Hey there people!
First, I have to apologise for the lack of posting yesterday. I know I said I would blog everyday, but I did also say that was reliant on my being able to do so. All the same, I feel you deserve an explanation.
Yesterday, I left the house at about 9:30, having gotten up at 8:45. I then went an hour or so down the road to Charlton Park for the annual WOMAD festival, which I went to with my family. I just had time to Tweet about what I was doing before I had to leave, and we didn't get back until gone midnight, so all I wanted to do was sleep.
What is WOMAD? you ask. Well, I will tell you.
WOMAD stands for World of Music, Arts and Dance, and is a festival held in various places around the world at various different times of year. The one I went to, Charlton Park, runs from Friday to Monday around the 1st of August (which this year just happened to be the same weekend as VidCon, though I doubt anyone but me was aware of that). The festival is specifically designed to showcase world music and global beats on a larger stage than they usually see.
The idea of WOMAD is to bring together musicians from all cultures, all over the world, from Africa to Japan to Spain to America to Wales, to share their music and their history, and give people a better understanding of the music in other countries. It also gives the musicians a chance to earn more than they would in their own country, and perform for a larger audience.
Most of the people that go to WOMAD, it has to be said, are hippies and other alternative types. But really, anyone can go. The tag line for this year was 'The World's Festival', and it really is. Just walking around the site, looking at all the stalls, is an immersions in a rich, incredibly different culture with almost every step. There are places selling every food you could possibly think of, and some you probably didn't know existed; as my mother astutely pointed out yesterday, you could go with ten other people, each choose to eat something different, and you still wouldn't have exhausted every possibility.
The music is as widely varied as the food. We only went for one day, but we saw a London based group with members from Italy Spain and Argentina, a Welsh Gothic-punk band performing traditional folk songs, a Japanese blues duet, and the incredible Baba Maal, a singer from Senegal, all in the space of about 12 hours.
Overall, it was a wonderful experience. This is the second time I've been to WOMAD, and I plan to go every year as long as I can afford it.
On a side note, I'm sorry to say that I didn't get any questions to answer at all today, despite having told all my readers what I was doing. :( I plan to leave the offer open, so if you want to know anything, anything at all, let me know!
Until tomorrow lovelies!
Glitterb
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