WOMADelaide 2014 Full Line-Up

The Planet Talks program will return to the four-day festival with Polly Higgins, Annabel Crabb, Simon Sheikh and Peter Garrett amongst the speakers while David Michalek’s giant hyper-slow moving three-screen Slow Dancing installation will add a new dimension to the global music celebration. WOMADelaide Director Ian Scobie says Slow Dancing will run every night during WOMAD from about 9pm and is an Australian exclusive to the March festival. “They are a series of some of the world’s great dancers filmed in high-definition and then slowed down, so the images are incredibly bright and crisp and realistic,” Scobie explains. “They are filmed against a black background, so you can see their bodies moving but you can’t quite tell if they’re on the ground or in the air. It’s really a meditation on dance, the body and movement as much as anything else. They’re quite mesmerising because they move quite slowly. They’re independently projected and are independent images, so they are not connected in any way but you do get this sense of these huge human forms that are slowly moving and, of course, they are quite beautiful to look at.” One of the musical highlights is the return of Afrobeat legend Femi Kuti, son of Fela Kuti, after six years with his band The Positive Force. Since his last WOMADelaide appearance, Kuti has delivered two acclaimed albums with 2010’s Africa For Africa and this year’s No Place For my Dream. “Femi is just the genuine article. It’s that no-brainer of what’s not to like about Kuti and his dancers to wrap up the night on stage one.” Another intriguing addition is Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca, who has toured with the Buena Vista Social Club and fuses Cuban jazz with urban elements: “The music from Cuba is wonderfully laid back and engaging and I think he’ll be a winner,” comments Scobie. Then there’s Qawwali singer Asif Ali Khan, a protégé of the late, great Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, who performed at the inaugural WOMADelaide in 1992. “I saw him [Asif Ali Khan] at WOMAD in the UK this year and he’s an extraordinary Qawwali singer with a really beautiful voice and sound. He’s a terrific performer in that tradition of Nusrat.” Over the last few years, WOMADelaide’s late night DJ program has grown from strength to strength with names such as Norman Jay and The Herbaliser DJs. This year, the DJ program takes another giant leap forward with Quantic, DJ Yoda, DJ Muro and Awesome Tapes From Africa. “It started a decade or so ago and it was something that Annette Tripodi, our operations and programs manager, started. It’s grown from the thing we did at the university, called Wo-Zone. Originally we did it there as a late night club for people who want to carry on and its evolved from there. You’re right, it’s got a real following in its own right, that element in the program.” The combination of writers, scientists and academics at The Planet Talks stream, which began this year, adds another element, according to Scobie. “You have lovers of Qawwali singing at one end, DJs at another and then there’s a bunch of scientists and academics. It’s part of trying to broaden both the appeal and the audience-base of the festival that makes it more than just a bunch of artists on stages. It’s as much about the audience mix as it is about the performances.” WOMADelaide runs from Friday, March 7 to Monday, March 10 womadelaide.com.au WOMADELAIDE 2014 LINE-UP   Arrested Development (USA) Femi Kuti & The Positive Force (Nigeria) Billy Bragg (UK) Washington (Australia) Fat Freddy’s Drop (NZ) Hanggai (China) Hiatus Kaiyote (Australia) Jeff Lang (Australia) Jon Cleary & the Absolute Monster Gentlemen (UK/USA) Sam Lee & Friends (UK) Mehr Ensemble (Iran/Turkey/Australia) Mikhael Paskalev (Bulgaria/Norway) Mokoomba (Zimbabwe) DJ Muro (Japan) Neko Case (USA) Ngaiire (Australia) Osaka Monaurail (Japan) Pokey LaFarge (USA) Quantic (UK) Saskwatch (Australia) Ade Suharto & Peni Candra Rini “Ontosoroh” (Indonesia/Australia) Airileke (PNG/Australia) Ane Brun (Norway) Antonio Serrano (Spain) Asif Ali Khan (Pakistan) Awesome Tapes from Africa (USA) Azadoota (Iraq / Australia) Baby et Lulu (Australia) The Baker Suite (Australia) Balanescu Quartet (UK) Breabach (Scotland) The Brown Hornet (Australia) Buika (Guinea/Spain/USA) Carminho (Portugal) Coloured Stone (Australia) Danyel Waro (Reunion) DJ Yoda (UK) Dub Inc (France/Algeria) The Electrolounge (No Birds, Question Question, Menagerie, Oddessa ‐ with Young Black 
Youth VJing every night) Emel Mathlouthi (Tunisia) Kutcha Edwards (Australia) La Chiva Gantiva (Colombia/Belgium) Les Gitans Blanc (Australia) Living Room (Austria) Loren Kate (Australia) Los Coronas (Spain) Makana (USA) Red Baraat (USA) Roberto Fonseca (Cuba) Shanren (China) Sitara (Australia) Thelma Plum (Australia) Tinpan Orange (Australia) THE PLANET TALKS Polly Higgins (UK) Peter Ward (USA) Peter Garrett (Australia) Annabel Crabb (Australia) Simon Sheikh (Australia) Tanya Ha (Australia) Prof Chris Daniels (Australia) Steffen Lehmann (Australia)
Paul Gilding (Australia) Richard Slaughter (Australia) Peter Owen (Australia) Tory Shepherd (Australia) Simon Holmes‐a‐court (Australia) Tim Hollo (Australia) Tom Wigley (Australia) More to be announced