Groundbreaking UK artist PJ Harvey will headline the first day of next year’s WOMADelaide festival.
The Mercury Prize-winning Harvey will bring her full band for the Friday night performance to deliver a set of songs from her Grammy-nominated tenth album I Inside the Old Year Dying, and acclaimed records including Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea and Let England Shake.
Harvey will join a raft of acclaimed artists from across the globe at the beloved South Australian festival, being held in Adelaide's Botanic Park/Tainmuntilla from March 7-10, including acclaimed German pianist, composer, producer, and celebrated performer Nils Frahm.
Since his breakthrough album Felt in 2011, Frahm has become renowned for his unconventional approach to the age-old instrument the piano, garnering him international acclaim for his live shows and albums.
Born in Mozambique and raised in Lisbon’s Mouraria district, Portugal-based Mariza (pictured right) - a global superstar and one of the most acclaimed Fado singers of our time - will also perform.
With a career spanning more than 20 years, 30 platinum albums, and countless accolades, Mariza has performed around the world, and has shared stages with musical legends such as Sting, Gilberto Gil, Lenny Kravitz, Cesária Évora, and Tito Paris.
Known for his dynamic fusion of Balkan folk, rock, and classical influences, Serbia’s Goran Bregović and His Wedding and Funeral Band have forged a unique sound that is both universal and unmistakably his own, while UK musician, producer and composer, Nitin Sawhney CBE is sure to ignite the dance floor with his own brand of British electronica and fusion.
It's great news for Sawhney fans after the renowned artist was booked for the 2024 festival but was unable to attend.
And after perform
ing at the 2016 festival to huge acclaim, 47SOUL (pictured left), hailing from Palestine and Jordan, return with their message of equality for the world.
Melding hip-hop, electronica and R&B with the sounds of Dabke (the traditional music from the Levant region), the group created their own music genre Shamstep, a sound for the people of the Sham region (Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria).
On an Australian front, Emily Wurramara will bring her evocative and expressive voice to the WOMADelaide stage, while the Arnhem-Land-based eight-piece funk act Andrew Gurruwiwi Band – led by the shy-but-extravagant, blind, keytar-wielding Yolngu Elder – will serve up high-energy infectious grooves.
WOMADelaide Festival Director Ian Scobie AM said that the festival was “when Adelaide throws its arms around the world to welcome, share, discover and celebrate music, arts and dance” and that the announcement of 47 acts from 28 countries “demonstrates why it truly is the world’s festival”.
Tickets and more information can be found at womadelaide.com.au
