Now the sun sets

A week today I should, as long as the many things that could prevent me do not, be in a very large 'field' with about 30,000 other people listening to music. My first WOMAD since 2019, which was the last that anyone went to. How very much has changed since then. That WOMAD was magical for me as Firstborn was performing there and only six months later his band unexpectedly broke up. I was gutted - they were so good - but far more than that has changed.

While I did my first round of packing (I've done it before but it's gong to be mighty hard to get all the camping stuff there on public transport) I've spent the day listening to Spotify's 'Discover WOMAD 2022' to rule out bands I definitely don't want to see. It's harder to rule bands in but I have a shortlist of those I will go out of my way to hear. I can hear both Covid and Brexit (finances and visas) in the line-up: there are far fewer bands travelling long distances than there used to be and many are part of the impressively eclectic international music scene based in the UK. There's much less traditional music (from anywhere) and much more fusion. That's probably also a by-product of Covid, since having to do things online has brought so many more people who are physically distant closer together.

Anyway, I was so deep in music that I didn't go out other than to hang up the pre-WOMAD washing so it's a through-the-window sunset blip.

If you're going, let me know and we can have a micro-blipmeet. It won't be my first one at WOMAD - that was ten years ago! See also...