Womad: Korean, Kiwi acts first announced
An award-winning Korean folkpop group and a genre-pushing Kiwi jazz and hip hop project are two of the first artists announced to play Womad 2023.
ADG7 (Ak Dan Gwang Chil) and Avantdale Bowling Club will play when Womad returns to New Plymouth’s Bowl of Brooklands in March after a three-year absence because of pandemic restrictions.
Also announced last week was the six-person San Salvador music group from France, while well known Kiwi artist Dick Frizzell has been booked as a speaker, as has meteorologist and co-author of New Zealand’s Wildest Weather book, Lisa Murray.
ADG7 is a two-time awardwinning Korean pop group formed in 2015 that has released two albums. Led by three female singers, the nine-piece band sing traditional Korean music but with an irreverent and energetic pop style.
Tom Scott’s award-winning Avantdale Bowling Club was part of the 2022 lineup that never was after the festival was cancelled due to Covid.
Scott has a hip-hop/jazz style and his spoken word lyrics focus on such things as his struggles growing up, becoming a dad, and adulthood.
Also fronting Kiwi group Home Brew, Scott won the prestigious Taite Music Prize for his
Avantdale Bowling Club album in 2019.
The 2023 event is the 20th anniversary for the festival at the Bowl of Brooklands and will be a welcome return for the three-day multi-stage gathering that was cancelled in 2021 and 2022 because of the Covid pandemic.
The event is New Plymouth’s biggest, attracting a crowd of up to 17,000 for each day of the festival.
In the past, Womad has hosted international acts including Sinead O’Connor, Dragon, The Specials, and the Blind Boys of Alabama and Kiwi artists such as Neil Finn, Katchafire, Ladi6, Bic Runga, Fat Freddy’s Drop, and Pass The Gat.
The full lineup for the 2023 festival will be announced on October 20.
Tickets are on sale now.