WOMAD
Article and Photo by Patrice
Raplee
WOMAD USA, or World of Music, Arts and Dance, returned to Marymoor
Park in Redmond, Wash. for its third annual festival. Originally created
by musician Peter Gabriel, Thomas Brooman and Bob Hooton, the WOMAD
organization sought to bring different forms of music, art and dance
together from all over the world to entertain, as well as to show the
potential benefits of a multi-cultural society.
Womad is well organized and family oriented with workshops, demonstrations,
classes, interviews and programs for children, along with a puppet theatre.
Sponsored by World Entertainment Network, (www.wen.com),
Womad presented a stunning array of fabulous musicians such as Miriam
Makeba from South Africa; Ali Farka Toure from Mali; Jimmy Cliff from
Jamaica; Tarika from Madagascar; with Los Lobos, Bonnie Raitt and Paula
Cole from the USA.
The festival opened to clear blue skies and brightly colored flags
waving in the warm afternoon breeze that surrounded the main stage.
Musical groups from Ghana, Australia and South Africa performed on artfully
constructed stages, setting a lively pulse for the start of WOMAD.
Tarika, a five-piece musical group from Madagascar, participated in
a zesty, exotic dance workshop for the opening night of the festival.
Returning the next afternoon, the vibrantly clad musicians enchanted
concertgoers with the hauntingly beautiful sounds of their harmonies
and Malagasy instruments.
Later in the day at an intimate workshop under a large, shady tree
in the park, the group talked about the roots of their music and explained
how their instruments were developed on Madagascar. The Valiha, a bamboo
zither, is the most unusual of the Malagasy instruments. It sounds somewhat
like a harp and has bicycle cables for strings. Bicycles were one of
the first imports to the country and since no strings for musical instruments
were available, the Valiha evolved as one of Madagascar's first stringed
instruments.
Tarika's music often reflects the political and historical side of
Madagascar and that reflection is musically orchestrated in a new and
captivating sound. For more information on the group, check out their
website at www.froots.demon.co.uk/tarika.html.
After the Island Cultures workshop that Tarika participated in, the
small stage turned into the Women's Voices 1 Workshop. Paula Cole joined
Ireland's Karen Casey and a member of Ensemble Tartit from Mali. The
Mavens engaged in a spirited discussion about their culture, stumbling
blocks and some of the influences that were to play a major role in
their perspective careers. Cole sat with a friendly ease and a warm
smile on her face reminiscing about her youth. She said at the age of
two years old, her father had asked her what she wanted to be when she
grew up. She replied "A star!"
After Cole graduated from high school, she was awarded a scholarship
to Berkley; there she studied jazz and sang at weddings and jazz clubs
to help her through school and to garner experience. Cole stated, "That
was a very depressing era." Apparently, some of the commentaries
that are in her music stem from those days. Hours later, as the sun
was starting to fade, Cole took the mainstage and gave an enamored crowd
a superb performance and an enthusiastic version of Where Have All
the Cowboys Gone?
The last day of WOMAD, attendees were getting Henna Tattoos, browsing
the booths of the Global Market, watching their children play and calculating
just how much time they would have between one show and the next workshop,
or drum circle. At noon, the audience that waited for South African
artist Miriam Makeba, made it clear that this singer, writer, humanitarian,
loving mother and grandmother was by far the most anticipated performer
of the day.
Makeba was one of the major stars of South African jazz in the '50s.
After her anti-apartheid speech in '63, Makeba was forced away from
her home, but continued to fight for human rights and political justice.
In '90, Makeba's exile was over and she was finally able to return to
her beloved homeland. This international star has been a great musical
influence for many musicians in South Africa and has performed with
countless world-class artists. Makeba was the first African recording
artist to be awarded a Grammy for `65's An Evening with Belafonte/Makeba,
recorded with Harry Belafonte.
Makeba, her band and back up singers greeted the enormous crowd that
had waited with a patience and unity that is truly the embodiment of
WOMAD.
As Makeba eased into a melodious tune, thousands of people kept time
by gently swaying to the jazzy African, pop-rock beat of her world-class
band.
After performing a variety of music, Makeba introduced a song off of
her new CD Homeland and started singing Africa Is Where My
Heart Lies. The audience was completely enthralled as the heart-touching
melody and lyrics made everyone swallow the lump in their throat more
than once. Toward the close of her set, Makeba brought up one of her
back-up singers and had her sing beautiful a cappella.
After the performance, applause died down and then the crowd was informed
by a beaming Makeba, "That was my granddaughter." The resurgence
of concertgoers in the late afternoon was partially due to the scheduled
appearance of Bonnie Raitt and Los Lobos. A gracious Bonnie Raitt relayed
that she would prefer the media didn't concentrate on her specifically,
but she would rather they focus on all the other wonderful musicians
and artists that had come from all over the world to perform at WOMAD.
This publication is going to respect that wish and forego any reviews,
comments, or photos of Miss Raitt.
With just a few hours to go before the close of the festival, Grammy
winners several times over, Los Lobos prepared to perform before an
enthusiastic delegation of true fans. Los Lobo's mix of acoustic Mexican
folk music and rock and roll has kept their successful style of music
in the public's ears for over 20 years. Performing many a recognized
tune with an interesting slant, Los Lobos held the attention of every
baby boomer in the park. The audience danced back and forth while snapping
their fingers to the catchy rhythms and crystal clear sound of the Spanish-sounding
acoustic guitars. It's no surprise that these musicians are still on
top and will be so for a very long time.
Darkness began to fall and the Grand Jam would be the close of Womad
USA. Artists from different musical groups would come together for a
multi-cultural music jam to bring a finale to another extremely successful
and peaceful world festival. More than 40 different International bands
and artists performed over the course of the three-day festival and
all put on a fantastic performance. Many of the performers have CDs
out in the World Music section of most CD stores; some of the other
performers will only be a treasured memory by all the incredibly polite
and patient people who made up the unique audience of Womad USA 2000.
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