WOMADelaide celebrated 25 years of bringing the music of the world to Adelaide

The wonderful WOMADelaide festival just celebrated 25 years of bringing world music to Adelaide by serving up a 4-day multicultural feast of global sounds. Despite a few days of inclement weather, a huge crowd enjoyed another fantastic showcase of world music, dance, theatre, culture and food in the beautiful setting of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens.

Over 400 artists performed across 7 stages throughout the packed but well-scheduled program offering delicious choices to please all music palettes, and our photographer Peter Mundy was there to capture as many of them as he possibly could – check out our full gallery below.

There were so many memorable performers this year, and the first highlight was The Hot 8 Brass Band from New Orleans with their brassy blend of hip-hop, jazz and funk sounds.

Young South Korean group TAGO (meaning ‘lighting up the world by beating drums’) smashed out clever rhythmic beats using traditional Korean drums and extravagant drumming moves.

Fresh from a six week tour of the USA, Australian musician and political activist Nattali Rize thrilled the crowd with her electronic reggae beats and a strong political message in her lyrics. She reminded the crowd that as beings we all resonate light and wavelengths, and can use our collective powers to bring change, peace and unity to the world.

Colombian powerhouse of Latin music La Mambanegra (The Black Mamba), whose music is a mix of New York hip-hop, funk, Caribbean and Colombian influences, captivated the crowd with their spicy sexy salsa beat.

The very talented Sydney-based singer-songwriter Montaigne has become a strong influence on the Australian indie pop scene since her debut as a triple j Unearthed High finalist in 2012, and a large screaming crowd at the Novatech stage loved the ARIA-winner’s special appearance at WOMADelaide.

Original Japanese band Oki Dub Ainu used traditional Japanese instruments to play a blend of traditional and modern styles of music of the Ainu people – one of Japan’s indigenous populations whose culture was suppressed by the Japanese government about 300 years ago.

Malian-French singer and human rights activist Inna Modja played her unique mix of electric soul, blues and hip-hop, with her powerful lyrics in songs like ‘Water’ reflecting the everyday struggle of many people in developing nations.

High energy 10-piece band Lamine Sonko brought to WOMADelaide the flavour of modernised West African roots music, with powerful lyrics about diversity and equal rights sung in a mix of languages such as Mandinka and Wolof, as well as English.

WOMAD first-timers, Austrian band Parov Stelar, were a huge crowd favourite with a high-energy performance that had fans pulsating and gyrating to their unique modernization of 1920s sounds to a Latino beat. The crowd danced to exhaustion to awesome brassy and rhythmic beats including new songs from their soon to be released album ‘The Burning Spider’.

So many other memorable performances from artists such as DD Dumbo, Nhatty Man and Gara, Turkish alternative musical group Baba Zula, UK group The Specials, Indigenous Australian hip hop duo A.B. Original and the legendary Archie Roach made this years’ WOMADelaide a tasty highlight on the Adelaide music calendar.

Here’s to another 25 years of WOMADelaide!