Whoa-Mad-ness

I partied on the first day of this year's WOMAD (World of Music, Arts and Dance) at the greens of Fort Canning that has lately been hosting a nice slew of music acts - the park has been 'bursting with fruit flavor' you could say... We fleeted from Iran to South Africa to Brazil to Scotland to Niger and finally the UK. Too bad festival highlight Sheila Chandra from India couldn't make it at the last minute due to "some problems with her throat", but the show had to go on...and on and on it did...

Here're the acts that we caught:

• Ensemble Shanbehzadeh (Iran)
  
  

This father-son team was a crowd pleaser. They kicked off the party and worked up the growing crowd soon enough. With the father on the pipes and the son on the percussions, they exuded the kind of intimate chemistry of traditional music borne out of freestyling in the comforts of their own house. Thankfully for WOMAD, people in Singapore got a taste of Iranian family "jamming" - quite magical.

• Mahotella Queens (South Africa)

These ladies set the energy and decibels for the evening on the main stage. They were such a delight to watch! Imagine your grandmother in traditional garb singing her lungs out to some traditional African jazz/gospel/rhythm & blues and showing off some synchronized energetic dance moves to boot. These ladies have been around since the 60s and their comfort zone is the stage as they flirted with the band members and the audience. Their performance inspired all the old folks chilling on their mats in the grass to get up and shake their young-at-heart booties. Delightfully leaves a smile on your face.

• Shooglenifty (Scotland)

Watching them required a flat dry land where you could do the Irish-style riverdance tap moves - some good ol' banjo and violins to perk up your night. Some echoes of gruff drunken Scottish-accented merry men line-dancing in their kilts would've immediately transported you to a music festival right in the heart of Edinburgh.

• Clube de Balanco (Brazil)

Next up we immersed in the sounds of Rio! Their infectious blend of swing and samba rock got the best of us as we can't help but swayed to it singapore style, one could even be jolted into doing a capoeira while almost smelling some Cuscuz branco in the air. Até a vista Clube de Balanco!

• Etran Finatawa (Niger)

With traditional African nomadic instruments marrying the electric guitar, they brought the desert blues into a modern tropical city park. I wished there was sand underneath us instead of damp grass, and I wish there was lush persian carpet laying out some hookahs and mint tea - it would've completed the Etran Finatawa experience.

• Asian Dub Foundation (UK)

The highlight of the evening, or the entire WOMAD, some might say, they didn't disappoint. The sita-tabla ragga-jungle madness closed the night getting everyone in a frenzy of musical ecstacy. They dropped some new materials too from a recent "best of" compilation that had some new bonus tracks. Some music that changed the world to cap off a night of music from all over the world...

It was a blast, although my only complaint was there was so much to see and do and so little time! Besides the 4 or 5 different stages that had performances simultaneously going on, there were also dance, guitar, drumming workshops in between, plus some international cuisine to sample...tooo much! Which just means...I've gotta continue completing the experience next year. See yall then!

For more WOMAD highlights, check out womadsingapore.com

• Picture credits: Thanks to narny's camera!