Your reporter captured by a tribe of Papuans...fortunately a very nice bunch of them.

One of the highlights of the festival is the All Star Jam where one of te festival's participants chooses artists to perform an hour long musical session with...this year's curator was Nitin Sawhney who managed to get the best of the combined efforts of ScrapArts Metal, qawwali-singer Faiz Ali Faiz, the versatile 17 Hippies, Nigerian soul singer Asa and Horace Andy.

Festival closing main event was Juan De Marcos' Afro-Cuban All Stars...tight as a gnat's ass and creamy!

The last notes of the festival came by the voice of Faiz Ali Faiz, the heir apparent of the late great Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan...an amazing powerful voice that danced around the percussion, harmonium and chants of his 6-piece band with consummate ease...his delivery of the classic Mustt Mustt would have met with approval from his great predecessor.

A great end to a fantastic festival!

WOMADelaide 2011 Day 4

Tanya Tagaq, an Inuit throat singer who performed with Kronos Quartet and Bjork explains her art in a workshop- darkly guttural and esoterically beautiful wrapped in one feisty package.

Amiable Adelaidian Adam Page, a true-life one man-band brings his multi-looped version of world music to an enthousiastic crowd...

The ladies of DakhaBrakha bringing ethno-chaos to traditional Ukrainian folk melodies. Oh, there's a bloke too but oh well....

Ash Grunwald, another young man well schooled in the art of surfie blues-music performs live on radio station ABC's broadcast.

Whaddayamean, monkey on my back?

....and this is the life...slumming under a big ole tree listening to the folksy sounds of renowned Aussie combo The Gadflys.

The amazing Os Mutantes treating the slightly puzzled crowd to a heady mix of psychosamba 'n roll. Bat Macumba got the booties rolling massively!

The Maori-warriors of Whitieira Performing Arts are fearsome but don't mess with their women either!

Sunset amongst the flags was spectacular....

Afro Celt Sound System were the main attraction on the big stage- big beats with some rock 'n roll kora 'n percussion amongst the DJ-generated drum 'n bass....thundering over the steppes.

And closing off with the surreal Necks bringing their slowly shifting avantgardistic noise to an adventurous days' end of entertainment.

WOMADelaide 2011- Day 3

Day 3











The weather was quite different- gusty winds with a fresh bite about it and the threat of rain- autumnal weather.
To warm up the Creole Choir of Cuba treated work shop visitors to some dancing lessons...

The Irish arrived in the form of the Alan Kelly Quartet to give a bit of shamrock cheer to the masses.....

Making their first appearance ever outside of their village of Tate in the Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea, the Huri Duna Dancers entertained the crowd with their unique chants and costumes (the head gear is made of hair!).

70-year old Calypso Rose brought 'plenty of sugar' in a highly entertaining and sexy set of Trinidadian goodness!

Local Aboriginal troubadour Archie Roach and his sons played a moving set of classic songs...the empty chair next to him representing his late wife Ruby Hunter which brought out a lot of emotions out of the veteran.


If you think the day went on slowly, spare a thought for this performer then.....

Plenty of shopping available, even well past 6PM.

The night brings out the stars- like Amadou & Mariam who leave me slightly underwhelmed with their big-ass Afro-sound.

CD-signing sessions are fun too, like here with the indomitable Imelda May who was fantastic.

The last strains of a long, warm, great day- Indian flautist Rajendra Prasanna goes all Ian Anderson on our ass.

Yasar Akpence Harem'De- a masterful Turkish percussion ensemble. Some may have found it too loud though.

The women of the Pitjitjantjara-tribe gathered in story and song.

The inimitable Bob Brozman and his ensemble. A lesson in slide 'n hula that leaves everyone breathless.

Strolling in the big park is great by itself- hearing the bloody motherfucking Martha Wainwright is that too.

WOMADelaide 2011- Day 2

Day 2










Searching for some shade in 32 degree heat. A big Moreton Bay figtree helps a lot.

Some strange characters stroll around the park too. Poultry or French act Le Phun bringing the seminal people of Les Gumes (French for vegetables) to life. Quietly comical.

Canadian act ScrapArts Metal bring an energetic percussional act onstage with drums all made of scrap wood, metals and plastic.

Switching gears- from the eclectic folk/gipsy/cabaret-act 17 Hippes from Berlin to the serene classical harp of Marshall McGuire in one moment.

Cooking lesson, courtesy of the Creole Choir Of Cuba....traditional recipes and song dished up in the kitchen.