Live Photos and Review: WOMAD NZ 2023 Festival

WOMAD NZ returned after a three year absence, a little quieter (perhaps stripped back after three years without money coming?) but with the same friendly atmosphere and diverse range of musical acts.

The festival was only an hour old when Niger guitarist Mdou Moctar unleashed a ferocious set of Tuareg style guitar. The crowd didn't need much encouragement to clap along, even while his drummer thundered along layering a triplet feel over the top.

MEUTE's beats were more four-on-the-floor, creating dance music with the line-up of a marching band. The crowd on the huge Bowl of Brooklands bank did their first bit of dancing. The Fly My Pretties set was more laid back, though they practically had an all-star choir upfront with the combined voices of Hollie Smith, Bailey Wiley, Mel Parsons, Anna Coddington, and Ria Hall. Barnaby Weir risked letting himself be overshadowed in his own band with that line-up!

Earlier that night Deva Mahal also put in her challenge to be considered Aotearoa's finest soulful voice, especially when dueting with her sister Zoe Moon on the appropriately titled 'Sister'. She did a great turn at funk too, with the input of her brother and bassist Imon Starr (Rhombus, Olmecha Supreme).

WOMAD is a lot more than musical performances on the main stages. Belize group Garifuna Collective gave a workshop on the drum rhythms they use; Korean act ADG7 gave a combined cooking lesson and musical instrument explainer in the Taste The World tent; and our poet laureate Chris Tse judged a poetry slam collective. It's such a safe festival for kids too, with the only danger being that they'll blow a bunch of money on crystals and steampunk wear in the arts and crafts market.

By the second day, acts had to kick it up a notch to compete with the smorgasbord of music on offer. Taraf de Caliu did it by incorporating some ingenious violin trickery — making notes by pulling on a thread of broken string or holding down notes past the end of the fretboard. Whereas Fantastic Negrito remained in constant motion throughout his set, leaping and throwing himself around to highlight every punchy moment in his songs.

How could the local acts match up? Rubi Du did it by providing the perfect bass heavy music for a sundowner set. Then Avantdale Bowling Club arrived in a fury, Tom Scott racing around the stage like a dervish. When the music purposefully fell apart during the fight section of 'Friday Night At The Liquor Store', Scott lashed out with his mic stand, spinning through the imagined chaos before collapsing on a couch that had been conveniently placed on the stage.

The crowds thinned out on the last day and the artists had to work even harder to get them moving. Gurifuna Collective managed to convince everyone watching them to move a couple of steps to the left and then back (in time to their music). Pretty amazing to see the whole audience moving in time like that. The key was having a great groove. Cimafunk had the groove too and a band that looked like lost members of Funkadelic who’d since learnt how to play afro-cuban rhythms. Then finally Sampa The Great brought Zambian hip hop to the main stage. She looked a little lonely up there, with her band right up the back but later used this to her advantage by sitting down for a slower number and addressing the crowd directly.

It was great to have WOMAD NZ back and having a quieter year did give the chance to dig a little further down the line-up and really open one’s eyes to some music from far off places. Hopefully it can get back into the full swing of things next year, since the vibe and scenic location of this festival really deserves for it to be a sell-out. I’ll be back, that's for sure. 

Click on the thumbnail images below to view a gallery of Gareth Shute's photos of WOMAD 2023...