It's very exciting and yet very sad for me to be writing about Worldwide Festival 2011; mostly because it came and went so quickly and i'm sad to be home - But i'm still buzzing from the entire experience! This year topped last, the year after that will top next, it's a domino effect of awesomeness and I strongly recommend this festival to any budding Gilles Peterson and Brownswood Recording Collective fanatics. One of the main reasons I am in love with this festival is its uber cool disposition, but strung with lots of very friendly people of all nations and locations that I don't really think many festivals can beat.
So let's start with the line-up (if it doesn't remotely turn you on, you're listening to the wrong shit) followed by my highlights and add a little sprinkling of good, honest adornment (what we, real people, wore to a real festival with other real people). We also made a neat little film.
It's a killer list isn't it? Some of the heavyweights of alternative and world music of today all crammed into a little fishing village in the Sud de France, but I did have my favourites.... Whoever I don't mention I thought weren't great, but my opinion doesn't really matter actually.
Going down the list:
Flying Lotus was incredible, it was great to see him after his poorly absence last year, but I was overwhelmed at how much bass can seriously penetrate your ribcage. Good old FlyLo was smiling a cheeky smile prior to dropping a tune that he knew would send everyone crazy - and they all did. Doing the one shoulder bounce while chanting 'Do the Astral Plane' was unforgettable.
James Blake - should have tagged to the end of his name '...makes grown men cry'; the piano songs were beautiful, CMYK was unbelievable and I actually saw a tear roll down a young lad's face. I was dry though. Just completely silenced at how talented he is, which was a great achievement considering the consumption of wine by this point.
Cut Chemist - MY.WORD. This set was arguably the greatest of the week, you can catch the set in parts on youtube but if you ever have the chance to see this DJGenie - beg, steal and borrow.
Kode9 was a long wait, starting his set at just short of 4am after 3 heavy days, but this wasn't one i was going to miss. Fortunately, i was kept standing by pulsation, he's a considerate man. The brain behind Burial, a reserved looking fellow, reset the tone for the evening, well, for those that stayed anyway.
Owiny Sigoma Band - Watch their space, they're going places.
Also...sets and performances from Joy 'never fails' Orbison, Rich Medina, Sofrito Soundsystem, Pearsonsound aka Ramadanman, Sinbad, David reggae Rodigan and the man Gilles Peterson.
Have a butchers at our video diary:
