The World Sings, Dances in Antwerp

Sfinks was the event of the weekend – a world music festival on the outskirts of Antwerp that was awesome. Awesome Antwerp. Again.

It reminded me of the Womad festivals I had been to in South Africa and the UK – bringing back some good memories. I didn't take that many pics - doing two things at once (listening and taking pics) ain't my speciality. It's a wonder both hands can type at the same time. Here's a pic - more on my Flickr pages, too.




Both Sfinks and Womad are real family events – you can bring your kids and mates along, and really enjoy yourself. Everyone is welcome – and it’s a lovely, chilled-out event.

In fact, I once spoke to someone who worked Womad – and he compared it to other Rock Festivals, like Glastonbury.

“The difference is that at Glastonbury,” he explained “you’ll have people walking around the campsite early in the morning offering ‘Charlie, Dope, LSD?’ Whereas at Womad, you’ll get people walking around offering ‘Guardian, Times, Independent?’.

That’s the difference, then.

Sfinks highlights included Spanish group 08001 who sounded like they were produced by Brian Eno. Fantastic. Arab melodies, African voices, and a hybrid of acoustic, rock, reggae, R&B and soul. Is there anything left? Do yourself a favour and check out the gallery on their website – you can watch clips from live performances.

One thing I wasn’t certain to handle was what they sang about – world events, war, poverty, struggle, and more. Are you supposed to dance to that? I don’t know. Or pay attention and consider? What you reckon?

Another joy was listening to La Tana, a chanteuse from Seville, singing flamenco with only a guitarist and solo drummer. Breathtaking. I wish you could hear it. Also, the only band that I saw performing that smiled at each other when they were playing.

I also got to see Yasmin Levy, singing traditional Jewish-Spanish songs. The whole experience was so emotional – it was spectacular. If you see a CD, pick it up – a blessing to your ears.

I saw quite a few acts, and really enjoyed the whole experience. The festival was brought to a close by Anoushka Shankar, daughter/protégé of master sitar player Ravi Shankar. Again, quite an emotional time for me, as I think it may have been her to close the Womad performance in Reading UK a few years ago. Some fond memories. And interesting, too to see and hear how her music has evolved – she has an Apple Mac (and accompanying dude-what-mixes) on stage. “Live electronics” she called it. Cool.