Welcome back to the world! Top 10 WOMADelaide acts of 2022
WOMADelaide with a special local flavour kicks off Friday. We’ve ranked the ten top acts to help you choose where to start.
Entertainment
Don't miss out on the headlines from Entertainment. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A world of music – with an extra dash of local flavour – will take over Botanic Park as festival season favourite Womadelaide kicks off Fridayy.
The four-day event, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary, is back with a full-scale, seven-stage format, featuring headliners including iconic singer-songwriter Paul Kelly and Grammy-nominated indie rocker Courtney Barnett.
While Covid restrictions will reduce capacity across the long weekend, dancing will be allowed at the open-air festival, along with standing food and drink consumption.
Patrons over the age of 12 will need to provide proof of a full vaccination and mask wearing is encouraged.
Womadelaide director Ian Scobie said ticket sales were strong, with a line-up starring mostly Australian artists from diverse cultural backgrounds.
“It has been an honour and a privilege to have been able to work with so many talented and committed colleagues and supporters in the crafting of this very special festival,” he said.
“Witnessing how much it has come to mean in the lives of thousands of artists and members of the public who have grown up with, and been enriched by, experiencing the excitement, diversity and richness of the arts … has been thrilling – every single year.”
Indigenous artists, led by rappers Baker Boy (Danzal Baker) and Barkaa (Chloe Quayle), A.B. Original and hit SA duo Electric Fields, dominate the line-up.
However, overseas acts still feature among the 650 artists.
They include Azymuth and Marcos Valle from Brazil, Scotland’s Elephant Sessions, British electronic musician Floating Points, Canada’s Jayda G, and Cedric Burnside, Gaby Moreno and Inner City from the US.
The family-friendly event also features a kids’ zone, with arts and crafts sessions and a special appearance by former Crows superstar Eddie Betts.
The retired AFL player will read from his children’s book series, Eddie’s Lil’ Homies, on Saturday and Sunday.
Last year, a smaller, fully seated Womadelaide was held at King Rodney Park, with acts such as Midnight Oil and Tash Sultana playing to about 19,000 people over four nights.
In 2020, a record 97,000 visitors attended just before the national Covid lockdown.
Tickets are still available at womadelaide.com.au
Sounds of the world on Adelaide’s doorstep
By Patrick McDonald
Songs of resistance from Australia’s nearest neighbours will ring out across Botanic Park as part of a more nationally sourced line-up at Womadelaide this long weekend.
Vocalists, log drummers and dancers originally from the underground urban music scenes of Papua New Guinea and West Papua, but now based in Australia, will join forces as Sorong Samarai to create a unique mashup of reggae, fresh beats, chants and haunting soundscapes.
“Looking through the program, discovering how deep that diversity is in Australia, it is going to be quite special,” said percussionist and composer Airileke Ingram.
“I think every continent is represented there. This is one of the most successful multicultural places in the world.
“We also come from a very diverse country in Papua New Guinea – we speak over 800 languages.”
Overseas acts will still feature among the 650 artists on seven stages during the next four days and nights.
They include Azymuth and Marcos Valle from Brazil, Scotland’s Elephant Sessions, British electronic musician Floating Points, New Zealand’s Reb Fountain and L.A.B, Canada’s Jayda G, and Cedric Burnside, Gaby Moreno and Inner City from the US.
Throughout the park, there will also be roving performers and art installations including Taksu, a spiralling tunnel of 160 natural bamboo poles by NSW artist Jaye Irving.
Ingram said Sorong Samarai played “music of resistance” about the fight for independence in West Papua, with influences stretching from the Torres Strait to contemporary reggae and hip-hop.
“We play these big drums called garamut – some of those rhythms are the oldest in the Pacific.”
Sorong Samarai performs Saturday at 1.30pm on the Foundation Stage, and Sunday at 8:30pm on Stage 2.
More Coverage
‘Sexting, drugs’: Bombshell claim about Liam Payne
Explosive allegations about the final years and private struggles of tragic One Direction star Liam Payne have emerged.
Isla Fisher hits out at Kanye as his workers sue
Isla Fisher has unloaded on Kanye West’s latest anti-Semitic stunt, as the rapper faces a lawsuit over a workplace incident in which he compared himself to Hitler and his Yeezy website is removed.