Highlights of the World Music Festival 2007

NARASIRATO PAN PIPERS (Solomon Islands)

This unique tribal band hails from the volcanic and coral reef archipelago of the Solomon Islands. The musicians live in a village at the remote southern end of Malaita Island in the Solomons. They produce a mix of virtuosic pan pipe music, performed while dancing intricate choreographies, all of which relate to their rich Are' Are' culture, their village life and environment. The music typically depicts natural and human sounds such as bird and animal calls, oceans and rivers, children playing or crying, rustling trees and people at work.

TAMMORRA SPECIAL (Italy)

The Tammora band carries the heritage of Sicily which has since the 13th century borne some of ancient Europe's greatest poets and writers. Sicily is also rich in its architecture, ruins, food, arts and music. The six musicians with impassioned vocals and huge tambourines come from Palermo, the capital of Sicily, to sing about things like love, families, death and even salt! Being Sicilian, there are marvellous ironic metaphors in their speech that become translated into their lyrics.

ASIKA (West Malaysia)

Skilled in traditional instruments, both popular and endangered, from the Malay peninsula, Asika plays percussions like the gendang, rebana and cak lempong, as well as the bowed-stringed rebab, the gambus, the piercing serunai and the bamboo seruling. Uniquely enough, the group creates a veritable global fusion of sound, even while maintaining the character of Malay music, by combining the sounds of African djembes, darabukkas, Latin congas and Indian tablas, layered with the violin, keyboards, accordion guitars and bass.

DIZU PLAATJIES' IBUYAMBO (South Africa)

A master of the African marimba, the music of Dizu Paatjies' Ibuyambo plots a route through the musical roads of Sub-Saharan desert regions. In Africa, "Ibuyambo" means renaissance or rebirth. Clad in traditional outfits and body paints, the group brings the feel and atmosphere of the mystical rituals of ancient African tribes. The group is led by Mzikantu Zingula Dizu Plaatjies, the son and grandson of traditional healers and herbalists in Cape Town, South Africa, and who is trained in the art of healing in the Xhosa and Pondo tribal ways.

ENSEMBLE KABOUL (Afghanistan)

Comprising leading Afghan artistes who have lived in Europe since the time music was forbidden by the old Taliban regime, the group plays music representative of the diverse influences that characterises their homeland, with traces of Pashtun and Tajik, Uzbek and Hazara. Their music is a dazzling mix of layers upon layers of textured mosaic jewels from India, Persia, and tribal traditions from around Central Asia. Ensemble Kaboul won the coveted World Music Award from BBC Radio in 2003.

FARAFINA (Burkina Faso)

The African talking drum is but one of the exciting implements featured by Farafina. The band plays unusual instruments like balafons and the koras that have uniquely emerged in the west African region. The balafon is a xylophone made from wood strips connected together by thread. Varying sizes of gourds can be attached to the bottom of this "keyboard" acting as resonators to enhance the sound. They are hit with wooden sticks. The kora is an amazing and impressive looking instrument which is a cross between a lute and a harp. The sound of a kora is unique and unmistakable and it remains a very popular instrument in Mali, Senegal and Gambia.

FOGHORN STRINGBAND (USA)

A quintet of young men who play old-time string music of the Appalachians and the Mid-West of north America. Some of the songs they perform can be traced back to the 1700s. With a fiddle, a mandolin and a banjo, the group produces the sounds of rural America with touches of bluegrass, square dance music and mountain magic.

HUUN HUUR TU / MALERIJA (Tuva / Russia)

Huun Huur Tu is a quartet has taken around the world the folklore, throat singing and distinctive instruments like the igil (a Tuvan horsehead cello), khomus (mouth harp), doshpuluur (Tuvan banjo) and the tungur (shaman drum) distinctive to the region bordering Mongolia and Siberia. In much of their music, one hears the rhythm of horses trotting and gentle love songs. The group is joined by three members of Russian band Malerija. Huun Huur Tu has also perfected an incredible vocal technique to produce as many as 3 different layers of sounds at any one time by one person. This art of khoomei or overtone singing is thought to be one of the oldest forms of music making. It is part of the ritual of mimicking nature - the mountains, grasslands, wind, water and light.

INKA MARKA (South America)

Playing the gentle melodies from Andes region of Peru, Ecuador and Chile, the Inka Marka, a band of five young men, hail from a region that straddles the highest peaks outside Asia. The Andean mountains form the longest stretch of highlands in the world, where the Incas lived for thousands of years. The area is rich in culture. The band performs music that represents that many communities that have emerged here. They play the quena bamboo flute, panpipes, guitar, charango, violin and percussion.

WICKED AURA (Singapore)

This Singapore-based group plays the pulsating drums of Brazil like the surdo - the big drum which provides the main beats of the samba - and the repinique, also known as a tom-tom, which is a smaller metallic drum played with stick in one hand and the other bare hand. The group also features the cuica, a friction drum which can, when played properly, eerily sound like a human voice.

MAS Y MAS (UK)

Based in the United Kingdom, the band combines the strains of a Spanish guitar, a weathered 100 year old double bass and a cajon, with percussion instruments like the conga and the bass drum. With its three performers, the group acts with an energy equivalent to any big band from Cuba. With unashamed fiesta music in their playing, the band presents a combination of traditional songs and original compositions.
 

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