I went with Aparna, Anupama and Kanags to pay my first visit to the WOMAD festival in Singapore. Bumped into several friends, known and unknown faces all pouring into the green fields of Fort Canning. I was four dollars short of the requisite S$35 to get in (I didnt realise it was cash payment ONLY -which just simply shows bad management). Fortunately, I chanced upon Himanshu walking up the road and begged enough to get the requisite four dollars to get my magic ticket to nirvana.
The first stop was at Asere where I sat down to give my tired legs some rest, only to get up and dancing for the cool cuban music the band was belting out. Chanced upon some of my juniors and friends from NTU -seemed like an offline version of orkut or friendster with some cool music thrown in!
Found Aparna finally and managed to get front grass patch for Bill Cobham's drums. And man, can that guy roll! Whew! I havent heard of solo drumming performances, but he really took my breath away. But as a person with less of an ear for drums and more for string instruments, I got bored and wandered off to Les Yeux Noirs.
Les Yeux Noirs is a french band that is committed to popularising gypsy music. And has two cooote brothers as the violinists/vocalists with drums, cello (pronounced by the lead as "chello") and a santoor successor Cimbalom(it did sound like Santoor but slightly arabic).
The lead singer/violinist (Eric Slablak) sounded annoyed when he asked us why we didnt tell him that they were going offtune =D That just KILLED ME! Where in the world can you get to see such committed musicians! That alone made my S$35 well spent! They were performing songs from their new album which was mostly romanian gypsy songs with a few russian ones. The russian gypsy songs are more nostalgic and slow. I remembered thinking when they were singing the russian number that this is the song that will play in the background of my funeral when I die, so that even the small spots of joy that creep in will run away scared to death of sadness!
The next stop was at this Argentinean guy with a french band who was singing in arabic (or so it seemed), forgot the name of the band but his voice was similar to Cheb Mami and Khalid. He instantly created rapport with the crowds making htem swing to his tunes right from the start!
The Sri Lankan troup under Ravibandhu Vidhyapathy was exceptional. They had interesting drums and cymbals which on the whole created an environment of rhythm. It was an amazing fusion of the folk and carnatic strains of Indian music and what touched me was how identical we people from the Indian Sub continent are!
The finale was at the Main stage (or so I think) where Apache Indian made a grand entry with the audience already swinging to his troupe memebers. He was infectious with his energy to dance and his reggae music. He belted some of his old numbers which brought a wave of nostalgia first. By that time it was already 11.30 and I had to leave to catch the last few trains on the MRT -knowing that my legs were beyond any hopes of redemption. And just then, the Apache party started =( The Dhol Foundation made an entrance with an awesome Bhangra number which I could hear with growing faintness as I walked by.
Chanced upon Preetam making his entry at 11.30! Also got to exchange notes with the two other reporters who had gone to Bruce Sterling's talk and thanked heavens for making the exciting choice of going to WOMAD than attending the talk!
Today's PoA: Tarun Tejpal's Alchemy of Desires Book Reading
Comments
3 years 12 weeks ago, kanags wrote:
hey divya
good meeting u and cool blog..
cheers
3 years 12 weeks ago, divya wrote:
Kanags: THanks for visiting! Sorry for not linking =( My legs are screaming with pain and this was the last I typed before sleeping off!
3 years 12 weeks ago, antrix wrote:
So Saturday's lineup was pretty much identical to Friday's, except for Apache Indian.
Good fun. And the eye candy on display there was something else ;-)
3 years 12 weeks ago, Surya wrote:
This is the first year I missed the Singapore WOMAD since it started..Luckily, we caught the Madrid Womad this year. One thing I sorely missed at dusty Madrid was the green slopes of Fort Canning.
Sounds like a great range of music this year too..Was nice to read your post abt it.
3 years 12 weeks ago, divya wrote:
Surya: This is the first time I am attending it =D And I LOVED it, just found the price a little steep (disgusting I am no longer a student =( )
Loved the ambience! But as an expat friend of mine said, it used to be mostly expats who attended it in the beginning and that it has been slowly picking up steam with the singaporeans.
Antrix: Sad sad sad! =D
3 years 11 weeks ago, Melissa wrote:
Hello! As part of the organizers of WOMAD, I would like to say that we are glad you enjoyed the festival.
HOWEVER, in defence, we would like comment about your first paragraph about our "cash only" policy and how it is (apparently) bad management if we only accept cash. It is not bad management. It is just a simple case of technical difficulties with phone lines for nets & credit cards. so. it is not a bad case of bad management. There is an atm machine at park mall. :)
3 years 11 weeks ago, Divya wrote:
Melissa: Thanks a lot for coming over and clearing it up. I apologise. But it did seem that way because a lot of us were complaining about the cash only policy. I know you do state that upfront. But I think an event that has been going on for seven years does not deserve the slack of "technical difficulties" for handling on the spot demand for tickets.
I have seen events in NTU (when I was a student) where fairs have NETS/Credit Card payment machines and they were organized by students. I am sure WOMAD can definitely do better than that!
Also, Park Mark wasnt so near to my tired legs (walking from City Hall MRT!).
But thanks for coming over!