WOMAD 2009 was held in the picturesque setting of the TSB Bowl and Brooklands Park in New Plymouth from Friday evening through Saturday to late Sunday evening. Thirty-two acts with nineteen different countries represented, including nine from New Zealand, were programmed which made for an impressive smorgasbord of world dance and music.

Scanning the programme for the first time was somewhat daunting – so much to see and hear! – however very wisely the organisers give two opportunities to see each group (phew). There were five stages running, alternating hourly. A line of workshops gave an opportunity for the groups to share some insights into their unique music and dance. 

I attended Mambo and cha cha cha; Bedouin Rhythms and dance; Taiaha and Haka and Flamenco Flavour workshops. All four included a substantial amount of dance.  Most groups choose a lecture demonstration format with some audience participation. The dancer in me was frustrated I wanted to have the whole workshop on my feet dancing – a few very simple steps and clapping rhythms were never going to be enough for me. However holding these workshops in much smaller spaces meant that there were far more opportunities for interchange between the performers and the audience despite most workshops being crowded. 

Under the hot sun, crammed together like jiggling sardines in a field, we all moved in a splendid but limited array of on the spot dancing to the band Ska Cubano. Encouraged to close up, move in, I felt the heat rising as I tried to maintain my place about four rows back from the stage while being jostled by a sea of jiving bodies (myself included). My thoughts turn to mosh pits – thank goodness no one started to surf across the top.

A combination of Jamaican Ska and Urban Mambo, these Caribbean rhythms were so infectious one could hardly keep still. This twelve piece band’s strengths lie in its intergeneration and intercultural members. Not a dance group as such, I enjoyed the showmanship of lead singer Natta Bo, decked out in an aquamarine suit, strutting around the stage performing his varied dance moves and styles the whole time the group was playing. Also during the set he would dance a duet with individual players. I particularly noticed this with the brass section, with Natta still dancing holding his mic in the bowl of the playing instrument thus fore-fronting the individual sound. 

I soon learnt that the further back from stage one placed oneself the more room there was for dancing or just sitting listening to the music and this seemed to be a pattern throughout the festival.

A highlight for me was the performance of Te Waka Huia who won in the recent Te Matatini National Kapa Haka Competitions. I witnessed them in full flight as they performed their winning block.  The depth, strength and precision of this multi talented group showed in the power and harmonies in which their song, movement and dance commanded the atmosphere.

The festival was not without its sound issues and some stages and groups experienced some technical problems, requiring them to delay starting or begin again. However the atmosphere of the festival was such that no feathers seemed to be ruffled and when groups like Seun Kuti and Egypt 80 and Fat Freddy’s Drop did restart it proved worth the wait.

Towards the end of the festival it was hard to distinguish clearly between some of the groups, in part due to the crossing of cultures within some bands and also to the crossings of instruments, so that some sounds tend to become somewhat amorphous. Nevertheless the distinctive sounds and dance that remained with me included the exquisite Sa Dingding from China, the Bedouin Jerry Can Band from the Egyptian Sinai desert, and Arte Kanela’s flamenco from Spain and Australia.

However it seemed that the dance component in WOMAD is much smaller than the world music and being completely biased I would like to see more groups with dance as an integral part of their performances be included in the future.

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