Womad lines up the best in world music

By LINDA HERRICK

Once, in a former life at another publication, I was told off for running stories about Womad artists who were coming for the last - literally - Auckland festival of world music and dance. "Why don't you run stories about musicians people have heard of?" was the demand.

Sigh. That's the whole point of Womad: these are not singers and musicians you hear on bland radio formats, unless you're listening to BBC World or maybe Mai FM. But you can guarantee Womad players are worth seeking out and listening to because they are most often the cream of their nation's culture.

An initial survey of the artists coming to New Plymouth's inaugural Womad Festival on March 14-16, running alongside the city's Taranaki Festival (February 27- March 16) produced an immediate frisson at the inclusion of Britain's mighty Temple of Sound, the partnership of Neil Sparkes and Count Dubulah, formerly of Transglobal Underground.

TOS, formed as a qawwali project after hearing the amazing Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan live (he has since died), have lately collaborated with Nusrat's grand-nephews, Rizwan and Muazzam Ali Khan, and made the album People's Colony No 1 with bassist Jah Wobble.

Good news No 1: the album is a mindblowing combination of traditional qawwali (devotional Sufi singing) and 21st-century technology. Massive Attack are big fans. Good news No 2: Rizwan-Muazzam Qawwali, as they are known, are coming to New Plymouth, too, to play with TOS.

It gets even better. Mexico City's Los De Abajo have been around for about a decade, and are renowned for their explicit political music, variously described as tropi-punk, Latin ska and agit-funk. They released their first album, Cybertronic Chilango Power, on David Byrne's label in 1991 and are said to be irresistibly danceable.

Orlando "Cachaito" Lopez, from the premier bass-playing family of Cuba, is best-known for his double bass work with the Buena Vista Social Club.

Legendary Colombian singer Toto La Momposina is also on the way, with a repertoire which combines African, Spanish and Indian traditions. Mojo magazine judged Toto's 2000 record Pacanto "one of the year's finest Latin albums".

Also coming is Senegali singer-percussionist Cheikh Lo, who moved to Paris as a session musician in the mid-80s and has worked with the likes of Youssou N'Dour, who helped him to record in Dakar.

Lo has since been feted worldwide for his recorded and live work; check out his first hit album, Ne La Thiass.

From another continent is Scottish supergroup Shooglenifty (did you think I was going to say Travis?), a six-piece "acid-croft" band who are wildly popular in the land of single malt. If you think the name is some weird hippy thing, "shoogle" is Celtic for shake, and "nifty" means dextrous. Tony Blair is a big fan, but don't let that put you off.

We'll be covering Womad in more depth as the festival approaches. It has a strong New Zealand content as well (more of that later) so my advice is, check out the Womad website and the Taranaki motel situation around mid-March. Wonder if Tom Cruise will get funk-ah with it?

Womad