New additions to 2024 WOMAD roster

WOMAD has revealed a new slate of inspiring artists from around the world.

The 2024 festival at Wiltshire’s Charlton Park is set for Thursday 25 to Sunday 28 July. 

Among the latest additions is Sicily-born reggae superstar Alborosie, who will absolutely get the party started on Thursday night. 

This singer and producer, who lives in Jamaica, has collaborated with the likes of the Wailing Souls and King Jammy. 

DJ Paulette has consistently broken the mould as a female DJ, trailblazing the way for others, and from ruling the Hacienda in the early ’90s to touring the globe many times is a true icon.  

Joining them will be the varied musical talents of singer and composer Sid Sriram (India/USA), who combines Indie and R&B with his native Carnatic music, forming the unique sound he is known so well for. 

Another exciting announcement is that Ghana Special will be performing, including an all-star line-up and some bona-fide highlife legends - Pat Thomas, Kwashibu Area Band, Charles Amoah and K.O.G.

Also announced is LINA from Portugal], regarded as one of the finest interpreters of the Portuguese fado tradition and exploring the more bluesier influences, Leyla McCalla (USA/Haiti) who takes her cello into the folk traditions of both North America and the Caribbean, an homage to her mixed heritage. 

In addition, New York-based singer-songwriter Emel (Tunisia / USA), whose barbed political songs have often been banned on the airwaves in her native Tunisia, will appear, as will golden-voiced singer Brittany Davis (USA), who takes inspiration from Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys and Erykah Badu, and the all-female Pankisi Ensemble (Georgia), whose stirring four-part harmonies are sure to bring the drama.  

Gnawa Blues All Stars (UK/Morocco) join the lineup, bringing together the deep and irresistible grooves of North African Gnawa with the sounds of West Africa, South America, Asia and beyond, and in a rare female take on the same sound the warm voiced Asmâa Hamzaoui fronts the bluesy intensity of her all-woman band Bnat Tombouktou from Morocco.  

Orange Blossom (France), who take their deep appreciation for the music of North and West Africa with a masterful command of electronica, Flamingods (UK / Bahrain) who deal in mind expanding electronica-seasoned psych-rock, and Maria Türme, who as one of Spain’s leading DJs encompasses much from Balkan beats, ghetto funk, electro-swing and much more.  

The much-loved trio from Montreal, Genticorum, who delve deep into Québécois folk traditions using an array of instruments, will also be gracing the stage, as will the five-piece Gangar (Norway), who fuse their homelands folk heritage with that renowned Scandinavian love for various shades of metal, and folk trio Hack-Poets Guild (UK) will be resurrecting generations-old broadside ballads that still find their voice in the 21st century.  

Bringing the sounds of classic-era Latin jazz from Havana and New York city are the New Regency Orchestra (UK), who add a contemporary London re-rub to the genre, GS Collective (UK), whose heartfelt and heady musicians, MCs and singers brilliantly deliver performances of jazz-inflected hip-hop and R&B, Levitation Orchestra (UK) who create a spiritually progressive form of London Jazz that absorbs and reshapes electronica and ambient sounds, and 10-person juggernaut of sound Bixiga 70 (Brazil), brilliantly fusing the urgency of Afrobeat with the cool of Latin Jazz.

Flying in from Ho Chi Minh City is Saigon Soul Revival (Vietnam), who revisit the classical sound of sixties and seventies Vietnamese soul and rock, Mangrove Steelband (UK), 11-time national steel champions of the irrepressible sound of carnival, and TC & The Groove Family (UK), a 10-strong outfit who supersede the musical boundaries of Afrobeats, Jungle, breakbeats, highlife and ska, combining them all into a unique groove, together with Skarra Mucci (Jamaica), who is equally at ease with reggae, dancehall and hip-hop. 

Giving a live set at WOMAD will be Romare (UK), bringing his much admired cut’n’paste creations to vivid and vivacious life, funk DJ WBBL (UK) with wall-shaking drum & bass, hip-hop and house, Mista Trick (UK) with his extensive record collection perfect for getting the crowds dancing away, musical polymath Jason Singh (UK), and O.B.F. (France), the much-lauded dub-wise sound system, inspired by dub-cultures of Jamaica and the UK, who over the weekend will welcome grime MC Iman (UK) on the mic.  

They will be joining the showstopping lineup which includes multi-genre hero Sampa The Great (Zambia), progressive hip-hop trio Young Fathers (UK), electronic trailblazer Alison Goldfrapp (UK), bluesy duo Amadou & Mariam (Mali), cultural visionary Baaba Maal (Senegal), punk-rock showstoppers Gogol Bordello (USA) and the first hip-hop group to rap in Arabic, DAM (Palestine).