New acts announced for WOMADelaide concerts
Festivals
WOMADelaide has announced three new artists for its Park Lands concert line-up following the news last month that ARIA award winner Sampa the Great won’t be appearing after cancelling her planned Australian tour dates.
Sampa the Great was to have performed before Tash Sultana on Sunday, March 7, but is unable to travel back from Botswana due to the ongoing COVID-19 travel restrictions.
Instead, Pitjantjatjara/Torres Strait Islander artist Miiesha and Melbourne-based singer Kaiit will open the Sunday night concert in King Rodney Park.
Miiesha comes from the small Aboriginal community of Woorabinda in Central Queensland and was named New Talent of the Year at the 2020 National Indigenous Music Awards. Her debut album Nyaaringu was nominated for five ARIA awards last year and she won the gong for Best Soul/R&B Release.
PNG-born Kaiit, who performed at WOMADelaide two years ago, has also taken home the ARIA Award for Best Soul/R&B Release – in 2019, for Miss Shiney, which amassed more than 15 million streams on Spotify.
“We are overjoyed to now have three incredibly talented artists – all in their early twenties, but who’ve already achieved so much – on the line-up for the Sunday night of the festival, each bringing their intensely personal stories and musical styles to the stage,” says WOMADelaide associate director Annette Tripodi.
COVID-19 constraints forced WOMADelaide organisers to pivot to a different type of event for 2021, with the usual four-day world music festival at Botanic Park replaced by four seated concerts from March 5 to 8 on the oval in King Rodney Park.
The full line-up was revealed in early December, with Midnight Oil to headline two of the concerts. Other artists include Sarah Blasko, Archie Roach, Lior and Nigel Westlake with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, and Vika and Linda Bull.
It was also announced today that Adelaide musicians Siberian Tiger – accompanied by a string quartet – will open for The Teskey Brothers and Midnight Oil on Monday, March 8. The Oils will be joined for their Monday performance by some of the First Nations artists with whom they collaborated for their new albumn, The Makarrata Project.
Capacity for each of the four seated concerts is 6000, with tickets still available to all the performances.
See details of all the 2021 WOMADelaide concerts here.
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