Womad's horizon expands

Monday, January 26, 2009

Rock legend Peter Gabriel's world music festival is expanding into a new location – Abu Dhabi.

Womad, based at Gabriel's studios in Box, is to team up with the oil-rich sheiks of the United Arab Emirates to stage a world music festival in the Arabian desert.

The event, which is to take place in April, will be the first Womad festival in Asia.

The name is already well-established in Spain, the Canary Islands and Adelaide in Australia, with other Womad festivals recently springing up in New Zealand and Italy.

Two years ago, the team brought the original version of the festival back to the West Country with a move to Charlton Park in north Wiltshire.

The new event will be held for three days in the open air at several locations in Abu Dhabi, and Womad is working with the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage.

Womad director Chris Smith said: "The event will bring a whole new cultural experience to the people of Abu Dhabi and will attract an audience from across the Gulf region and beyond."