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World of Music, Arts and Dance
WOMAD (/ˈwoʊˌmæd/ WOH-mad; World of Music, Arts and Dance) is an international arts festival. The central aim of WOMAD is to celebrate the world's many forms of music, arts and dance.
WOMAD was founded in 1980 by English rock musician Peter Gabriel, with Thomas Brooman, Bob Hooton, Mark Kidel, Stephen Pritchard, Martin Elbourne and Jonathan Arthur. Original designers were Steve Byrne and Valerie Hawthorn. The first WOMAD festival was in Shepton Mallet, UK in 1982. The audience saw Peter Gabriel, Don Cherry, The Beat, Drummers of Burundi, Echo & The Bunnymen, Imrat Khan, Prince Nico Mbarga, Peter Hammill, Simple Minds, Suns of Arqa, The Chieftains and Ekome National Dance Company, founded by Barrington, Angie, Pauline and Lorna Anderson, the pioneering African arts company in the UK amongst others performing. Peter Gabriel's performance included a dynamic inclusion of the Ekome National Dance Company, fusing live African Drums on Gabriel's track "The Rhythm of the Heat".
Gabriel and his company, which had funded WOMAD, faced financial ruin from high costs of the festival in its first year, worsened by the lack of suitable transport to the venue (Shepton Mallet Showground) and a lack of publicity. At the suggestion of Tony Smith, the manager of Gabriel and Genesis, he and the remaining members of Genesis agreed to play together for a single show under the name Six of the Best at Milton Keynes. The show rescued the company and made it possible for further WOMAD events to take place.
In December 1992, six operating and support companies, including WOMAD U.K. and WOMAD Productions, were voluntarily liquidated due to the accumulation of $300,000 in debt. Dominic Pride wrote in Billboard that WOMAD and Gabriel's Real World company were discussing ways of saving the WOMAD festival". The festival promotion companies were subsequently saved by Real World Group after it purchased their name, trade, and assets.
Since 1982, WOMAD Festivals have travelled all over the world, bringing artists to 27 countries and entertaining over one million people. The main UK event settled at Rivermead in Reading, Berkshire, from 1990 until 2006, before moving to its present home in Charlton Park, Wiltshire from 2007.
In 2017, WOMAD UK marked its 35th anniversary. Headliners Emir Kusturica & The No Smoking Orchestra, Toots and The Maytals, and Roy Ayers, Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 along with 30 other artists performed for a record-setting audience for the festival of 40,000 people.
In 2022, after two forced cancellations due to the COVID-19 pandemic the UK festival returned for its 40th anniversary. Peter Gabriel appeared on stage with Friday night headliner Angelique Kidjo as well as introducing Osibisa on stage on Saturday afternoon. Other headliners included The Flaming Lips, Fatoumata Diawara & Lianne La Havas. Other keys acts across the weekend on other stages included Kae Tempest, Kanda Bongo Man, Gilberto Gil, The Selector, Fulu Miziki, and Les Amazones d'Afrique.
The UK festival took a year off in 2025 to look for a new home but the annual events in Adelaide, New Zealand, Caceres & Chile took place as usual.
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World of Music, Arts and Dance
WOMAD (/ˈwoʊˌmæd/ WOH-mad; World of Music, Arts and Dance) is an international arts festival. The central aim of WOMAD is to celebrate the world's many forms of music, arts and dance.
WOMAD was founded in 1980 by English rock musician Peter Gabriel, with Thomas Brooman, Bob Hooton, Mark Kidel, Stephen Pritchard, Martin Elbourne and Jonathan Arthur. Original designers were Steve Byrne and Valerie Hawthorn. The first WOMAD festival was in Shepton Mallet, UK in 1982. The audience saw Peter Gabriel, Don Cherry, The Beat, Drummers of Burundi, Echo & The Bunnymen, Imrat Khan, Prince Nico Mbarga, Peter Hammill, Simple Minds, Suns of Arqa, The Chieftains and Ekome National Dance Company, founded by Barrington, Angie, Pauline and Lorna Anderson, the pioneering African arts company in the UK amongst others performing. Peter Gabriel's performance included a dynamic inclusion of the Ekome National Dance Company, fusing live African Drums on Gabriel's track "The Rhythm of the Heat".
Gabriel and his company, which had funded WOMAD, faced financial ruin from high costs of the festival in its first year, worsened by the lack of suitable transport to the venue (Shepton Mallet Showground) and a lack of publicity. At the suggestion of Tony Smith, the manager of Gabriel and Genesis, he and the remaining members of Genesis agreed to play together for a single show under the name Six of the Best at Milton Keynes. The show rescued the company and made it possible for further WOMAD events to take place.
In December 1992, six operating and support companies, including WOMAD U.K. and WOMAD Productions, were voluntarily liquidated due to the accumulation of $300,000 in debt. Dominic Pride wrote in Billboard that WOMAD and Gabriel's Real World company were discussing ways of saving the WOMAD festival". The festival promotion companies were subsequently saved by Real World Group after it purchased their name, trade, and assets.
Since 1982, WOMAD Festivals have travelled all over the world, bringing artists to 27 countries and entertaining over one million people. The main UK event settled at Rivermead in Reading, Berkshire, from 1990 until 2006, before moving to its present home in Charlton Park, Wiltshire from 2007.
In 2017, WOMAD UK marked its 35th anniversary. Headliners Emir Kusturica & The No Smoking Orchestra, Toots and The Maytals, and Roy Ayers, Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 along with 30 other artists performed for a record-setting audience for the festival of 40,000 people.
In 2022, after two forced cancellations due to the COVID-19 pandemic the UK festival returned for its 40th anniversary. Peter Gabriel appeared on stage with Friday night headliner Angelique Kidjo as well as introducing Osibisa on stage on Saturday afternoon. Other headliners included The Flaming Lips, Fatoumata Diawara & Lianne La Havas. Other keys acts across the weekend on other stages included Kae Tempest, Kanda Bongo Man, Gilberto Gil, The Selector, Fulu Miziki, and Les Amazones d'Afrique.
The UK festival took a year off in 2025 to look for a new home but the annual events in Adelaide, New Zealand, Caceres & Chile took place as usual.