WOMAD Singapore 2006

What can I say… IT ROCKED! Of course people would hold different opinions on whether WOMAD rocked but for someone who was in much need of a night of hard dancing, this was the event! Friday night alone got me dancing almost non-stop to the likes of Brazilian Chico Cesar, who got the crowd singing along within minutes in Portugese and bopping to his upbeat tunes. By this time I’d bumped into at least 10 old university friends, half of whom were my clubbing buddies, so we were jumping up and down with great abandon and doing the samba or some version or other of it. I have to say Chico Cesar has great charisma on stage and he knows how to keep the crowd engaged. And of course he was backed up by awesome musicians.

And then there was T-Bone, the reggae-ska-jazz 10-piece band (including trumpet, saxophone, bass saxophone, and a DJ called DJ Puki… yes that is what he’s called!) from Thailand, who pumped the already hyped-up crowed for an hour. My god I don’t know if it was all the pent up frustrations and stress, but I was high on musical release. And all I had was 1 beer and 1 cup of wine. They are a fantastic band, but even though they varied their tempo and rhythm from time to time, I felt that it got a little monotonous after awhile. But overall they still rocked!! Oh the best part was when the vocalist invited the crowd on stage! I sure as hell didn’t have to be told twice. I pulled myself up just as security moved in to prevent more people on. I swear that stage would’ve collapsed if they hadn’t. A dear colleague of mine (whom I’d met there) managed to take a video of me dancing on stage but accidentally deleted it!! Arrrghhh… I wanted to kill him! Oh well… Shit happens.

Korean Dulsori wowed the crowd with their spectacular drumming, and what was even more impressive was the fact that the majority of the members were women! That was some crazy ass drumming they did, complete with acrobatic moves and dancing, continuously for a whole hour! I felt exhausted just watching them! The stamina they must possess!

The closing act for Friday night is now one of my favourite bands. Radio Mundial, headed by Richard and Jean Shepard totally blew me away with their blend of Latin rhythms, funk and rock. My feet were successfully kept in constant motion, and the brothers’ Puerto Rican – Peruvian good looks ensured my eyes were fixed firmly on them… Talk about hot stuff man! The only thing that kept me from storming up on stage, grabbing and kissing them was the buffer zone that served the precise purpose of keeping people like me at bay :p I had to therefore, be content to ogle from below.

Jimmy Cliff closed on Saturday night to a sea of waving hands and a standing ovation. It was the first time I saw 95% of the crowd on their feet for any one performance. There were screams and cheers of encores and he of course obliged much to the delight of us all. Again I left WOMAD on a high (after all, I caught both Chico Cesar and Radio Mundial’s performance again. I even managed to get my photo taken with the latter hehehe.)

I have to mention that the other performances were equally good, just on a different level. I admit that my mood that weekend didn’t really allow me to appreciate them as much as they deserved though I’m quite sure I would have enjoyed them immensely had I been in a different state of mind.

Susana Baca’s sultry voice helped lower the energy a little and allowed us to catch our breaths while enjoying her very relaxing and soothing tunes.

The Musafir Gypsies of Rajasthan kept us enthralled with their traditional music, elaborate costumes and dancing.

Bukky Leo & Black Egypt contributed to the event with their afrobeat and jazz funk. I only caught them in the finale which was more of a jam session and so didn’t really experience their music.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to catch Sam Tshabalala’s performance so I really can’t comment. And I skipped all the workshops with the exception of Radio Mundial’s.

On the whole this year’s WOMAD was the best I’d been to. I’m very glad it wasn’t a repeat of last year’s somewhat low key and unimpressive line-up, considering the amount of money I spent on tickets and other miscellaneous stuff there. TWO THUMBS UP!!!