The Drummers of Burundi at WOMAD Festival in 1982

Pre-order the album 'Live at WOMAD 1982': http://lnk.to/RW245

On 29 July 2022, WOMAD and Real World Records will celebrate the 40th anniversary of a landmark cultural moment with the release of the double album Live at WOMAD 1982. Featuring performances by Echo and the Bunnymen, Peter Gabriel, Simple Minds, The Beat, The Drummers of Burundi, The Musicians of the Nile, Salsa de Hoy and many more, this recording of the very first WOMAD festival reflects an unrivalled diversity of music programming which has become the festival’s signature over the four decades which have followed.

Whilst the majority of those in attendance at the festival in that first year were most likely drawn by the rock headliners, audiences were left stunned by the visceral performances by artists who had travelled great distances to take part in the festival. A review for The Observer would describe how ‘the ground beneath us shook’ when the Drummers of Burundi dismounted the stage and performed on the grass amongst the crowd on the Sunday morning.

“When we arrived at WOMAD in 1982 I thought we’d landed on Jupiter or somewhere,” said Echo and the Bunnymen frontman Ian McCulloch. Indeed, one of the lasting memories of the festival was when he and his bandmates were joined on stage by The Drummers of Burundi for an iconic performance of ‘Zimbo (All My Colours)’, which is included on this album with Ian’s introduction, “We’re Echo and the Burundi men.”