and dancehall with salsa and rumba will be sure to make the crowds move. 

Lebanon’s soulful, classically trained Ghada Shbeir and Israel’s vocal hip hop star Victoria Hanna will deliver tales from ancient texts and stories of current social injustices. Chilean political-punk-poet Nano Stern and Ghanaian Jojo Abot who seamlessly blends electronica, indie-soul, reggae and hip hop, will be  part of a growing global conversation with audiences.

Always a highlight of WOMAD are the talents of local artists and 2018 looks to be one of the most exciting yet with the “toweringly talented song writer” Aldous Harding and Auckland city’s Hopetoun Brown, who will stomp and parp their way into audience hearts with nothing but brass, a bass clarinet, two sets of tambourines and tonsils. West Auckland newcomers, The Miltones will deliver some excellent knee slappin’, foot stompin’ and booty shakin’ tunes. The award winning Māori soul acoustic artist Maisey Rika will capture hearts, and with deep roots in the classical world, Black Quartet will impress with their vast sea of influences, from blues, rock, jazz and pop. From Taranaki, The Slacks will bring home some classic kiwi messages of unity, aroha, and community.

“WOMAD 2018 is a fantastic representation of World music today and continues to support diverse voices on stages” - Emere Wano, WOMAD Event Director & NZ Programme Manager.

WOMAD New Zealand 2018 is on at Brooklands Park, New Plymouth, from March 16 to 18. Tickets on sale from www.womad.co.nz

Song of the day - Aldous Harding - Blend

Aldous (Hannah) Harding (born 1990) is a self-described "gothic folk" singer-songwriter from Lyttelton, New Zealand. She has been represented by independent record labels Flying Nun Records and Lyttelton Records. 4AD announced Aldous Harding as a new signing in early 2017 just prior to the release of her second album.  Harding comes from a musical family: her mother is folk singer Lorina Harding, and she was discovered while busking on a street by fellow musician Anika Moa. The folk singer has also collaborated with many musicians including Marlon Williams, John Parish, Mike Hadreas and Fenne Lily.

www.womad.co.nzwww.womad.co.nz