There aren’t many festivals where within a couple of hours and a few short steps, you can see a superb African guitar band, namely Mokoomba from Zimbabwe; intense singing from one of Spain’s leading flamenco artists, Israel Fernández; a Brazilian rapper, Emicida, a huge star in his home country with a growing British following and Bombay Bicycle Club. But this is WOMAD, with 150 artists from over 50 countries with 250 performances spread over three days.
Mokoomba’s charismatic vocalist, Mathias Muzaza, told us they last played WOMAD ten years ago. They are a rare thing in Africa these days, a proper band, so often replaced now by backing tracks. Alongside their fizzing guitar they also pulled off a spectacular vocal and percussion sequence.
