:00:12. > :00:20.The best of Welsh music, the best of world music. WOMEX is here.
:00:21. > :00:27.Every year the world music industry gets together in one place. The
:00:28. > :00:31.cream of world music from 100 countries has a chance to showcase
:00:32. > :00:40.its talents. It is happening here in Wales. It's like the Olympics of the
:00:41. > :00:44.world music world. It's a really good opportunity just to show to an
:00:45. > :00:52.international audience what Wales has to offer musically. I thought it
:00:53. > :00:56.was like a festival for women. I went on the computer and had a look,
:00:57. > :01:02.I was impressed. I didn't know it was a worldwide thing. I'm really
:01:03. > :01:05.glad to be able to shout from the hilltops, come and listen to our
:01:06. > :01:15.music because it is very, very special. Across Millennium Centre to
:01:16. > :01:19.Cardiff's Motorpoint Arena, the best of world music performers get a
:01:20. > :01:22.chance to shine in a series of showcases. They perform before
:01:23. > :01:28.influential figures in the international music scene. On the
:01:29. > :01:33.menu at WOMEX is a feast. It's been described as a kind of musical
:01:34. > :01:43.tapas. With over 60 showcases in three days we are in for a treat.
:01:44. > :01:48.All corners of the globe are presented in Cardiff this week. All
:01:49. > :01:59.bringing their traditional style, culture and humour.
:02:00. > :02:05.This amazing festival started on Wednesday night with a special
:02:06. > :02:12.opening concert devised by Cerys Matthews. It takes as its tion a
:02:13. > :02:14.journey tloo through Welsh history, culture a music celebrating the Land
:02:15. > :02:35.of Song. A traditional Welsh trument featured
:02:36. > :03:43.at the beginning of the open concert.
:03:44. > :03:49.The opening concert showcased not just Welsh music, but also dance.
:03:50. > :03:56.For many of the international audience it was their first
:03:57. > :05:37.introduction to the Welsh stepping and clogging tradition.
:05:38. > :05:43.APPLAUSE More from Cerys's opening concert
:05:44. > :05:48.later in the programme. Here, at the Motorpoint Arena is where all the
:05:49. > :05:51.artists, agents and promoters come together to network. It's a huge
:05:52. > :05:57.trade fair where all the deals are done. It is incredible to have WOMEX
:05:58. > :06:01.here at last. It has been a long time. We have been dreaming about it
:06:02. > :06:05.for years. We have been working actively on it for three years. It's
:06:06. > :06:09.going swimmingly well. We are so happy. I had never heard about WOMEX
:06:10. > :06:14.before the announced two years ago that it was coming to Wales, what do
:06:15. > :06:19.you feel, now seeing it, is WOMEX? WOMEX is the variety of things. The
:06:20. > :06:23.centre, the core if you like is this, the conversations that goes on
:06:24. > :06:29.between the music industry with the artists, with venge sues -- venues,
:06:30. > :06:33.festivals, people book rtists. Artists can get two years worth of
:06:34. > :06:37.work out of one WOMEX. On the night it turns into a showcase, the best
:06:38. > :06:44.music in the world, which is open to the public. Do you the artists get
:06:45. > :06:51.picked to be play? They are asked to submit a press kit. 900 artists
:06:52. > :06:54.applied, 58 came to Wales. They were particularly good. People come for
:06:55. > :06:59.music from all over the world. You have to balance out your desires to
:07:00. > :07:04.have everybody listen to what you've got with the desire to actually
:07:05. > :07:11.introduce the world into Wales and encourage people in Wales to listen
:07:12. > :07:15.out as well. The group Kan made a huge impression. It's a platform to
:07:16. > :07:22.showcase the best UK and Irish performers.
:07:23. > :07:28.Tell us about the band, Kan then. You are not based in the same city,
:07:29. > :07:32.are you, how does that work? Well, it make it is difficult to rehearse,
:07:33. > :07:41.but actually we always meet a day early and rehearse before. That is
:07:42. > :07:47.when we make new music. We are based in Newcastle, Edinburgh and
:07:48. > :07:52.ArArmagh, so quite far apart. People have described it as sort of
:07:53. > :07:56.contemporary traditional music with jazz and world influences. We take
:07:57. > :08:13.our influences from all over the place really.
:08:14. > :08:19.What does being at WOMEX mean for you? We are a young band, we have
:08:20. > :08:24.been playing together for three years. It's a brilliant place to
:08:25. > :08:28.come and a great city to visit. Not your advice first visit to Cardiff?
:08:29. > :08:33.Last time I got a speeding ticket and a summons to court because of
:08:34. > :09:04.the speeding fine. Better luck this time!
:09:05. > :09:17.APPLAUSE I'm here with the band Voiasa from
:09:18. > :09:22.Budapest. It took a while to get here? We crossed the French and
:09:23. > :09:24.English border three or four times. We didn't know how to buy the
:09:25. > :09:46.tickets. Now we are here. This is gypsy music. This is the
:09:47. > :09:50.kind of music that normally people don't imagine on gypsy music. It's
:09:51. > :09:55.based on the singing and on the dance and rhythm. The musicians come
:09:56. > :10:01.from different backgrounds. They come from a traditional background,
:10:02. > :10:03.others come from more pop and more hard rock or jazz also. It's a very
:10:04. > :10:51.good mix. Hello, Cerys Matthews,
:10:52. > :10:55.congratulations on a wonderful opening concert. I wanted to ask you
:10:56. > :10:59.about the concept really, Land of Song. Where did the idea come from?
:11:00. > :11:04.We have been known as the land of song for over 100 years now. We sort
:11:05. > :11:08.of think, gosh, that old cliche, sort of thing, I thought, no, I will
:11:09. > :11:12.run with this. We have a lot of visiting delegates, 2,500 of them,
:11:13. > :11:16.coming from all over the world. They are all mad music fans, they work in
:11:17. > :11:20.the industry. I thought it would be a great opportunity to collect
:11:21. > :11:24.together the most distinctive tradition that is we have in Wales,
:11:25. > :11:31.in the old traditions and make a great show of them so we could stamp
:11:32. > :12:55.a brilliant Welsh mark on these delegates.
:12:56. > :13:57.APPLAUSE It's a mild autumn day and we have
:13:58. > :14:04.10 acres to plough. You have line upon line of soil to work on. You
:14:05. > :14:09.might find it a bit lonely and start imagining your girlfriend. You must
:14:10. > :14:12.never forget that you are behind your ox, home land, move them
:14:13. > :14:19.forward through the soil. Move them forward through the soil much you
:14:20. > :14:23.might hear the birds, you might hear them and you might feel the need to
:14:24. > :14:27.join them in a little bit. OK, don't fight the urge. OK, I think we're
:14:28. > :17:31.ready for work. APPLAUSE
:17:32. > :17:32.The magical voice of Georgia Ruth. We will will have more from the
:17:33. > :17:46.opening concert later. A little flavour of mandolin man,
:17:47. > :17:53.how did this band come together? My father was celebrating his 70th
:17:54. > :17:57.birthday. He was collector of ancient melodies, as a surprise for
:17:58. > :18:00.his birthday I always wanted to do something for mandolins, here they
:18:01. > :18:34.are. How long have you been playing? We
:18:35. > :18:43.now exist about three years. We just went this summer to Brazil. So our
:18:44. > :18:48.first disk with traditional Belgium music, from the centre of the
:18:49. > :18:58.country. We wanted to do something else and we made the Bosnova disk.
:18:59. > :19:29.There is a bit of a Latin American feel to their next number.
:19:30. > :19:45.From inside the Centre for Social Justice to -- Millennium Centre and
:19:46. > :20:25.the flavour from the Cumbia All Stars.
:20:26. > :20:31.The opening concert wouldn't be complete without one of these, the
:20:32. > :20:38.traditional Welsh instrument, the harp. Not any old harp. This is the
:20:39. > :20:47.authentic Welsh triple harp. It has three rows of strings. On Wednesday
:20:48. > :20:53.night we saw two of these instruments duelling. They are world
:20:54. > :20:57.authorities on the triple harp and are part of a tradition passed down
:20:58. > :22:53.from player to player. Next, an example of a song, a
:22:54. > :23:02.mixture of Welsh and English. It features a traditional Welsh
:23:03. > :23:06.instrument. Watch out for the contemporary twist from Ballet
:23:07. > :25:16.Cymru. APPLAUSE
:25:17. > :25:21.You have worked with Ballet Cymru before? I have been on tour with
:25:22. > :25:29.them twice already, I'm a huge fan of their work. They are visionaries
:25:30. > :26:48.and are a real asset to Wales. At the festival I met the Chief
:26:49. > :26:54.Executive of the Welsh Music Foundation who hook developing the
:26:55. > :26:57.Welsh music industry. We are here in Wales, the whole of the world music
:26:58. > :27:01.scene is here with us. We are talking to all of the world right
:27:02. > :27:05.here, right now in Wales. It might be strange to some people to think
:27:06. > :27:10.of such a creative thing as music, all those business aspects to it?
:27:11. > :27:13.Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Some people pick up a guitar or play a
:27:14. > :27:18.harp, they think that is all there is to it. There is so much more. You
:27:19. > :27:22.know, you can record records, you can license those records in
:27:23. > :27:27.different territories. Someone did a licensing deal with a record in
:27:28. > :27:35.Greece. You can play live. A Welsh band got a deal to tour Canada.
:27:36. > :27:40.Publish your music, have it synced with films and on TV. You just think
:27:41. > :27:45.about playing the harp or the guitar. How far off are we in terms
:27:46. > :27:49.of professionalising the Welsh industry? It's a constant thing. A
:27:50. > :27:56.few years ago those bands wouldn't have had a record label to sign to.
:27:57. > :27:59.Now you can sign and get to a certain level. That is exciting. We
:28:00. > :28:02.knew we were bringing woe max in a couple of years ago. We have been
:28:03. > :28:06.training artist managers for a year now in anticipation for this, to be
:28:07. > :28:10.ready on the floor, here, so if somebody offers you a contract, or
:28:11. > :28:13.starts talking about heads or terms you know what they are talking
:28:14. > :28:18.about. You might do those deals in one country or five or 10. It is a
:28:19. > :28:21.Lottery of work. Everything will be different each time. It takes a long
:28:22. > :28:37.time and a lot of experience to build up that. Next year WOMEX moves
:28:38. > :28:38.to Spain, it's fitting that their country took to the stage here in
:28:39. > :28:54.Cardiff. There are strong connections between
:28:55. > :29:01.musicians and music from Wales and from our area. Musicians from the
:29:02. > :29:04.last 20 years and because this is the same language, it's easy to play
:29:05. > :29:45.with them. I love the Wales music. APPLAUSE
:29:46. > :29:55.We are travelling south to Algeria in Africa. And we join
:29:56. > :30:08.FANFARE FANFARE, Fanfara. Tell me about your
:30:09. > :30:14.name and music? It means something like brass band who plays right
:30:15. > :30:21.music. It's based on the brass band. We take out all the electric stuff
:30:22. > :30:25.and we make a band and we try to make connection with the North
:30:26. > :30:40.African music. We like to make a bridge between them.
:30:41. > :30:50.You play a wonderful instrument, tell me about that? It does the
:30:51. > :30:56.bass. It's very heavy. It's like a human trumpet, actually. -- huge
:30:57. > :31:16.trumpet, actually. One group that stood out for me at
:31:17. > :31:29.this world music festival was especially commissioned cultural
:31:30. > :32:04.exchange between Gwyneth Glyn and Ghazalaw.
:32:05. > :32:14.When I heard his voice on YouTube I knew I wanted to work with him. It
:32:15. > :32:26.blossomed from there. Can you explain to me the music you two do?
:32:27. > :32:28.I sing poetry based with expressionive tunes. -- expressive
:32:29. > :32:51.tunes. Apparently, when we started the
:32:52. > :32:55.project, we thought it would be some kind of a fusion or something. It
:32:56. > :33:02.ended up being a new genre in itself. As you know, Welsh language
:33:03. > :33:08.and the language I sing in, they go back to an Indian language. Wen we
:33:09. > :33:16.started jamming together, it was normal fusion, it was just like
:33:17. > :33:34.separated cousins meeting one another again.
:33:35. > :33:42.You got to have an exchange as well. You went to Mumbai, how was that? It
:33:43. > :33:49.was incredible. I've always felt drawn to India. To the music and to
:33:50. > :33:52.the culture, the food and spiritualality. The people are so
:33:53. > :33:56.warm and open. The musicians, especially, it's an honour to play
:33:57. > :34:00.with such professional and outstanding musicians of that
:34:01. > :34:06.calibre. How did you enjoy the opening concert? I would just say
:34:07. > :34:15.that I was mesmerised last night listening to the complete show. My
:34:16. > :34:20.forum to the Welsh music was through Gwyneth Glyn. There are now
:34:21. > :34:29.different variations and forms of the Celtic music and the Welsh music
:34:30. > :34:35.on the whole, it's overwhelming. Ghazalaw were among the artists
:34:36. > :36:54.choosen by Cerys Matthews for the opening concert.
:36:55. > :37:09.APPLAUSE The rising start Georgia Ruth won
:37:10. > :37:17.the Welsh Music Prize last week and played at Hyde Park this summer and
:37:18. > :37:19.has found new fans on Radio 2 and Radio 6. Here she is in her
:37:20. > :37:35.showcase. # And it came on slowly
:37:36. > :37:45.# Slower than water # Under your bridges
:37:46. > :37:50.# Bridges we've built, babe # Bridges of fire
:37:51. > :38:03.# Bridges of fire to ride upon # Bridges of fire
:38:04. > :38:09.We talked about how long she had been working on her debut album the
:38:10. > :38:14.Week of Pines? Just the six years. I mean, I always say, I really mean
:38:15. > :38:18.this, I'm so glad I waited, because I listen back and we've always
:38:19. > :38:23.spoken about how much my style has changed over the years. I think I
:38:24. > :38:28.wouldn't have been pleased to put anything but this record out first,
:38:29. > :38:33.if that makes sense. Although there has been EPs they have been building
:38:34. > :38:35.up to the sound that you get on Week of Pines. I knew I had to feel
:38:36. > :38:54.ready. # The distances between us
:38:55. > :39:05.# We are travellers, maybe we can find our way back to the week of
:39:06. > :39:28.pines # To the week of pines... Da, da,
:39:29. > :39:34.da, da, da # Oh
:39:35. > :39:48.APPLAUSE Thank you very much. Thank you.
:39:49. > :39:55.We bango 3, thank you very much, lads. Fantastic. Tell me about the
:39:56. > :39:58.band? How did you get together? We are from Galway in the west of
:39:59. > :40:02.Ireland. We are two sets of brothers. We started out as a three
:40:03. > :40:06.piece with myself, Martin and David, who were brothers. What happened we
:40:07. > :40:13.realised we were three ban Joes we needed a real musician in the band.
:40:14. > :40:20.My mum ran me up and said, will you give Fergal a gig. He is a lonely.
:40:21. > :40:26.We want to bring the ban Joe back to Europe. Once people hear it they are
:40:27. > :40:31.addicted. We hope to have that effect here in Europe. Years did it
:40:32. > :40:35.take you to learn to play? I still don't know how to play it. I have
:40:36. > :40:43.been playing 15 years. I was taught when I was a young lad. I used to
:40:44. > :40:47.look up to him, I now look down at him as I'm slightly taller. Thank
:40:48. > :41:21.you very much. APPLAUSE
:41:22. > :41:32.Also performing on the Horizon Stage and in advance of the fierce
:41:33. > :41:37.Atlantic storms, Family Atlantica. It's a real collaboration across
:41:38. > :41:43.different cultures with members drawn from North Africa and London
:41:44. > :42:26.and Venezuela. It's what WOMEX is all about.
:42:27. > :42:32.Courted recently as an intriguing collaborations by the press as being
:42:33. > :43:38.one that really works. They really work together because we
:43:39. > :43:48.compliment each other. I play rhythmically, we support each other.
:43:49. > :43:52.I'm a Welsh musician. Primarily classical. If you think, in a way,
:43:53. > :43:55.that is a really strange collaborations, like the opposite
:43:56. > :44:25.spectrum of music. You have had amazing reviews in the
:44:26. > :44:32.papers? It's a beautiful album. A couple who spent all day together.
:44:33. > :44:39.In the evening they sleep separately. They call each other to
:44:40. > :44:53.find each other to spend the day together again.
:44:54. > :44:57.APPLAUSE Back to our opening concert on
:44:58. > :45:03.Wednesday night. I wonder whether our international visitors can get
:45:04. > :45:18.their teeth into a unique and particular tradition. My friend, we
:45:19. > :45:25.are going to sing you (inaudible) my friend will play an air on the harp.
:45:26. > :45:31.I will join him half way through. The song he is playing and the song
:45:32. > :45:38.that we are singing is the same song, but is a different song. And
:45:39. > :45:42.the object of the exercise is for us both to finish together. So it's
:45:43. > :47:42.every man for himself in the middle and God help us all at the end.
:47:43. > :47:50.APPLAUSE Fusion has been a big word here this
:47:51. > :48:14.week. At the opening concert, a playful duet between traditional and
:48:15. > :50:23.modern dancing styles gave it a new twist.
:50:24. > :50:37.APPLAUSE Next, a group from Mali, a country
:50:38. > :51:26.that has been at the forefront of music. We welcome Sidi Toure.
:51:27. > :51:36.APPLAUSE. Also from Mali here are Debademba
:51:37. > :52:03.with their totally different funky disco-like style.
:52:04. > :52:10.Tell me a little of the history of the band?
:52:11. > :52:15.TRANSLATION: Debademba means big family. It's a family of different
:52:16. > :52:17.musicians coming from different countries. A big family from all the
:52:18. > :52:55.world. The music is African music, but with
:52:56. > :53:06.a lot of influences, blues, flamenco, African guitars. Thank you
:53:07. > :53:33.very much. Thank you very much. Merci.
:53:34. > :53:38.APPLAUSE Back to the opening concert. I
:53:39. > :53:48.thought it would be good to finish where we began. -- here in Cardiff
:53:49. > :53:51.Bay. I thought it would be local to invite a local schoolgirl to sing,
:53:52. > :56:50.please give her a warm welcome. What a week it has been for music in
:56:51. > :56:54.Wales. I have heard there is a big news announcement this week as well?
:56:55. > :56:59.Yes, there is. The band 9 Bach have signed to Peter Gabriel's label.
:57:00. > :57:03.They will be releasing their next record with him in 2014. It's
:57:04. > :57:27.exciting for them. They will reach a whole new market across the world.
:57:28. > :57:34.Why isn't there an equivalent of Real World in Wales. Many years ago
:57:35. > :57:36.there wouldn't have been any record label for them to sign to. They
:57:37. > :57:40.developed their career well in Wales. We are missing that next
:57:41. > :57:45.level. Good luck to them, great, we are very excited. The thing we will
:57:46. > :57:50.go away to work on is develop a label that is at that level. We
:57:51. > :57:56.won't know what the effect of WOMEX is for at least five years. One of
:57:57. > :58:00.the main reasons for getting WOMEX was the effect on the music industry
:58:01. > :58:05.in Wales. That will be a long-term effect. The majority of artist we
:58:06. > :58:08.have here have never been to WOMEX before. It's their opportunity to
:58:09. > :58:13.understand what they need to do. When they do come with us next year
:58:14. > :58:15.they will be prepared and we do have artists showcasing in WOMEX without
:58:16. > :58:22.it having to be in Wales. That is when we will start to feel the
:58:23. > :58:27.effect of WOMEX. You want to catch some of the WOMEX vibe look out for
:58:28. > :58:32.the Horizons Tour, some of the Welsh and international acts are playing
:58:33. > :58:36.at venues across Wales. That is it from Cardiff. Next year WOMEX goes
:58:37. > :58:42.to Spain. We are looking forward to it already.