WOMEX 2005 pays homage to evergreen Robert Plant and Bi Kidude
It was moving, surreal and slightly eerie to witness British icon Robert Plant and his Strange Sensation band opening WOMEX 2005 in Gateshead, England on Wednesday night. Some 34 years after taking Led Zeppelin to Mumbai, India, for the group’s first taste of otherworldly music, the veteran singer was in a wistful mood as he distilled some of his eternal classics with songs from his 2005 album “Mighty rearranger”. It’s been four years since Plant teamed up with Tinariwen producer Justin Adams and the latter’s desert blues guitar, to bring out the critically-acclaimed record. Their 45-minute WOMEX opener highlighted what Plant calls the “collision” of genres, an “unholy liaison” between his roots blues and the Saharan grooves he has imported. The result mesmerised the professional audience of 2,000 delegates from over 40 countries. Okay, it was desert blues rock ‘n’ roll and not exactly your staple ‘world music’ offering. But it was also timeless, great bluesy sounds that were delivered with impeccable power by one of the giants of Western music.
Arguably Plant’s hybridisation best sums up the “Common Wealth of Music” theme that WOMEX is promoting for this landmark 11th edition. Since the “world music” label was cooked up in an obscure pub in London in 1987, there is a feeling that this marketing concept is coming home to roost. Appropriately it is in the £100 million Sage music centre designed by Sir Norman Foster that sits prettily on the Tyne River.
Yes, finally the UK hosts the globe’s biggest gathering of ‘world music’ business, and its trade fair, showcases and conferences. At present, the organisers are hoping to capitalise on what they call “the post-colonial structures of the former British Empire” and exploit “the capacity of the Commonwealth to support and strengthen its musical and cultural heritage.”
The archaic concept of Commonwealth addresses some 1.7 billion people scattered among 53 independent states, from Australia to Jamaica, via Sierra Leone and India. WOMEX number 11 hopes to take a leaf out of the French example of a strong Francophone network of musicians and producers. Its organisers believe it could be a cornerstone to create what Sage director Ros Rigby calls “a useful way of uniting artists with common heritage”. Maybe, she muses, they could “(subvert) the continuing inequities of economic and military power” in these countries.
The Sage team has been working tirelessly over the past six years to set up this five-day meeting. They triumphed after “an Olympic-esque campaign” to outbid five other European cities. Now, Rigby and WOMEX director Christoph Borkowsky Akbar believe the 48 showcases representing 36 countries will consolidate a trend Borkowsky calls “the global South”. “Before, ‘world music’ was a Western movement,” he explains. “These days more and more movements have a local flavour that comes from the South. There is a wave of festivals in places like Zanzibar and Morocco that are supporting local artists and trends. We’re doing the same here with the off WOMEX “Best of British” showcases. And then there will be the Porto Musical in Recife, Brazil, we’re organising again for February 2006.”
Plant’s live show was a powerful start to the event that is set to climax on Sunday, October 30th with the WOMEX award to Zanzibar singer Bi Kidude. The 90-year-old figurehead performed a mischievous disappearing act last week in Tanzania that necessitated a spectacular rescue operation to retrieve her. “This is the kind of story that sums up WOMEX,” underlined an informed observer. “They’re rewarding a strong-minded bon vivant here, a woman who smokes, drinks and disappears at a whim. And all the while, she remains one of the greatest depositaries of traditional music the Indian Ocean possesses. Long may she live!”
Daniel Brown |
