Minds , The Drummers of Burundi , Echo & The Bunnymen and Prince Nico Mbarga .
In the words of WOMAD founder Peter Gabriel , “ It was a simple idea , to create a festival out of all the brilliant music and art made all over the world , stuff made outside of the mainstream – music that wasn ’ t getting on the radio and was even harder to find in record stores .
“ At the beginning , most of the music industry professionals told us that we had no chance of making this dream work . We had all the wonderful naive misguided optimism of the young , and were convinced that we would prove all the cynics wrong .”
Joining the former Genesis frontman in getting the first WOMAD off the ground was a core team including Thomas Brooman , Bob Hooton , Steve Pritchard and longtime Glastonbury festival booker Martin Elbourne . Despite their hard work , the first WOMAD came very close to being the last .
To raise money for the first WOMAD , Gabriel had overseen the creation of a compilation album entitled Music and Rhythm , which his lawyer sold to Warner Bros for £ 70,000 . Despite the not insubstantial funds , the festival turned out to be an artistic success but a financial disaster .
Elbourne first met Gabriel when working as a journalist for the nascent Bristol Recorder ; a combined magazine and compilation vinyl package that championed local artists . Gabriel was interviewed for the magazine and contributed live tracks to the record , and the duo later became friends and fellow gig-goers in and around Bristol .
For WOMAD ’ s debut event , Elbourne was tasked with overseeing the finances . It ’ s an experience he ’ d rather forget . “ We were extremely naïve ,” he says . “ We had promoted gigs before but not for more than 1,500 people . The first day of WOMAD
Drummers of Burundi perform at the first WOMAD in 1982
“ WOMAD has always been greener than many festivals but we just haven ’ t shouted about it .”
– Lulu Cowley
was free to kids ; it didn ’ t make any financial sense at all .”
With a combination of indoor and outside stages , the inaugural WOMAD was attended by around 10,000 people . “ Lots of people say they were there but they couldn ’ t all have been because we would have made a lot more money ,” laughs Elbourne .
With the financial reality becoming ever clearer as the festival weekend went on , Elbourne found little time to watch any of the performances .
“ Part of the site is a showjumping field and I was in the commentary tower hiding because at that stage I knew we were heading for a financial disaster ,” he says . “ It was a traumatic experience ; we were all somewhat cast adrift afterwards , and Peter ’ s management told him never to do anything like it again . But , at the end of the day , people just remembered what an amazing event that first WOMAD was and it led to a range of WOMAD happenings around the country , including one at London ’ s Institute for Contemporary Arts ( ICA ) later that year .”
After the first festival , WOMAD ’ s founders , not least Gabriel , faced a mountain of debt . Fortunately , he was on good terms with his former Genesis bandmates , who rallied around him and offered to perform a benefit concert to raise much-needed funds .
“ We were one of the very few companies that ever went into receivership and paid off 100 % of its debts ,” says Elbourne .
Firm foundations With guidance and support from Reading Jazz and Blues Festival
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