Folktronica, electrofunk and blues dance on the third day of Womad

After a second day that culminated last night in style with the Nigerian musician Seun Kuti, the lineup of artists that today takes over the three stages of Womad Gran Canaria – the palms from Gran Canaria is completed with the projects San Salvador (France), Miguel Cedrés (Canary Islands-Spain), Taxi Kebab (Morocco-France), Baldosa (Canary Islands-Spain), Gnoss (Scotland) and Woodhands (Canary Islands-Spain).

As for the keys, schedules and stage of today’s bands, in what constitutes the last great day of this Womad, Vieux Farka Touré (8:30 p.m., on the Boulevard stage) arrives in the capital of Gran Canaria after publishing on the 23rd of September Ali, a studio album in collaboration with the Texan trio Khruangbin, composed of versions of songs by his father, Ali Farka Touré. The songs on the album were selected by Ali’s 11 children. After a break for pandemicthe album was released less than a month ago with an extraordinary reception from specialized critics.

Led by singer Eno Williams, Ibibio Sound Machine (11:30 p.m., in Plaza de Canarias) is a clash of African and electronic elements inspired in equal parts by the golden age of West African funk and disco music, post-punk and the electro. His latest album, Electricity, is produced by Hot Chip.

For its part, Baiuca (9:30 pm, in the Plaza de Canraias) is the revelation project of folktronics not only in Spain, but in the world. His mixture of traditional Galician rhythms and contemporary electronics, creating a kind of found footage in which he resignifies the codes of traditional Galician music through a futuristic look, has led him to give almost 90 concerts in just over a year. Then, at the crossroads of influences that come from everywhere, Taxi Kebab (10:30 pm, on the Boulevard stage) is the collision between synthesizers, drum machines, modulated guitars and amplified buzuq. Leïla Jiqqir and Romain Henry are responsible for this electronica project, from this Franco-Moroccan duo that sometimes comes close to the influences of krautrock, psyche or techno.

Also twice nominated for the Scots Trad Award, Gnoss (11.30pm, Miller Building) have gained a large following through their vision of the future of traditional music and the unique warmth of their live shows. And in other coordinates, Occitan polyphony is the starting point of San Salvador, a French group of six voices and percussion embarked on the search for universal folklore, rooted in the deep traditions of troubadours in the region that circulate between cultures and musical genres.

Finally, the Canarian presence cannot be missing in this third great installment. Paula (26, voice and guitar), Garri (26, bass and backing vocals), Miguel (23, drums) and Pedro (21, guitar) form Baldosa (9:30 p.m., in the Miller building), a band that emerged in 2020 in Tenerife in full confinement and that last month won in the category of Best New Band at the Canarian Music Awards. He currently publishes under the Calaverita Records label, which also includes La Pegatina and Tanxugueiras, among others.

And for the final icing, Woodhands (at 12:45 a.m., on the Boulevard stage) is a project that started in 2008 with the idea of ​​unleashing the most experimental club sounds that were in the head of its creator, Carlos, using sounds from jazz, soul, funky and hip-hop.

seun kuti

The youngest son of the father of Afrobeat, Fela Kuti, Seun Kuti, starred last night in the second day of Womad, where hours before he offered a meeting with the media, in which he declared that «the young people of Africa must decide if they want to be reborn as Africans or if they want to be the puppet of the rest of the world».

After his first foray into this Womad Las Palmas, in 2014, Kuti returned to the “global conversation” that, as he stressed, this festival raises wherever it is held, along with his band, Egypt 80, convinced that music is an inspiration for humanity and a way to dialogue with the whole world.

In the opinion of this 39-year-old saxophonist and percussionist, who began opening shows for his father when he was only nine, Nigeria is today the great factory of entertainment and art that is made in Africa.