Day 2! Wow WOMAD is kicking goals this year. Day 2 was more of a cruisy one, but the highlights were truly great.

Taste the World: Italian Molfettese Nonnas
I have never actually been to a TTW session in my years of coming to WOMAD, and now I have been I don’t know why?! I was drawn to this one because I have a Nonna of my own who is from a town about an hour from Molfetta, and also because Matteo Giordano from Pane e Latte was cooking on it with his Nonna. It was great! There were food samples! Chaired by the fabulous Rosa Matto, it was a highlight of the day. I am definitely making time to come to more TTW sessions over the weekend.

Sona Jobarteh
Sona Jobarteh was beautiful. The most lovely melodies and Sona plays a Kora, a 21 string guitar. It was so impressive! A nice chill session in the shade of the Novatech stage.

Circus Abyssinia
These performers were fantastic. They were announced late as special guests and they blew me away. They did all sorts of tricks – juggling, acrobatics, hula, dancing – and each was more impressive than the last. They were so joyful in everything that they did.

The Seven Ups
Coming over from Melbourne, the Seven Ups were a full up band with two guitars, two percussion players, and three brass players on the trumpet, tenor sax, and trombone. Everyone was grooving, it was such a good time.

The Bells
This was so intriguing! We had just seen a man in a full coat riding a bike around and assumed he was a performer, but were surprised to see five men dress the same ride up to the Bells. It was a comical, Charlie Chaplin-esque performance that was a lot of fun. They leapt on ropes, playing electric bells of some sort, while yelling and fighting. The group is called 5 Angry Men after all.

Gwenno
Gwenno’s performance was so fitting under the shady green Moreton Bay fig trees. She is floaty and ethereal, playing a mix of acoustic and electric instruments and singing in Welsh. It feels like a fairytale, it is so beautiful.

Baloji
What a charming man and an excellent performer! Baloji is a rapper born in Congo and raised in Belgium and he blew me away. With catchy bass lines and French rapping, Baloji goes through no fewer than four costume changes as he runs and dances across the stage. It’s fantastic and so much fun!

Thando
Another great young artist out of Melbourne! Born in Zimbabwe, Thando’s voice is out of this world. She has such a good command of the stage and she is so personable. Her band is tight with 10 people on the stage, including the Seven Ups on horns and two incredibly talented and sassy back up singers. They play such groovy music that again defies anyone to stand still. Thando has so much fun, and so do we.

Digital Afrika
Infectiously funky music from the African-Australian Future Roots, teaming up with DJ Si Fixion. The music was next level, percussion galore, and dancers getting it going. The background was screensaver-esque, but still beautiful.