vv.aa.
Music and Rhythm

Since his departure from Genesis, Peter Gabriel has accustomed us to increasingly sparse and widely spaced musical releases. However, his mind has always been engaged in many projects, both musical and otherwise, which, especially up until the mid-80s, have been quite numerous. Among his creations, taken in the broadest sense of the term, the WOMAD project was among the most troubled and complex, bringing about major misfortunes and significant financial failures. The first experiment started in 1981 and culminated in a major concert event in 1982, which required such vast economic resources that Gabriel came to the brink of complete financial collapse, so much so that his former Genesis bandmates offered to reunite for a concert held on October 2, 1982, in Milton Keynes, which only partially compensated for the substantial financial losses. However, the final financial downturn did not affect the quality and validity of the project, which aimed to bring together artists from all over the world for the first true gathering of World Music, arts, and dances, so as to represent the great variety of artistic approaches from every corner of the planet.
In memory of the event, a double album was also released containing a track for each participant in the happening. The choice was made not to present live concert tracks, but more precise and reliable studio versions of tracks that, in part, would not find space in subsequent albums. Music and Rhythm, produced by the WEA label in 1982, thus stands as the epitaph of that first occasion and, in some cases, the only opportunity to listen to tracks never included in other recordings ever again.
Alongside well-known names, we find complete unknowns. However, while some of them would, in the following years, carve out a decent place for themselves even in the international market, others simply returned to the minimal popularity of their narrow corners of the world.
Thus, among the big names, stand out Gabriel himself with the dynamic and percussive "Across the River," Peter Hammill with the dark and introspective "A Ritual Mask," Pete Townshend supported by a significant portion of The Who for the track "Ascension Two," The Beat with the famous "Mirror In The Bathroom," XTC with "It's Nearly Africa," then David Byrne from Talking Heads, Holger Czukay from Can, and a John Hassell for an inspired tribal dance, heavily synthesized and electronic, supported by none other than Brian Eno. Many lesser-known names come from India, Persia, Burundi, etc. Among these, the track by Morris Pert (percussionist from Brand X), by Ekom, a group of percussionists who also participated in some recordings of Gabriel's at the time and then completely vanished from the scene, and Vic Coppersmith-Heaven, later returning to be a sound engineer in England, are very interesting.
Overall, a compilation that decisively represents a certain unmistakable sound of the early 80s, that world music sound, which aimed to merge traditional folk with synthesized sounds, rarefied and electronically filtered by computerized Fairlight CMI keyboards. For this reason, despite stemming from authors very different from one another in terms of culture, origin, and musical approach, the final result was quite homogeneous and, even today, it is not difficult to detect a common direction that ultimately made the blend accessible and consistent on a listening level.
Revisiting this work, I believe, is rather easy, the vinyl can be purchased for a few Euros, but other more or less fragmented ways, such as the YouTube channel, can convey the spirit of the initiative and offer a chance to spend an hour diving back into that musical transition period and genuine innovative ferment.

p.a.p. sioulette