5TH APRIL, 2011 ♥

Womad Nomad.

A couple of weeks ago I attended the WOMADelaide festival - for people not familiar with WOMAD festivals, they stand for 'World of Music and Dance' and are a weekend of musical heaven and hippie adventures! The movement was started by Peter Gabriel in 1980, and the festivals consist of bands and artists from all over our beautiful world. This year was magical for me as I was able to attend all four days by volunteering! I had to do a four hour volunteer shift each day, and in return was given a free pass to the festival, which was such a great deal as the shifts could hardly be considered work.

It's a very hippie festival - the crowd is completely chillaxed, anything goes and that goes for fashion choices too! If you ever wanted to test out a slightly experimental ensemble, this is the place to do it! I love the WOMAD atmosphere - sunsets, dust, running barefoot, dancing through forests of flags, the delicious array of international food and most of all, the beautiful music that we probably wouldn't discover otherwise. At last year's WOMAD, I was lucky enough to see the world renowned Indian sitar player, Ravi Shankar - he was 90 years old and I never thought I'd have that opportunity!

Highlights for me this year were Calypso Rose (a 70 year old woman from Trinidad and Tobago with more soul and joy than I've ever seen inside one person), Space Invadas (a totally rad funk band from Sydney and the UK, very Curtis Mayfield-esque), Band of Brothers (virtuoso classical guitarists), Imelda May (Irish rockabilly singer), Faiz Ali Faiz (a group of male Pakastani singers and drummers), Joanna Newsom (US Indie harp goddess), Martha Wainright (folk singer from Canada) and a cute little Irish band called the Allan Kelly Quartet.

Here's a few pictures of my time at WOMAD 2011 - easily the best weekend of my year so far!

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It was one of those weekends where, when it's all over, you're a little bit shocked to be back in the real world again. Counting down until next year :)

- C x

6 comments:

  1. hope you have a wonderful day :D

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  2. Wow this looks like an amazing festival! I really love the pictures, looks like you had a blast!

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  3. Ive always wanted to go to womad but I can never justify the price! If only I knew about volunteering! oh well, next year perhaps! The photos are amazing :)

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  4. You should definitely volunteer next year Hannah, it was well worth the small amount of work! Thank you all for your comments! xo

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You make me smile. ♥