WOMAD in Toronto

When Peter Gabriel launched the first WOMAD festival in 1982—on a Somerset fairground with China's Tian Jin and the Burundi Drummers—non-Western music was virtually unknown in the pop world.

Today, world music gets mainstream attention in publications such as Billboard, which has a regular world music chart.

And its recordings, once hidden in the back of record stores in dusty international sections, receive prominent front-racking.

Just check out the vast world-music display at HMV's megastore on Yonge St.

Meanwhile, worldbeat's diverse sounds are featured in popular weekly radio shows like Global Rhythms, heard Saturday mornings locally on CIUT-FM.

Toronto, in fact, is a hotbed for world music.

And that's why WOMAD - the World of Music, Arts & Dance festival, now in its fifth year at Harbourfront - has been so successful here.

Indeed, although the festival now travels to France, Spain, Finland, Germany, Australia and Japan, Toronto (which the United Nations once called “the world's most cosmopolitan city”) is still its only North American stop.

When asked why Toronto thrives on international music, Harbourfront's music guru and WOMAD programmer Derek Andrews points to two factors: immigration patterns and adventurous tastes.

“Seventy-five per cent of our immigration now comes from Africa, Latin America and Asia, so we're curious about the people who've become our neighbors,” says Andrews.

“Consequently, Toronto audiences have a limitless capacity for exploring new kinds of music.”

This year's WOMAD at Harbourfront, which runs Friday through Sunday, proves the point.

Featuring 39 acts from more than 30 countries on five continents, the festival continues to showcase top performers from Africa and Latin America - both extremely popular in previous years - but this year puts an extra emphasis on Asian culture.

Along with a show featuring Zairean soukous star Tchico Tchihaya and local jazz artist Jane Bunnett's Spirits of Havana show with Cuba's Merceditas Valdes and Grupo Yoruba Andabo, this year's headliners include U.K.-based Asian pop star Sheila Chandra and Indian mandolin whiz U. Srinivas.

And there is also a wealth of Asian film, food and crafts being featured over the three days.

Still, variety has always been the mainstay of WOMAD and this year's festival features an eclectic range of artists—from Ashkhabad, Turkmenistan's top wedding band (which veers wildly between traditional music and Jean-Luc Ponty-style jazz-rock fusion), to Rumillajta, Bolivia's leading Andean folk troupe.

Close to home, Toronto's own Jane Siberry, now working with ethno- pop pioneer Brian Eno, will make her WOMAD debut, in a Soukous & Dub concert that also features Tchico Tchihaya & Soukous Machine, plus Bobby Wiseman, Edward II and Benjamin Zephaniah.

And the punk-inspired Bad Livers from Austin, Texas, who thrilled audiences at Harbourfront's Bluegrass festival last year, return with their inspired “thrash-grass” sound.

Altogether, there are nine ticketed shows at this year's festival, along with dozens of free concerts and the usual array of workshops, dance performances, film showings and arts and craft displays.

Paid admission events include the Canadian Worldbeat Dancehall series each night at the Brigantine Room, and three concerts each at the 1,700-seat Molson Place outdoor stage and in the posh du Maurier Theatre, which seats 425 in an acoustically superb setting.

And ticketed shows have come down in price, ranging from $5 to $12 this year.

Says Andrews: “We've got more going on simultaneously than ever before, and much of it is still free. But even if you want to go to all three (ticketed) concerts on a given evening, you can do it and spend only $24.”

He adds that WOMAD is offering a “buy two tickets, get the third one free” deal for all shows at Molson Place.

Another change this year is the large number of Canadian worldbeat bands being featured, including:

* Montreal's pan-global Zekuhl;

* Ottawa's native-reggae group 7th Fire;

* and four Toronto groups - the South African jive band Siyakha, the Ghanaian-style Hi-Life Stars, world fusionists Still Life and reggae-rockers Sunforce.

These six bands will share billing at Canadian Worldbeat Dancehall program, which takes the place of the DJ-led dance parties held during previous WOMAD fests.

One shortcoming in this year's lineup is the glaring lack, aside from 7th Fire, of any native performers.

But Andrews is quick to point out that Harbourfront, which hosted the Earth Spirit Festival earlier this year, has also featured native talent at other events.

“We've tried to work with native artists year-round, rather than ghettoize them into just WOMAD,” he says.

Originally published in the Toronto Star 06 Aug 1992