Welcoming world music with open arms

Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Singapore

First time was a charm, and the second experience of watching the recent World of Music, Arts and Dance (WOMAD) festival did not do any harm.

In fact, in its seventh year, the festival remained fresh and exciting, indulging people in the crosscultural experience of hearing sounds from around the planet, with acts from Cameroon to Madagascar, Ghana to Israel, Algeria and also Indonesia, represented by dangdut singer Inul Daratista.

Held in spacious, comfortable Fort Canning Park, members of the audience could spread their picnic tablecloth on the grass, and feast on performances on three surrounding stages.

They could also interact with artists in a workshop held inside a gallery, or visit the global village, where rows of tents served a variety of meals just as representative of the world's cuisines, from satay to fish and chips and pizza.

Looking for something else? Massage, aura readings and reiki therapy were also on site.

The main event, however, was performances from 22 artists from 13 different countries.

Highlights included Zap Mama, a sassy, all-girl Cameroon singing phenomenon with gorgeous voices, Ghana's ace percussionist Ben Baddoo, Algerian Hamid Baroudi, Senegalese hip hop group Daara J and Cameroon chanteuse Coco Mbassi.

Zap Mama's mixture of soul, funk, dub and Afro-Cuban rhythm, with their acrobatic voices and humor, sparked up the night.

Baroudi, meanwhile, was mesmerizing as he presented an amalgamation of funk, West African, drum 'n' bass, and much more.

Mbassi's delicate and soulful voice blended perfectly as he chanted in a sound rooted in elements of jazz, classical and blues.

Other crowd favorites included Temple of Sound and Talvin Singh from the United Kingdom, and local percussion group Wicked Aura Batucada.

Singaporean Al-Bedouin Middle Eastern Music Ensemble sparked laughter and interest as they gave a crash course in basic belly dance movements, with a rotund Chinese woman as the performer.

Founded in 1982 by rock icon Peter Gabriel, WOMAD aims at incorporating music from all over the world. The festival has grown to become the biggest international music festival, held in more than 21 countries with an estimated 2,000 international artists playing for over one million people.

WOMAD Singapore was founded in 1988 as a curtain raiser for the Singapore Arts Festival, and has continued as an annual international music festival.

"Seven years ago, the festival was a very new idea in Singapore, and nobody knew what world music was all about," said festival director Sarah Martin.

"Now, however, people are coming to see artists and the kind of music you've never heard of. I think it has become a great experience that you rarely find anywhere else," she said, adding that around 15,000 people came to last year's event, with the same figure estimated for this year.

However, Martin said that the committee wanted to move away from the tag line of world music, the very pure sound (a.k.a. traditional) they stuck to in the first few years.

No wonder there was Temple of Sound and Talvin Singh, whose music could be found at clubs all over the world.

"WOMAD also means music from different countries, let's say from Senegal. People might think the music is like beach music, etc. But they have progressed, they have their own version of pop culture that people here in Singapore might see as new," she said.

"People think WOMAD is a cultural entity, that's why many very traditional artists sent their tapes to us, asking to perform here. They don't quite realize that we actually take many, many forms of music."

The same goes for Inul, the first Indonesian artist to ever perform at WOMAD Singapore.

"A lot of people have a preconceived notion about what dangdut is like, how performers should do dangdut music," Martin said about the popular Indonesian music, which is a hybrid of Indian, Arab and Malay music.

"We want to change the fact that there's only one way of looking at it. There are many, many other ways and Inul is one of the many, many ways of looking at it. She's the perfect choice for this year."

Taking up the main stage, it was a bit surreal to see Inul performing in another country.

But she did quite a good job, belting out seven songs, ranging from her own hits like Goyang Inul (Inul's Dance) and Kocok-kocok (Shaken), to dangdut covers of Indonesian rock group Dewa's songs, as well as Shakira's Objection (Tango) and Four Non Blondes' What's Up?.

The audience cheered and danced to her tunes, not only the Indonesian spectators, but also Westerners.

The outstanding thing about WOMAD's audience was how appreciative they were. There were no boos, catcalling or heckling. And they responded eagerly to the artist's request to participate in the performances.

"The audiences are great, they're open to anything, not having that block .. They have open arms," Martin said.

She asked if it would be possible to organize an event like WOMAD in Indonesia.

"It's very simple actually. In all countries that we work in, we either have a very strong partner, and we need a strong organizer in that country. We also need some level of government support, tourism, cultural links. It's easier to do our work with that support," said Martin, adding that WOMAD is a commercial entity and commercially viable.

According to Martin, she only had a team of eight to organize the event, with a huge pool of volunteers.

Let's go through the requirements for the event and see how we stack up.

Open and spacious yet comfortable space? Nope. An organized organizing committee? Well, let's not forget the dozens of concerts and arts festivals that have been disasters. Government support? Appreciative audience?

Guess we've still got a long way to go.