Womad line-up expands

The new acts confirmed for the Womad festival prove that world music isn't just about fire poi, incense and obscure instruments.

Included among the 15 additions to the festival lineup, which runs from March 11-13 at Brooklands Park and TSB Bowl in New Plymouth, are reggae, hip-hop and dance music, an Arab music expert, visual artists and a dance troupe.

Taking the stage alongside New Zealand's groove merchants Fat Freddy's Drop and reggae kings Katchafire, will be the Palestinian/Algerian group Adel Salameh Trio, the United States' Latino hip-hop collective Ozomatli (featuring Kanetic MC of Jurassic 5 fame), the dance and music troupe Ballet Folclorico De Kari Kari from Easter Island, and Britain's Patrick Duff and Alex Lee, from the band Strangelove.

The other new acts are Batucada Sound Machine (NZ), Lucid 3 (NZ), Ruia & Haakiwa (NZ), Toelegu Panpipe Orchestra (Solomon Islands), Tony MacMahon (Ireland), Xavier Rudd (Australia), Mweya (NZ), street animation group Osadia (Spain) and papier-mache artists extraordinaire the Mora Brothers (Cuba).

Other headlining acts announced earlier include US singer Richie Havens, classical group Kronos Quartet and militant reggae man Alpha Blondy.