Music News - WOMAD 2016 announce first artists as early bird tickets go on sale
08 October 2015 - 0 Comments
Every year, WOMAD scours the planet to find the very best mix of the finest musicians to bring to us here in New Zealand.
In anticipation of the full reveal of the 2016 line up on the evening of Wednesday 21st October, WOMAD announces two fantastic artists gracing the festival stages in March, Ladysmith Black Mambazo and John Grant.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
The WOMAD
festival is renowned for good vibes, relaxed atmosphere and a peaceful harmony
between punters and performers. And there is no better act to personify peace
than Ladysmith
Black Mambazo.
Designated by Nelson
Mandela as “South Africa’s Cultural Ambassadors to the World”, Ladysmith Black Mambazo
celebrate Mandela’s message of peace at every concert they perform.
The South African a cappella group formed in the 1960s by Joseph Shabalala,
now have more than 50 recordings, 15 Grammy Award nominations, and four Grammy
Award wins under their belt.
Despite incredible achievements throughout the 60s, 70s and 80s, a lot of Kiwis
were only introduced to the group via Paul
Simon’s iconic GRACELAND
album in 1986. This union saw Ladysmith
Black Mambazo become global superstars. They have since
recorded with a number of high-profile acts including Dolly Parton,
Josh
Groban, Stevie
Wonder, Sarah
McLachlan, Melissa
Etheridge, Emmylou
Harris and more.
They have provided film soundtracks to a number of films including The Lion King Part II, Invictus; while
a documentary about Ladysmith
Black Mambazo – On
Tip Toe: Gentle Steps To Freedom, the Story of Ladysmith Black Mambazo,
was nominated for an Academy Award. They have also appeared on Broadway and
been nominated for a Tony Award.
Ladysmith
Black Mambazo are celebrating more than 50 years of joyous and
uplifting music. They carry a message of peace, love and harmony as they travel
the world year after year and bring this message, in song and dance, to WOMAD NZ
in 2016.
John Grant
Making his first WOMAD NZ
appearance is the deeply emotive American singer/songwriter John Grant.
Grant (who
is now based in Iceland) embraces both sumptuous tempered ballads and taut,
fizzing electronic pop songs. Equally at home with symphony orchestras or
synthesisers, Grant
takes grand melodies to a lofty plateau.
The former The
Czars frontman’s first two solo albums, 2010’s QUEEN OF DENMARK
and 2012’s PALE
GREEN GHOSTS achieved worldwide acclaim.
“Like a couple
of similarly intense classics before it – Antony & The Johnsons’ I AM A BIRD NOW and Bon Iver’s FOR EMMA… QUEEN OF DENMARK sounds like a
record its creator has been waiting his whole life to make, ”MOJO
concluded.
After escaping a life of substance abuse, Grant has taken an
extraordinary journey – including collaborating with Sinead O’Connor,
Rumer and
Hercules
& Love Affair. In 2014 he was nominated in the Best
International Male Solo Artist category at the BRITS alongside Eminem, Justin Timberlake,
Bruno Mars
and Drake.
Another measure of achievement, and the journey, is Sinéad O’Connor
covering the title track of Grant’s
‘Queen Of
Denmark’ on her 2012 album HOW ABOUT I BE ME (AND YOU BE YOU)?. She
also supplied goose-bumping backing vocals on PALE GREEN GHOSTS. This a
far cry from Grant
– two decades (and a lifetime) earlier discovering O’Connor’s ‘Mandinka’
for the first time in new wave clubs.
And now they share a WOMAD
connection - O’Connor
was a headline act at WOMAD
NZ 2015 and Grant
is a headline act for 2016.
Grant
releases his new album GREY
TICKLES, BLACK PRESSURE on October 9, giving festival-goers
plenty of time to familiarise with this greatly-anticipated body of work before
he graces our shores in March.
“We are thrilled to have
such talented and diverse acts as Ladysmith Black Mambazo and John Grant
appearing at WOMAD NZ,” says WOMAD NZ festival Artistic Director Emere Wano.
“Both acts deliver music that celebrates what is so great about this festival –
the diversity on offer that knows no age or boundaries.
“It is the enduring nature of the musical line-up WOMAD continually delivers
that ensures this festival goes from strength-to-strength every year”.
2016 takes WOMAD NZ
into its 12th consecutive year at New Plymouth’s picture-perfect TSB
Bowl of Brooklands and Brooklands Park. The already-stunning setting is
transformed further over the WOMAD
weekend, with a global village built into the landscape to
transport festival-goers to a vibrant all-ages and family-friendly world of
music, arts, dance, crafts, and cuisine.
Featuring four stages delivering 30 hours of entertainment over three days,
take a trip around the globe without leaving New Zealand!
Discounted early bird tickets are on
sale from 9am Saturday October 10. With tickets on sale, accommodation
throughout New Plymouth always sells out for the WOMAD
weekend. It is highly recommended festival-goers book now to secure their beds.
Options include on site camping, Glamping, as well as a host of hotels and
motels in the city centre - a five-minute walk from the WOMAD
festival.
Limited
amounts of early bird discount tickets go on sale from 9am Saturday 10thOctober via the WOMAD website tickets.womad.co.nz
3 day pass – Youth (13-17yrs) – EARLY BIRD $161 (Full price
$215)
3 day pass – Adult - EARLY BIRD $213(Full price $255)
Camping and Glamping options available.
The full line-up for WOMAD 2016 will be announced on the evening of Wednesday
21st October.
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