Wychwood Music Festival 2005

This is the first year for the Wychwood Festival but it already promises to be an interesting weekend. This event aims to be intimate and inclusive for audience and musician alike, blending world, roots and contemporary music, and encouraging new collaborations, with an ethical bent to its theme, fundraising for Oxfam.

The line-up has names from across world, folk, roots and contemporary music with Steve Earle, Alabama 3 and Matthew Herbert as headliners. For the full details, including day and stage information, see here.

Headlining the first night is the Matthew Herbert Big Band, while Saturday night is headlined by Grammy winner Steve Earle. His contribution to the merging of progressive country to the wider rock audience has been huge, with politics and America’s current place in the world also playing a key role in his music.

Sunday headliner Alabama 3 have taken an outlaw approach since they first emerged from the free party scene to combine acid house with country and western. Whilst dropping subversive lyrics into sweet country verses and delivering sermons to the godless masses.

Other highlights include Jim Moray who is turning folk on its head, Spanish phenomenon Radio Tarifa, the unique sound of The Earlies and the legendary Mory Kante, the first African artist to sell a million singles with Yeke, Yeke. Finnish artists Värttinä, featuring the explosive female vocal threesome and six piece band, return to the UK, recently busy composing the score to Lord of the Rings the musical, for a special Wychwood collaboration with Eliza Carthy. The Omar Sosa Trio features Cuban born Sosa joined by the amazing Dhafer Youssef, fresh from a sold out tour late 2004, and the dazzling Cuban percussionist Anga Diaz. Irish Damien Dempsey comes to the Festival with his eagerly awaited third album, Shots, to follow up on his Irish double platinum selling second album Seize the Day. The fiery Southern belle, Alison Moorer will melt hearts with her looks and voice whilst the 10 piece Norwegian band Jaga Jazzist might hail from colder climbs but they’re proving to be a truly hot property. Turkish born Mercan Dede fuses the Eastern spiritual traditions of Sufi music with contemporary ambient sounds, whilst the Warsaw Village Band perform what has been described as ‘hardcore folk’ and ‘bio techno’. England’s most successful acoustic roots duo, Show Of Hands share the bill on Sunday with the original African Celtic crossover band Baka Beyond.

There's a packed programme of entertainment and music, from solar powered cinema, to adult and children's workshops including circus skills, music, yoga and tai chi as well as talks, performance poetry, dance, exotic food and drink, Healing Gardens and Global village.

The festival is open from 12 noon on Friday 3rd June. Cars are not allowed on the campsite. Children of ten years and under go free. Evening and day tickets are also available.

For more information, see http://www.wychwoodfestival.com.

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