Background to WOMAD New Zealand 2011

About WOMAD:
WOMAD – World of Music, Arts and Dance – the name expresses the central aim of the festival; to bring together and celebrate many forms of music, arts and dance drawn from countries and cultures all over the world.

WOMAD aims to excite, to inform, and to create awareness of the worth and potential of a multicultural society.

Originally inspired by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Brooman, the first WOMAD festival was held in 1982. Since then there have been more than 140 WOMAD festivals in 22 countries around the world attended by more than one million people.

"The festivals have also allowed many different audiences to gain an insight into cultures other than their own through the enjoyment of music,” Peter Gabriel says.

“Music is a universal language, it draws people together and proves, as well as anything, the stupidity of racism."

WOMAD New Zealand 2011 will be the ninth time this unique festival has been held in New Zealand, and the seventh time New Plymouth has played host to the event. The festival was first held in Taranaki in 2003 and was biennial until 2007.

WOMAD New Zealand 2010 was attended by more than 38,000 people over the three days.

WOMAD New Zealand 2011 will feature almost 300 performers from 20 different countries with 30 hours of music on seven stages. As well as music and performance, the festival also includes the popular Taste The World, hosted by New Zealand’s own gourmet nomad Peta Mathias, artists-in-conversation, a film programme, Kidzone, a global village of more than 80 stalls including international food, beverages, arts and crafts, CDs and WOMAD merchandise and a sustainable village.

ENDS

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