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DRAWN BY THE ALLURE OF LIVE PERFORMANCES BY TWO OF CUBA'S GREATEST LEGENDS - ELIADES OCHUA AND ORISHAS, WE MADE THE TREK TO WOMAD's outdoor music and dance festival at Charlton Park, Malmesbury, Wiltshire this weekend (Thursday 24th- Sunday 26th July 2009).
On our first Womad, we opted for a B&B in nearby Swindon instead of joining thousands of music lovers camping on-site. I wanted to do Womad in comfort. The thought of it chucking it down, roughing it with the wellie brigade, camping on a sea of mud, getting cold and soaked through, queuing for portaloos, peeing in portaloos, in fact anything in portaloos, were no-no's. Well, I admit it - I was wrong.
We set off late from London, got caught in traffic and by the time we'd dropped off our stuff at the B&B - which turned out to be miles away - we missed Eliades' gig on Friday afternoon.
Best known for his involvement with the Buena Vista Social Club, Eliades Ochua is one of Cuba's greatest soneros and finest exponents of traditional Cuban son. When Eliades stands there in his trade-mark cowboy hat with his guitar, you feel Cuba. Cuba speaks out of every rolling R, every vibrating twang of his guitar - Cuba is the blood and guts of Eliades' music. Not for no reason is Eliades dubbed the Cuban Johnny Cash - this is man's music making; muscular, magnetic, earthy, charismatic - a massive stage presence.
I was gutted - if we'd signed up for the camping deal, we'd have been there for the gig. The whole point was to see generations of Cuba's finest playing live and together on the same bill. I wanted to see, feel and hear the evolution and revolution of Cuban music, be there as Eliades handed on the baton (or the clave) of Cuba's bone achingly beautiful traditional music to Roldán González, Hiram Riverí "Ruzzo" and Yotuel Romero of Orishas, with their hypnotic and unassailable mix of hip hop and Cuban son.
It's got to a bit gobby to call your band Orishas (literally translating as Gods, from the intertwined religious beliefs of the Yoruba and the Cuban Santaria). Gobby in a good way, this crew have had the gaul to mix up traditional Cuban music with the raw rocket fuel of Cuban hip hop. The result is tunes that have become anthems, such as Represent ¿Qué pasa? and Nací Orishas. These iconoclastic sons of Cuba lived up to the hype, delivering a huge live performance to thousands of festival goers.
To avoid putting the woe into Womad, to get the Womad experience, to get what it's about, you've got to buy into the whole thing, the community camping carry on, portaloos, everything.
This festival is impressive for its inclusiveness and genuine sense of community. Womad is family and kid friendly, everybody mixes in, able bodied and disabled, young and the old, people of every nationality, colour and religious faith. Fortunately, the weather held and the food was good, tasty with plenty of outlets, no queuing! For one weekend a year, it's worth forgoing home comforts to step into an alternate universe where flower power really did change the world. In Womad world, a retro hippie peace and love vibe meets a right on global village that's friendly, polite and safe. See you in the queue for the portaloo next year. Ed.
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