WOMAD

WOMAD is a world music festival and that some of you may have heard of but I hadn’t. It took place March 16-18, 2012 in New Plymouth in the North Island.

Brooke, my Kiwi friend, goes every year and so when I got the chance to volunteer of course I said yes because otherwise tickets were $265. It was a chance to enjoy 3 days of music from around the world and a lot of NZ music which I have had limited exposure to since I’ve been here.

I was a last minute volunteer specifically for the Waste Management Team, meaning I was making sure people were putting everything in the correct containers. I was amazed at how hard it was to get the public to pay attention to where things go and why. On the other hand I had a lot of people who would fight over if something was recycling or not. I actually learnt a lot about recycling and composting and felt like I was doing something important.

The music at the festival was fantastic and the scheduling for the most part was great. They did a great job leap frogging the stages and not putting similar acts against each other and most acts played twice so that you had a better chance of seeing everyone. My festival favourites were The Black Seeds (NZ), Chapelier Fou (France), Pascals (Japan), Alabama 3 (UK), Dobet Gnahore (Africa), The Bombay Royale (India) and Shogun Orchestra (NZ).

Of course it wouldn’t have been awesome without the people I was there with, Brooke, Deb, and Val, in Deb’s wicked old school camper van. I also made some new friends who were volunteering with me like Eleanor from Australia who had a sort of British accent from watching too much British television. She was crazy fun to work with and we bonded over fashion which she studied in school. I also met Julia from Montana and we bonded once back in Wellington and she has been a bit of a life saver. We have shared our love of film and ladies night, and sulked in our mutual unemployment.

WOMAD was a great experience and I was happy to get to spend that time with Brooke before she moved to Perth. It also brought me back to my roots of volunteering which I haven’t done in a few years and forgot how satisfying it can be.

XOXO

Sid