I have attended most of the UK's major festivals over the years, and the annual event at Malmesbury's Charlton Park is without a doubt the most positive to experience, the safest feeling, and the happiest. Perhaps it's because of the eclectic line-up of world-beating but relatively unknown quantities to most in England that helps take the pressure off of those fearing missing out on 'the big names' making the whole weekend a freeing experience. Malmesbury School Project performs at WOMAD (Image: Newsquest) Gone are the demands to be at a certain place at a certain time (at least to some extent), replaced instead by the act of wandering and discovering, there's magic dotted around the easy-to-traverse festival site and you are unburdened enough to find it.
The music is still top-notch - with the main stage with acts like Young Fathers, Sampa the Great and Gogol Bordello and big tent areas consisting of Alison Goldfrapp and Orange Blossom, providing the usual festival experience. But elsewhere, the Taste the World Stage lets you watch some of the top acts cooking a meal from their country while performing a stripped-down, more intimate selection of their music, the World Rhythms tent has seating and gives out lyric sheets so the audience can become a backing chorus, and the All Singing All Dancing tent has an actual hardwood dancefloor for a cosy party vibe - no other festival is as adept at connecting the musicians books to the audience. But WOMAD isn't just about the music, t.