The World of Music, Arts and Dance found its way again to Redmond's Marymoor Park for the weekend of July 28-30. A spectacular event with over 40 talented acts from all over the globe, WOMAD USA captures the universality of music and dance and, oddly enough, makes a festival setting extremely intimate. What is striking about WOMAD is this ability to make such a large spectator event affect those who are involved on a personal level. Involvement is the keyword; with the strong sense of world music community and the hands-on workshops you, the audience member, are an integral part of the music experience. We found the event a musical catharsis--a catharsis that allowed us to musically feel the rhythms all around and to soak in all the diverse sounds that universally became one positive vibe at this festival.

Alejandro Escovedo  After slowly savoring some tasty paella, Bill and I decided to head over to the Starbucks Village Stage to check out Alejandro Escovedo. Passing the KCMU Troubadour Rhythm Stage, we caught a bit of the first Australian Aboriginal pop star, Jimmy Little. Decked out head to toe in an olive-colored suit, I found his renditions of Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling in Love" and fellow Down Under neighbors Crowded House's "Into Temptation" pretty interesting. Kinda like tolerating your odd uncle's take on the karaoke machine at a family event. Anyway, this made me even more compelled to check out what Mr. Escovedo was doing over at the Village Stage.

A skilled storyteller, Escovedo has the ability to spin a yarn and unravel his listeners' souls at the same time. His slower poignant songs dig deep and are often sentimental; not too hardcore for an ex-cowpunk. Showcasing a song from an upcoming play, By the Hand of the Father, inspired by his father's story of hopping on board a train in California to find his parents in Texas. What really got me was the melancholy moans from B. Standefer's cello combined with Eric Heywood's sad weepy pedal steel. At this point, I was getting too sentimental and needed to have my spirits lifted.  -Hope Lopez

Tarika  We started our WOMAD experience with Tarika, a Malagasy-based quintet headed by the fiercely outspoken Hanitra Rasoanaivo. This was our first introduction to the exotic instrumentation which populates so much of the musical acts at the festival; Tarika deftly interwove the vmarovany, the valiha, the kabosy, and the jejy voatavo with the standard thumpa-thump of Western guitar and bass. Over a rhythm section bound to get the audience moving swirled the sounds of the two zithers (the box and bamboo) and the two native guitars combining to make music full of exotic energy and breathless sensuality. Mixing in her strong political commentary about the state of Madagascar and the role of women within that society, Rasoanaivo led Tarika through an energetic performance that set the standard for the rest of the artists to follow. Buoyed by passionate intensity and the lockstep of the band behind her, Rasoanaivo demonstrated why Tarika is a favorite on the Indian Ocean island and how music can bring a powerful message across oceanic barriers.  -Mark Teppo

Positive Black Soul  Afro-rap from Senegal. These guys know how to get the crowd going in a short period of time. They only had forty-five minutes for the set I got to see, and it was one of the best shows of the weekend. Visually they were stunning in their bright orange and green outfits and were full of lots of good energy and genuinely enjoyed kicking some ass on stage with their dancing, drumming and rapping. I think what made them stand out was that you "got" their sense of humor and that they were just having a damn good time getting the audience off. Definitely one of the highlights of the festival. Unfortunately there weren't any CDs available.  -Bill Wolford

The clear darlings of WOMAD by the end of the weekend, the Ensemble Tartit brought the sonorous mystery of the Sahara with them. The eight-person troupe wove fabulous songs around a simple drum, the imzad (a single-stringed fiddle made from a gourd), the rapping sound of the tinde, and their call-and-response style vocals. Each vocalist would take turns leading the others in a hypnotic passage and the songs would undulate over the audience like the breath of sand across wide dunes. Nothing transported me further than their sound, taking me from the hot dusty grounds of Marymoor Park to ancient deserts where the sun creased the horizon and the only sound was the wailing of the wind. Music can be such a response to the environment, mirroring the natural world, and the Ensemble Tartit brought with them a touch of the desert sands.

A lot of music from this region (and farther east as well) seems to have at its base a trance-inducing design. The scattered stages seemed to be placed to either get your butt wiggling or to send you spiraling into a euphoric mental state. The Ensemble performed four times over the weekend (two stage performances, two workshops) and built themselves quite a following over the three days as their audiences swelled, pulled under their hypnotic spell. Caught by their suggestive voices, we followed their sound. We went home charmed and, smiling at the memories, found sand in our shoes.  -Mark Teppo

Wendo Kolosoy  Father of the Congolese Rumba, Antoine "Papa" Wendo Kolosoy has the distinctive, quavering voice of a master. Decked out in a richly colored suit and gentlemanly hat, he cut a refined figure on stage. And his presence didn't stop there. You couldn't help but be struck still by the sound of his voice. At seventy-five years old, Kolosoy still has deep reservoirs of spiritual power that come out in waves through the energy of his yearning voice. Too often Western music puts emphasis on sound and fury, neglecting craft and the inherent strength of a powerful performer. Backed by sparse, funky rhythms, Kolosoy effortlessly demonstrated why he is still the master of his game for a wonderstruck audience at the Troubadour Stage. This is a man who could enchant serpents, bewitch enraged lions, and calm stampeding wildebeest with just his voice.   -Mark Teppo

Khac Chi Ensemble  From Viet Nam currently residing in Vancouver. Being an overnight fan of traditional Vietnamese music since hearing the CD Stilling Time on the Innova label, I made it a point to check out this group which was basically a husband and wife duo performing original compositions on traditional Vietnamese instruments. It's one thing to have a bunch of fascinating looking instruments you won't see everyday, but to see them played with such precise virtuosity is another thing. Khac Chi Ho and Ngoc Bich Hoang have hugely entertaining personalities in addition to their mastery of the instruments. Chi loved to play the dan bau (a one-string zither with a whammy-like stem) as much as we loved listening to its intense and quirky sound. The only way to describe it is like a theremin played at double speed with all its glissandos and warbles. But the instrument and the way Chi played it is much more sensitive. And then Ngoc Bich pulls out her ko ni (a two-string violin with a resonator attached to silk thread placed in the player's mouth). This instrument would have made Jimi Hendrix throw away his wah-wah and Peter Frampton trash his voice box. She had them both beat on this afternoon. What got to me with them was the humor that played a big part in the music. Even though they are virtuosos they weren't too serious at all. They were simply astounding.  -Bill Wolford

Alessandra Belloni  There is an emphasis at WOMAD of interaction: the audience isn't meant to remain on the far side of the stage from the performer and, throughout the weekend, had the opportunity to mingle directly with the artists. The Drum Circle was transformed from the free-for-all drumfest that usually rumbles on all day under the trees into an intimate space where the audience had the opportunity to learn more about the percussive instruments which surrounded them all weekend. One such workshop was Alessandra Belloni's introduction to Italian folk tambourine techniques. A skill largely reserved for men, the Italian style of tambourine is inseparable from their folk singing, a permanent accompaniment to their songs and laments. Alessandra led a rapt audience through several techniques in addition to regaling them with several poignant folk songs and expressive dances. As she told us the story of the black spider, the tambourine was a live animal in her hand, shaking and rattling with its distinctive voice in accompaniment to her performance.  -Mark Teppo

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