WOMAD 2022: Organisers 'excited' to welcome festival back

WOMAD returns after it was cancelled the past two summers because of Covid

One of the UK's longest-running festivals is back after being called off because of the Covid-19 pandemic in the past two years.

WOMAD is celebrating its 40th anniversary at Charlton Park in Wiltshire from 28 to 31 July.

Created by British singer Peter Gabriel, it began at the Bath and West Showground in 1982.

One man who attended the first festival said it felt like a community reuniting.

Called World of Music, Arts and Dance, shortened to WOMAD, the festival has always championed music from across the world, and has taken place in multiple countries.

The 2021 festival was called off over continuing concerns over Covid-19

Stallholder Dave Brookes said: "I went to the very first one and it doesn't really get any better than this.

"There's an older demographic, so people who come here in full consciousness, they understand the environment, but with that age and that wisdom there's a level of behaviour that's above most of them [festivals].

"The wonder of it - there's people you've never heard of it and they are going to be the ones that impress you the most.

"You listen to it, you don't even know what continent they're from let alone what country, but you know it's authentic, a master at work."

Final preparations at the site, near Malmesbury, have been taking place this week

The festival's director Chris Smith said everyone involved with WOMAD was "so excited" to be setting up ready to welcome the thousands of ticket holders.

"In an increasingly unpredictable, splintered and sometimes scary world, at WOMAD we stand firm in the belief that the world is a better place when global communities come together and share the richness of our cultures, not the power of our weapons and the inhumanity of our politics," he said.

"WOMAD 2022 will, as always, demonstrate that our communal love of music, arts and discovery of new cultures is more powerful than what divides us".

To mark the anniversary a new album is being released with recordings from the very first festival in 1982.

Artists such as Echo and the Bunnymen, Peter Gabriel, Simple Minds, The Drummers of Burundi, Salsa de Hoy feature on the album.

The festival takes place at Charlton Park in Wiltshire