Arts

Womadelaide add 40 artists to massive 2022 lineup

Festival favourites The Cat Empire and A.B Original are amongst the 40 artists joining the massive 30 anniversary lineup annouced this morning.

Image credit: WOMAD

WOMADelaide today announced a further 40 extraordinary artists for its 30-year celebration in March at Adelaide’s Botanic Park, including festival favourites The Cat Empire, the debut of Kiwi powerhouse L.A.B., hip-hop heavyweights A.B. Original and oud virtuoso Joseph Tawadros with a 52-piece Adelaide Symphony Orchestra.

The Cat Empire joined the WOMADelaide family in 2003 when they played WoZone, the festival’s late-night club. Next year’s show will be their final SA show with the original line-up, accompanied by dancers and special guests.

Winners of the 2020 Best Roots Artist at the Aotearoa Music Awards, five-piece L.A.B have become a phenomenon over the past few years, selling out 10,000 capacity stadiums in New Zealand with their weighty mix of reggae, electronic, blues, funk and rock.

The multi-award-winning hip-hop duo A.B. Original will be playing their first show since 2020. The group have been in the studio writing and recording for their highly anticipated sophomore album and are pumped to be back on the WOMAD stage for the first time in many years.

Cairo-born ARIA-Award winning composer and oud master Joseph Tawadros AM will perform his grand, cinematic Concerto for Oud & Orchestra and four other works with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, with his brother James Tawadros on Arabic percussion, on the opening night of the festival.

A small but stellar international contingent will also perform at WOMADelaide 2022, including Brazilian jazz legends Azymuth & Marcos Valle; Grammy-nominated Mississippi blues artist Cedric Burnside and Grammy-winning Guatemala born, US-based folk singer Gaby Moreno.

“Expanding our 30th-anniversary line-up with the calibre of artists we are announcing today is hugely exciting,” said Director Ian Scobie.

“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!”

Premier of South Australia, Steven Marshall welcomed the addition of over 40 more artists for the state’s iconic WOMADelaide festival.

“More artists set for Adelaide’s Botanic Park this March means even more reasons for South Australians and interstaters to get excited for this world-class festival,” said Premier Marshall.

“What a terrific celebration of 30 years for event organisers and festivalgoers, and for WOMADelaide’s return to seven stages in the parklands of Australia’s most liveable city.”

WOMADelaide is supported by the State Government through the South Australian Tourism Commission.

We don’t know about you, but SA’s Festival Season is shaping up to be one to remember.

WOMADELAIDE will be on March 11-14, Botanic Park, Adelaide, South Australia. Find out more here.

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