Abu Dhabi, March 31: Some pretty impressive — and some pretty mysterious too — names have been announced by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH) for its third Womad Abu Dhabi.
The giant international music and arts festival with its roots in the UK and founded by Peter Gabriel in 1980, will take place at Abu Dhabi Corniche on April 7-9 and in Al Ain’s Al Jahili Fort on April 7-8.
Standing out in the line-up of artists announced so far is the Afro Celt Sound System.
No strangers to the Womad stage, the group is among the most successful fusion of ethnic music. Its sound is a double remarkable union between Celtic and West African musical traditions, and also between cutting-edge digital artistry and as-old-as the hills folklore.
Formed by Grammy-nominated producer-guitarist Simon Emmerson, the supergroup, as it is often called, has released five albums and performed in Womad festivals for over 10 years. Still, since 2007, it went silent until a great come back last year with “Capture”, its latest album.
Cherry-picked and beautifully re-mastered from the band’s previous acclaimed studio albums, the 25 tracks are divided into songs (Verse) and instrumentals (Chorus).
The album contains Afro Celt’s collaborations with Sinead O’Connor, Peter Gabriel and Robert Plant, and soundtracks from Gangs of New York and Hotel Rwanda.
Some of these works will be performed live in Abu Dhabi. Another nice surprise at Womad this year is Omar Bashir. Born in 1970 in Hungary, Omar is the son of the famous Iraqi oud virtuoso Munir Bashir, while his uncle was the oud maestro Jamil Bashir.
Omar, who returned to Iraq to study and later to teach oud before coming back to Hungary in recent years, and who performed with his father until his death in 1997, has been taking his traditional oud sounds to new heights through years of experimentation and influence of other music and instruments.
Tarab Al Emarat, a version of Takht Al Emarat, will be the local representative at Womad Abu Dhabi this year. The group, with a wide repertoire, is following some of the most traditional footsteps of Arabian desert, literally. Not too many musical styles take inspiration from the walking patterns of animals, but Tarab Al Emarat does.
In this acoustic eight-piece band, there are instrumental pieces that imitate a camel’s loping gait, as well as classic Arabic tunes (from the song books of people like Fairuz), and Khaleej sounds, the music of the Gulf.
From the African continent there will be a musician who requires no introduction, Baba Maal of Senegal, as well as Toumani Diabaté (Mali), Khaira Arby (Mali) and El Tanbura (Egypt). Dr Jimmy Cliff and Ripton Lindsay will bring some groovy sounds of Jamaica, Muntu Valdo from Cameroon will also be here with his guitar and harmonica, and the subcontinent will be once again present through the Manganiyar Seduction by Roysten Abel (India) and Sain Zahoor (Pakistan).
A Russian phenomenon and a symbol of Saint Petersburg, Terem Quartet, will be performing from a repertoire of over 500 pieces — original transcriptions and paradoxical fantasies based on popular themes from classical and modern music, as well as folklore, jazz and soundtracks from famous films.
Some of these artists (some of whom yet to be revealed) will also run workshops during the three nights on the Corniche, while Taste the World will also be back to add to the cultural flavours and diversity of the festival.
–Agencies–