WOMAD

'WOMAD restored my faith in festivals' Bernadette McNulty Daily Telegraph

We're looking forward to the sound of green leaves rustling away in the arboretum, the smells rising from the Taste The World, bands singing, beating, blowing and strumming their hearts out to the beaming faces and dancing feet of the crowd. Obviously, I am talking of WOMAD Charlton Park.

But now the festive season is nearly upon us and New Year is close behind so from the whole WOMAD team we hope you've had a great year and we wish you a happy 2010!

Here's what Jane Cornwell had to say in her review of 2009:

Big iridescent bubbles blew over the rural Wiltshire landscape this festival weekend. Conjured with wands, deployed by kids and adults, they floated across stages filled with artists from Australia to Zimbabwe; through an arboretum strung with dream catchers and fairy lights; past an old-fashioned Steam Fair and a Global Village selling noodles and tutus, hammocks and tie-dyes, parasols and wellies. Glinting in the sunshine on Friday and Saturday they had gently faded out by Sunday. But the WOMAD spirit remained undampened.

'There were discoveries from every global corner,' noted The Independent. 'As usual, the festival's strength lay in brief, startling contact with music further off the track even than Timbuktu.' The Times welcomed WOMAD and some 30,000 punters back to the idyllic Charlton Park for this, its third year ('The weekend's family-friendly atmosphere felt as Utopian as ever'), while The Guardian praised a festival whose highlights 'provided further reminders that "world music" really is global these days, and increasingly experimental.' Read the review in full

'a celebration of remote musical cultures,' Tom Parry, mirror.co.uk

'a festival that is so unselfconsciously mixed across generations and races.' Bernadette McNulty The Sunday Telegraph

'WOMAD is unearthing its usual riches.' Nick Hasted The Independent

'Diverse melting pot that is WOMAD' Richard Bagley Morning Star

'A Triumph of the unfamiliar' Mark Hudson, Daily Mail

'...the most litter-free festival you have ever seen.' Jackie Chappell The Bath Chronicle