WOMADelaide's festival spirit is well and truly alive with another 40 artists-bands added to the 2022 line-up including The Cat Empire (final SA show with original line-up), NZ reggae-funk heavyweights L.A.B. and hip hop super group A.B. Original.
The opening night of WOMADealaide will welcome oud virtuoso Joseph Tawadros AM who'll partner with his brother James Tawadros and a 52-piece Adelaide Symphony Orchestra to perform Joseph's grand, cinematic 'Concerto For Oud And Orchestra'.There'll be a contingent of international travellers as well, with Brazilian jazz legends Azymuth and Marcos Valle, Grammy nominated Mississippi blues artist Cedric Burnside, and Grammy-winning Guatemala-born, US-based folk singer Gaby Moreno.
The trad-electronic magic of Scottish veterans Elephant Sessions, Māori musician and genre chameleon Troy Kingi, and multi-instrumentalist Tio from Vanuatu will also venture to WOMADelaide 2022.
World-renowned composer-producer-DJ Floating Points (UK) and Grammy-nominated environmentalist and house music DJ Jayda G, alongside NZ DJ Aroha will provide the beats.
"ADELAIDE!!!!!!!! Hello. You have been so patient. Today is your day," begins The Cat Empire. "We are so proud and beyond excited to let you know that we will be walking onto the WOMADelaide stage for the seventh and final time as the original line-up.
"We have had a long and lovely association with this festival both in Australia and overseas, so it feels right to finish up in SA with all of these good people at this uniquely special family-friendly festival.
"We will all be bringing our kids, so pack yours too(!) and fly in from another state if you haven't got your hands on tickets to our final tour yet."
A.B. Original's performance at WOMADealide will be their first since 2020, the duo Briggs and Trials keeping busy writing and recording new material for a sophomore album to 2016 record 'Reclaim Australia'.
Winners of the 2020 Best Roots Artist at the Aotearoa Music Awards, five-piece L.A.B regularly sell-out stadiums back home with their weighty mix of reggae, electronic, blues, funk and rock.
WOMADelaide has partnered with Music In Exile to present South Sudan's King of Music Gordon Koang, Ausecuma Beats and Chikchika; and with Nexus Arts to present ZÖJ, Dhungala Baarka and Farhan Shah & Sufi-Oz.
WOMADelaide x Northern Sound System Academy graduates Sokel, Sonz of Serpent with the Tervete Collective and Elsy Wameyo will also perform.
"Expanding our 30th anniversary line-up with the calibre of artists we are announcing today is hugely exciting," Director Ian Scobie says.
"The diversity of our 2022 line-up and celebrating predominantly Australian artists is exceptional, from Asteroid Ekosystem (Ed Kuepper, Lloyd Swanton & Alistair Spence), Australian hip hop royalty A.B. Original, Farhan Shah & Sufi-Oz and DJ Floating Points, exemplifies the mix of diversity and discovery our audiences have come to love and expect at WOMADelaide."
WOMADelaide 2022 takes place at Botanic Park (Adelaide) 11-14 March.
WOMADelide 2022 Line-up
A.B. OriginalAdelaide Symphony Orchestra - Silence
AROHA (DJ set)
Asteroid Ekosystem
Ausecuma Beats
Australian Art Orchestra - Hand to Earth
Azymuth & Marcos Valle
Bullhorn
Bush Gothic
Carla Lippis' Mondo Psycho
The Cat Empire (final SA show of the original line-up)
Cedric Burnside
Chikchika
Dhungala Baarka
Elephant Sessions
Elsy Wameyo
The Empty Threats
Farhan Shah & Sufi-Oz
Floating Points (DJ set)
Gaby Moreno
Glass Beams
Gordon Koang
Jayda G (DJ set)
Jerome Farah
Joseph Tawadros & James Tawadros (duo show)
Joseph Tawadros with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra
Karen Lee Andrews
L.A.B.
Luluc
Makepisi
Sokel
Sonz of Serpent
Springtime
Taikoz
Te Tangi O Te Ka'ara
Tijuana Cartel
Tio
Troy Kingi
Victor Martinez Parada
Yé-Yé 2.0
ZÖJ
Who join the already announced:
Baker Boy
Balkan Ethno Orchestra
Barkaa
Courtney Barnett
The Crooked Fiddle Band
Dancenorth - 'NOISE'
Eishan Ensemble
El Gran Mono
Electric Fields
Emma Donovan & The Putbacks
Goanna
Grace Barbé
Haiku Hands
High Ace
Inner City
King Stingray
Kutcha Edwards
L-FRESH The LION
Martinez Akustica
Melbourne Ska Orchestra
Motez (live)
The New Monos
Parvyn
Paul Kelly
Reb Fountain
Danse Carpe Diem/Emmanuel Jouthe, Maï(g)wenn et lesOrteils & Restless Dance Theatre - 'Écoute Pour Voir (Listen to See)'
The Shaolin Afronauts
Sorong Samarai
Valanga Khoza
YID!
