World music festival WOMAD Cáceres will be celebrating its 27th edition from Thursday, May 10 through Sunday, May 13, 2018. In addition to previously announced artists chk chk chk (United States), Canal de Timbiquí (Colombia) and The Gramophone Allstars Big Band (Spain), WOMAD Cáceres has revealed four additional acts: Oumou Sangaré (Mali), Red Baraat (United States), Elemotho Gaalelekwe (Namibia) and Papaya (Spain).
WOMAD Cáceres is held in historic Cáceres in western Spain. The festival is supported by the Junta de Extremadura (regional government), the Diputación de Cáceres (provincial government) and the City Council of Caceres through the Gran Teatro Consortium. In addition to concerts, the program includes a wide variety of activities: cinema, poetry, gastronomy, crafts, exhibitions, etc.
Oumou Sangaré, the voice of African women
Stylish, elegant, determined and charismatic, with a moving and powerful voice, Malian singer Oumou Sangaré has become a symbol for African femininity and a reference for millions of women. Throughout her long career she has used her songs to denounce without fear the position of women in Mali and to oppose polygamy, child marriage and a system that defines a “good wife” as a submissive woman. “Since I was a child, I promised myself that one day I would shout to the world about this problem,” she asserts. “Women have difficulties in Africa, we have no voice, our husbands speak for us,” she continues. “My role is to speak directly with women through my songs, giving them an example and showing them that they can make their own decisions,” she adds.
Oumou Sangaré will present her latest album, Mogoya along with some of her classics.
Elemotho Gaalelekwe, the new sound of the Kalahari
Namibian musician Elemotho Gaalelekwe acknowledges that his songs are inspired by life, family, childhood in the Kalahari, pain or tribulations, because music is also everywhere, in the songs of birds or in the struggle for survival in the wilderness. He defines himself as a modern nomad influenced by the stories of his grandmother – perhaps the most important person in his life – and by the traditional music Setswana, as well as South African pop and the sounds of Zimbabwe, reggae, jazz, rock and R & B.
Elemotho Gaalelekwe will present his fourth studio album, Beautiful World, which he says is like the soundtrack of a new dawn: positive, hopeful, free and optimistic. In Spain he has collaborated with Los Delinqüentes and the duo Fetén Fetén. Two of his songs, La vida and Neo, appear in the 2nd season of Grace & Frankie of Netflix.
American band Red Baraat combines bhangra, funk and hip hop. Spanish band Papaya features Yanara Espinoza, Miguel Aguas and Sebastián Litmanovich. They perform pop with exotic rhythms and party sounds.
More information: womad.org/festival/womad-caceres/
headline photo: Oumou Sangaré by Benoit Peverelli
Author: World Music Central News Room
World music news from the editors at World Music Central
