Rhythms Of The World 2011

For the 4th year running, Pete and I spent the weekend at our local music festival, the Rhythms Of The World. The music included African, Balkan, South American, folk and beyond and also local groups and indie bands - an amazing mix of sounds.  Most were professionals, but there were plenty of up-and-coming acts too spread across the 6 stages.  

A few thousand watched top folk 'star' Jim Moray in the hot sunshine yesterday and he even incorporated a rapper on the screen behind.  Clever stuff.  On Saturday, one highlight was a Kora player (second picture) - a beautiful sounding instrument, but potentially a pain in the arse to transport around the world.  One thing that made me laugh was a local trio of lads (aged about 18) who played on one of the small stages - they seemed to be the hero's of their school as loads of girls turned up who knew all the words to their songs.

There were around 30,000 people attending over the 2 days and the age range was impressive again.  Of course, it brought out a few weirdos!

The picture of the guy at the mic is Dominic Perez-Silva from a band called The Otters (or perhaps The Astronauts, it didn't seem clear) - pretty crazy music but the band were great and I could watch Dominic all day!  :-)