The World of Music and Dance (Womad) continues to infuse an eclectic dimension into South Africa’s live music scene. Once again the Bluegum Creek Estate in Benoni on Gauteng’s East Rand will play host to a smattering of local talent alongside the most peculiar and fascinating that the world music circuit has to offer.
World music guru Nicky Blumenfeld reckons that the concert is a welcome addition to the music scene but has a few niggling issues to overcome. “One of the things that I have felt was unfortunate with Womad was its timing,” she says. Last year’s Womad coincided with the North Sea Jazz Festival in Cape Town. This year they seem to have the timing right.
Blumenfeld also feels that the organisers have made little effort to reach a black audience. “If the Living Treasures Festival in Eshongweni, Durban, can attract 50Â 000 people, I do not see why Womad should attract less than 30Â 000.” Last year, Womad pulled in 15Â 000 progressive music lovers.
Finally, Blumenfeld notes how “for a festival [that includes arts] the arts and crafts component of Womad does not do enough to integrate itself in the South African arts context” by working with local institutions like the Fuba Academy in downtown Johannesburg. Having said that, Blumenfeld maintains: “Womad must not stop. It brings out artists I can call divine beings on a mission and from last year I have found that people enjoyed the workshops a lot.”
The divine beings on a mission have included the likes of Baba Maal and Jeffrey Oryema; this year they include the two Lôs. No, not J-Lo, but superstars Ismael and Cheikh.
Senegalese Ismael Lô has made his mark as one of the continent’s shining stars over the past decade. He swapped a stamp collection for a four-string guitar and then joined the dance group Diamono.
After leaving Diamono in 1984 to start his own band, he began to hone a sound that was to launch him to the world in 1991 with the release of his song Tajabone. He was later introduced to mainstream South African audiences with the catchy Dibi Dibi Rek and is now a world music star who strides the stage with swagger and grace. On his latest album, Dabah, he continues to criticise racism and the worship of money, which he believes are detrimental to African values.
His peer Cheikh Lô is a native of Bobo Dialousso in Burkina Faso. He moved to Dakar at age 15, before returning to his place of birth to play with Orchestra Volta Jazz when he came of age.
It was only at the age of 30, in France, that he became a professional recording artist and had to wait until 1990 to release the debut Doxandeme (Immigrants) chronicling the experience of being a Senegalese man in a foreign country. Affirmation of his stature came when Youssou N’Dour said: “I found something in his voice that’s like a voyage” — and produced his second album.
Also on the line up is Yungchen Lhamo from Tibet, a land she left on foot to get to India, fleeing oppression by China. Since then she has released an award-winning debut called Tibetan Prayer and performed at the 1995 Womadelaide festival in Australia, as well as at the Venice Carnivale a year later.
These superstars grace our shores alongside local heavyweights such as pianists Themba Mkhize, Don Laka and Paul Hanmer, as well as the duo of Neo Muyanga and Masauko Chipemebere, collectively known as Blk Sonshine.
Other interesting acts on the bill include Pato Banton and the Reggae Revolution as well as Asian Dub Foundation, two bands from the United Kingdom whose leaders have contrasting views on Womad.
Having performed at versions of Womad in Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, the Canary Islands, Spain and Seattle, Banton is quite happy to add South Africa to the list. He is glad to perform in a concert that he feels has synergy with his genre — reggae. “I think Womad and reggae have a lot in common,” he says. “They are both about bringing people together and appreciating other people’s cultures.” He also appreciates the fact that “Womad [like reggae] brings together people who are conscious, laid-back and progressive. It’s just a perfect place to be.”
Steve Chandra Savale, leader of the Asian Dub Foundation (ADF), states: “To be quite honest, the ADF is slightly outside Womad.” This is an observation built over Womad appearances that span London, Singapore, the Mafia town of Sicily in Italy and Sydney down under. Both Banton and the Asian Dub Foundation have taken a long and arduous route — including the classic stopover of being big abroad before being known at home — to being in such demand at Womad all over the world.
Banton’s introduction to reggae came about as a result of the need to know about his Caribbean roots. “As a first-generation black kid born in England, there were no blacks in media and in school, so I turned to Jamaica to learn about slavery and suffering.” The thirst for knowledge was satisfied mainly by music. Banton played in a band called Crucial Music for four-and-a-half years up to 1985, when he linked up with a band called Studio 2 Crew, now known as The Reggae Revolution.
The band’s career was kickstarted as a touring act outside Britain. “It was difficult because most artists want family and friends to share their success. Unfortunately, people from outside tend to respect you more than those of your own country,” he says. The big break came in 1990 when their song Go Pato shot to number one in Puerto Rico, Peru and Brazil. It was only in 1995, 10 years after coming together, that the band actually made it big in the UK. The clout they had acquired allowed them to exchange notes with the likes of UB40, Sting and Ziggy Marley.
Now Banton has grown comfortable with the status enjoyed by his music. “I think that reggae is a people music and not so much a media tool.” He notes that although there is a core of people who love reggae music, the mass market, and the media associated with it, is controlled in such a way that “we are dominated by teenyboppers and MTV artists”.
Savale shares his views. “The most interesting music of the mid-Nineties, such as drum’n’bass and jungle, did not get the exposure it deserved,” he says. “Basically you had a situation where Britpop and other retrogressive sound were being given the push,” he says, pointing out how he despises the traditional and conventional. The ADF was formed in 1993. Savale lends his skills as a guitarist and programmer to a band whose most recent recruits include percussionist Pritpal Rajput.
They had to look to the continent, more specifically France, for survival. “France has a positive vibe. They took us to heart and kept the band alive.” The sound the French appreciated is a blend of drum’n’bass and Indian percussion, with rap vocals by Deedar Zaman that sound like bhangra chants.
This weekend they come to a country that Savale describes as being an area they have not explored but whose music (via the famous Earthworks collection The Indestructible Beat of Soweto) made an early impression, pushing him towards his preference for music that he calls “cutting edge, forward-looking and ambitious”.
There should be more than enough of this kind of music at Womad this year.
Womad takes place from September 28 to 30 at the Bluegum Creek Estate in Benoni. There will be no performances on Friday. A two-day pass for Saturday and Sunday costs R185. Tickets for Saturday only are R120 and for Sunday R85. Booking is at Ticketweb 0861Â 400Â 500.