David Holmes | Beardyman | Gruff RhysRadiophonic Workshop

Programme

25th Friday

2pm – 3pm 9BachTalk language, quarries and foxes9Bach will perform an acoustic set and talk about songs from their album ‘Tincian’ - these songs are stories taken from the crystal clear rivers of Y Carneddau and the lanscape of Snowdonia National Park, rivers that are like the veins that run through you. They will also discuss the aboriginal influence of their work and how it was the culture, the language and the people of indigenous Australia that have inspired and fed their desire to write stories and songs about home.

4pm – 5pm Justin AdamsTalks distortion, from voodoo to HendrixGuitar hero Adams takes us on a journey into the world of distortion - the excitement we didn’t realise we craved. “Distortion in music is a constantly exciting element that appeals to our ear - but it didn’t just start with effects on the electric guitar, but began way back

9Bach Bernie KrauseJustin Adams David Holmes

on the earliest acoustic instruments from distant corners of the world.”

Taking influences from African, Arabic and Irish traditions as well as Rock’n’Roll and the Blues, Adams’ distinctive, driving guitar style is the missing link between Bo Diddley and Munir Bashir.

6pm – 7pm Bernie KrauseThe Great Animal OrchestraThe world’s leading expert in natural sound, who has been recording soundscapes for over 40 years, takes us into an aural wonderland - nature’s music: the sounds of animals, plants, wind and rain. But just as streetlights are blocking the light of the stars, human noise is now drowning out the sound of nature.

8:15pm – 9:30pm Special guest to be announced

11pm – 1am David HolmesRare DJ set Taking inspiration from a bag full of European films and turning up with a crateful of records he couldn’t play anywhere else, don’t miss this rare DJ set. In the words of the man himself: “No dance floor just an amazing space that changes from record to record…..that’s what I want to achieve at WOMAD. Sometimes it’s just great to listen and wonder ‘what the f*** was that!’”

26th Saturday

10:30am – 11:15am In the DarkThe world’s first audio-only cinema Welcome to a place where listeners are transported by sound alone to different lands and imaginary countries, and introduced to incredible stories from around the world.

‘Welcome to the Ark’ is an invitation to board an ‘ark’ of stories and soundscapes. Join us for children’s tales from Nigeria and Australia, musicians’ memories from Ghana, Cuba and ‘50s Philadelphia, and sounds from the Finnish arctic and the flooded caves of the Yorkshire moors.

2pm – 3pm Jonathan Allen Recording live at Abbey Road Studios The BAFTA award-winning Abbey Road engineer reveals the secrets behind capturing the rush of a live performance at the world’s most famous recording studios. Listen to stunning live recordings and hear

Martyn Ware Iarla Ó Lionáird

the stories behind them, from the man behind the mixing desk.

4pm – 5pm Martyn WareMy life in twenty synthsSynth legend and Heaven 17 founder exposes his love of all things electronic:

“From my earliest experiments with Stylophones, through to the ridiculously expensive Fairlight, from early analogue synthesisers to pale digital imitations, from the earliest drum machines to the literally millions of samples in a current studio Digital Audio Workstation. I’ll be revealing my loves and hates, the synths that are easiest and most difficult to use, and the latest amours and old synthetic flames. Plus a few juicy anecdotes…and I’ll be showing off my earliest and most enduring loves – the Roland System 100 and the Korg 700.”

Beardyman Jonathan Allen

6pm – 7pm Iarla Ó Lionáird Sound-World of Sean-Nós singingIn this talk and performance Iarla takes us to the heart of traditional Irish Sean-Nós singing - the internal journey deep down into the drone.Singing a series of exquisite, sensuous songs Iarla will draw us into the fundamental essence of the music, as the voice lifts out of the drone and sinks back down. This is music as sound meditation - ancient in its source yet totally of the present. This will be both profoundly uplifting and heart-stoppingly beautiful.

8:05pm – 9:30pm Beardyman Creates an album in just one hour World-famous beatboxer/musician Beardyman will be putting himself to the test by making a brand-new album live, based entirely on your song title suggestions. Premiering the newly completed BEARDYTRON mkIII he’ll be improvising cutting edge, studio-quality music in real-time.

11pm – 1pm Special guest DJ to be announced

27th Sunday

Radiophonic Workshop Gruff Rhys

11am – 11:45am In the DarkThe world’s first audio-only cinemaWelcome to a place where listeners are transported by sound alone to different lands and imaginary countries, and introduced to incredible stories from around the world.

‘Welcome to the Ark’ is an invitation to board an ‘ark’ of stories and soundscapes. Join us for children’s tales from Nigeria and Australia, musicians’ memories from Ghana, Cuba and ‘50s Philadelphia, and sounds from the Finnish arctic and the flooded caves of the Yorkshire moors.

12:15pm – 1pm Dr. John Dibb The art of listeningBowers & Wilkins’ Senior Development engineer guides you through the art and science behind the creation of loudspeakers that can reproduce audio exactly as the artist intended. He also demonstrates what it takes to develop

‘golden ears’ in his mission to reintroduce the art of listening.

2pm – 3pm Radiophonic Workshop A talk from the legendary sound scientists and audio pioneersThe members of the Workshop will be exploring some of the techniques, electronics, synthesisers and sound design that made their name, as well as the influence they have had on artists through the years from Pink Floyd, Hendrix and The Beatles to Orbital, The Art of Noise and Gravity soundtrack composer Steven Price.

4pm – 5pm Gruff RhysPerforms ‘American Interior’In an age where Rock’n’Roll is increasingly the preserve of worthy men setting their careful explorations of modern life’s minutiae to music, anyone seen to be ambitiously pushing at the medium’s

Adrian Sherwood Richard Blair

perceived boundaries is going to look like an outsider. By that principal, where to place Gruff Rhys and his new album ‘American Interior’ - an interconnected collection of songs documenting the true story of a Welsh explorer’s fantastical journey across the heart of the unmapped American continent in the late 18th century – really is anyone’s guess. Maybe it takes an outsider to get under the skin of Rock’n’Roll’s very best tales?

6:15pm – 7:15pm Radiophonic Workshop Live performance In a rare public performance, the legendary Radiophonic Workshop – influential pioneers of electronica – will be presenting some of their best-known compositions and radiophonica live alongside new tracks from their forthcoming album ‘Electricity’. Expect tape loops, door keys, string and wobbulators, the Tardis, Daleks and much sonic strangeness.

8:30pm – 9:30pm Adrian Sherwood My life in Dub Adrian recounts his history in Dub, followed by a DJ set bulldozing boundaries between Funk, Reggae, Dub and industrial noise. Sherwood has spent the last twenty years or so producing and/or remixing some of the planet’s most innovative recordings, stamping his big, fat, booming sonic trademark on hundreds of releases from African Headcharge and Dub Syndicate to Nine Inch Nails and Primal Scream.

11pm – 1am Richard Blair Joyful set from Sidestepper founder Richard Blair musician, producer and founder of the group Sidestepper will be bringing his warm and tropical sound, with music from Colombia, Haiti, Trinidad, Cuba, Nigeria and South Africa. Always joyful, groovy and above all organic, he brings his collection of classic vinyl, mixing in surprises and new sounds from the studio.