out of this world - various (WOMADelaide)

out of this world - various (Womadelaide)

This festival is a biennial occurrence which celebrates cultural diversity in song and dance, presenting a staggering array of the best performers from all over the world. You can read Seth Jordan's article about Womadelaide 2003 in the Live section of this website. Unlike some of the previous releases of live performances celebrating the festival, on Out Of This World all the songs are taken from the individual artists' studio releases on Real World, the first world music label to make a huge international impact under the aegis of rock musician Peter Gabriel.

Starting CD one off with Papa Wemba's sublime Epelo, one of the Congolese singers best afro-salsa tracks the compilation moves effortlessly through Trio Mocoto's samba rock, the Afro-Celt Sound System, Australia's Jimmy Little to France's cabaret rockers Lo Jo (their excellent Memoire D'homme is also on the Rough Guide To France reviewed in All Over The Map). The listener will notice that despite the extreme diversity of styles, the high quality of the performances and songs are complementary lending a lovely flow to the proceedings that range from Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's yearning Nothing Without You through prime examples from Te Vaka, Oliver Mtukudzi, Ernest Ranglin, Viki & Linda, Geoffrey Oryema, Yungchen Lhamo and Peter Gabriel.

If the first CD is more on the reflective side, the second hits the dance jugular in no uncertain terms with Los de Abajo's salsa on steroids, The Temple Of Sound's outrageous hip-hopping of the Col;ombian roots classic Cumbia En Do Menor, the Senegalese swing of Cheikh Lo, Algeria's Rachid Taha in hi-tech Arabic dance mode and superb punchy cumbia from Toto La Momposina that segues into Cachaito's Cuban swing. Only after that does it slows down for Irish songstress Cara Dillon's beautiful modernisation of the traditional ballad Black Is The Colour (Of My True Love's Hair). The remaining songs range from slow-rap, folk, country, electronic qawwali to percussion with Drum Drum, Andy White, The Waifs, Temple Of Sound & Rizwan-Muazzam Qawalli and King Kadu taking the listener Out Of This World with seamless aplomb. The best introduction to the Real World catalogue so far. Long time worldies can also try with the knowledge that they probably won't already have a prohibitive number of duplications.