Culturally diverse, WOMAD 2022 is your worldly fix without leaving the country—the ultimate culmination of sounds, scenery and good vibes.

With eight stages featuring an eclectic and cross-cultural line-up bursting with talented musicians, artists, and inspiring speakers.

Here's a teaser of incredible talent performing at WOMAD 2022 this March.

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As an avid gamer, Taranaki local Artist Morgana Watson eagerly awaited the day she could become immersed in video games that reflected Māori culture, myths and legends.

4Phase Games - with Morgana Watson

On the premise that voices and cultures cross-pollinate, ACAPOLLiNATiONS performs hauntingly sassy adaptations of Balkan Polyphony with an Aotearoa improvisation twist.

Acapollinations

Anna Fifield was a foreign correspondent for international newspapers for 20 years, writing for the Financial Times and the Washington Post on postings in Seoul, Tehran, Beirut, Washington DC, Tokyo and, most recently, Beijing. She was a Nieman journalism fellow at Harvard University in 2013-14 and was awarded Stanford University's Shorenstein Prize in 2018 for her reporting on Asia. Her highly acclaimed book, The Great Successor: The Secret Rise and Rule of Kim Jong-Un, has been translated into 24 languages. She returned to New Zealand last year to become the editor of the Dominion Post in Wellington.

Anna Fifield

The Avantdale Bowling Club is hip-hop, jazz, soul and spoken word charged with Tom Scott’s ‘brutally honest, startingly raw” lyrics (NZ Herald) delivered in “turn on a pin, rhythmic cadence’ (Metro).

Avantdale Bowling Club

Behrouz Boochani holds a master’s degree in political geography and geopolitics. He is a Kurdish-Iranian journalist, scholar, cultural advocate, writer and filmmaker, founder of the Kurdish language magazine Weya, an Honorary Member of PEN International. In 2013, he fled Iran and became a political prisoner of the Australian Government incarcerated in the Manus Regional Processing Centre (Papua New Guinea). In November 2019 Behrouz escaped to New Zealand. He now resides in Christchurch.

Behrouz Boochani

With a DJ career that spans almost 20 years, Bobby Brazuka has carved out a niche playing Latin and Latin-inspired music in Aotearoa.

Bobby Brazuka

Carnivorous Plant Society, is a talented quintet of five of New Zealand's most accomplished musicians who perform their original compositions that ignite the imaginations of both children and adults' imaginations.

Carnivorous Plant Society

Deva Mahal was born with blues in her blood. From her upbringing in Kaua'i, Hawaii, to discovering her voice in Aotearoa.

Deva Mahal

DICK FRIZZELL MNZM is one of New Zealand’s best known and most versatile painters. Throughout his long career, Dick has often gone way out on a limb to see where it would take him.

Dick Frizzell MNZM

Dream Chambers is the name for APRA award-winning singer-songwriter Jess Chambers' ethereal electronic music.

Known in New Zealand for her delicately orchestrated folk albums and work with The Woolshed Sessions, Rhian Sheehan, and The Upbeats, Jess relocated to Nashville, Tennessee, in 2012.

Dream Chambers

Dr Siouxsie Wiles is one of the country’s most recognised and respected scientists.

Dr. Siouxsie Wiles

FAT FREDDY'S DROP is internationally regarded as one of the world’s finest live draws.

Fat Freddy's Drop

Since its inception, Fly My Pretties has grown to become a local legend of music that continues to reach people worldwide. An institution of the New Zealand music scene, Fly My Pretties are New Zealand's favourite live collaborative group starring a selection of the country's finest contemporary musicians and visual artists.

Fly My Pretties

An education futurist from Hawera, New Zealand, Frances has won numerous awards for her educational programmes and is known for her commitment to improving the outcomes for the next generation through contextualising education delivery and content in the 21st Century.

Frances Valintine

Auckland-based Brazilian musician Ge Luz sings and composes in various styles, recently returned to New Zealand after three years travelling the world performing in more than 70 countries.

Ge Luz

Hinke is the first-ever woman mathematician to be elected Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand. She is also a regular speaker at the NZ MathsCraft Festivals.

Hinke Osinga

Now entering her third decade as a prolific Kiwi artist, with three #1 studio albums under her belt, Smith has come a long way since her first experiences with music as a teen in the Auckland Blues and Jazz scene. Most recently she worked alongside Don McGlashan for TVNZ series Waiata Anthems, documenting the making of a Te Reo Māori version of her iconic Kiwi anthem ‘Bathe In the River’, titled ‘Korukutia’.

Hollie Smith

IPU Kodama Japanese Drum Team was created by a Japanese student at IPU New Zealand in 1990. Internationally renowned, Kodama has been performing at international events including the 2002 Europe Tour (Poland and Czech Republic), the 2011 Rugby World Cup and the 2014 World Taiko Meet (Los Angeles, the USA).

IPU Kodama Japanese Drum Team

New Zealander Jacqueline ‘Rock’ Bublitz is a writer, feminist, and arachnophobe. She wrote her much-praised debut novel Before You Knew My Name, after spending a summer in New York, where she hung around morgues and the dark corners of city parks (and the human psyche) far too often. After many years of living and working in Melbourne, Jacqueline returned to her beloved hometown, New Plymouth, where she now lives and writes full-time.

Jacqueline Bublitz

Multi-award-winning comedian James Nokise is a Stand-up artist, acclaimed theatre maker and playwright, who has toured the International Fringe Festival Circuit, with successful seasons in places such as Edinburgh, Perth and New York City. Home in NZ he’s a renowned social commentator, columnist, podcaster, and former writer for 7 Days.

James Nokise

Ken Arkind is a writer, educator, and performer born on the Western Slope of the Colorado Rocky Mountains. He is a US National Poetry Slam Champion and speaker who has performed his work at festivals, universities, and venues across the world.

Ken Arkind

Latinaotearoa came from the concept of blending local flavours with the colourful cultures of South America.

Latinaotearoa

Le Moana is a vessel for exchanging stories, concepts and ideas through the medium of live performance.

Le Moana

Lord Echo is a multi-instrumentalist producer and engineer and DJ with an instantly recognisable sonic signature, even in the hustle and bustle of todays global music scene.

Lord Echo DJ

Mazbou Q is a UK-born, Tāmaki Makaurau based Nigerian artist and producer. Stemming from his background in classical, heavy metal and West African Highlife, Mazbou Q's particular brand of Hip-hop challenges the very notion of genre. It captivates those with a deep appreciation for musicality. Mazbou Q takes inspiration from the likes of Fela Kuti, The Roots and Black Star, as he confronts his listeners with socio-political commentary and creatively engages them in the complexities of his unique cultural identity.

Mazbou Q

The Mudra Dance Company under the leadership of Kinra has developed into a vibrant dance company featuring graduates trained at his dance Academy in Wellington

Mudra Dance Company

Kenyan descent and Coromandel born, now residing in Raglan Muroki, has always lived near the waves. A defining backdrop to this 20-year-old's sound, multifaceted silky and rhythmic grooves with strong ties to his surfing background, blending sounds from South America to Africa and back to the West.

Muroki

Niko Ne Zna is a world class world music extravaganza. A staple of the New Zealand festival circuit and frequently selling out shows at home and more recently in Australia. A hot and spicy taste of the old countries right here in the capital of New Zealand.

Niko Ne Zna

Having performed around the world as a highly regarded flamenco guitarist and composer, Paul Bosauder is a cultural ambassador promoting his love of music along with his passion for his country of origin – Aotearoa.

Paul Bosauder presents the Tierra y Mar Flamenco Project

Penny Ashton is back with more aural excitement and to whip you into a frenzy over who will be crowned the 5th WOMAD Slam Champ. She has spent the pandemic mostly safe touring about New Zealand with her comedy musicals Promise and Promiscuity, Olive Copperbottom and Austen Found.

Penny Ashton

Peter and Craig make giant kites that have seen them travel the world, creating with remarkable ingenuity for the likes of Disney since 1973.

Peter Lynn Kites – with Peter Lynn and Craig Hansen

Scientist Phil Lester is the author of The Vulgar Wasp and Healthy Bee, Sick Bee.

Phil Lester

With a style and catalogue which shows an artist willing to push boundaries, Ria Hall is one of the strongest voices in NZ music. Combining both English & te reo Māori vocals, Hall creates epic soundscapes that embrace & challenge multiple genres.

Ria Hall

Rose Carlyle is a writer, lawyer and keen adventurer. She has crewed on scientific yachting expeditions to subantarctic islands and lived aboard her own yacht in the Indian Ocean for a year, sailing it from Thailand to South Africa via the Seychelles. Rose was a Michael King Writer in Residence in 2020 and in 2021 released her first novel, The Girl in the Mirror.

Rose Carlyle

Tāmaki Makaurau reggae/ hip hop musician Rubi Du has been making waves in music both here in New Zealand and overseas.

Rubi Du

Aotearoa’s Dub & Bass heavyweights, the space-weaving SALMONELLA DUB delivering what promises to be a phenomenal set of the Dub’s classics, alongside a bag of new tunes from their forthcoming album RETURN TO OUR KŌWHAI.

Salmonella Dub

Shades of Shakti's music combines intricate fast melodies, virtuosic rhythms of the tabla and percussion, expansive raga, and the hypnotic tones of traditional India with an Aotearoa infusion.

Shades of Shakti

Longtime John Butler Trio drummer (2003-2009) Michael Barker in 2010 formed two-person Blues/Roots juggernaut Swamp Thing, recording three albums Balladeer, Primordium, and Rumors & Lies with fellow Kiwi Grant Haua.

SWÂMP THÏNG

Tāmaki Makaurau based poet, community educator and whanau advocate Te Karere Scarborough (Ngāpuhi) has taught and performed poetry internationally and is a former member of the South Auckland Poets Collective. Self-described as a relentless optimist, Community advocate and committed to a bi-cultural future that enables all whānau to flourish.

Te Karere Scarborough

Meet Francis and Kaiora Tipene from The Casketeers –passionate funeral directors and beloved Netflix stars. Francis (Te Rarawa) discovered his calling more than 13 years ago, with his first job at a funeral home in Auckland.

The Casketeers - Kaiora and Francis Tipene

Tom has acted in the television shows Wellington Paranormal, Shortland Street, Educators, Sextortion and Sis. He is also a regular on Have You Been Paying Attention? and Give Us A Clue.

Tom Sainsbury

Dames Jools and Lynda Topp are iconic kiwi entertainers who have created an enduring legacy of song, comedy and politics across stage, film and TV.

Topp Twins

Haunting, spirited vocals over hypnotic odd-meter grooves, a meeting of delicacy and power. TUi MAMAKi's original compositions are inspired by her love affair with Bulgaria, whakapapa in France and motherhood.

TUi MAMAKi

Weird Together represents a seamless blend of organic music discovery and collaboration. UK Producer/DJ Dick "Magik" Johnson is at the helm curating and producing the group's eclectic global focused sound.

Weird Together

One of the key pioneers of the Māori music industry, Whirimako Black from the Tūhoe Nation, paved the way for Māori and te reo recording artists. Whirimako is a veteran of 8 albums and has collaborated with numerous national and international musicians.

Whirimako Black

"A joyful and jaw dropping fusion of afro-grooves and jazz that hits you like a burst of sonic sunshine" Phil Jackson, BBC specialist music presenter describing Yaw Asumadu who is a master drummer, composer, African flautist, bass guitarist and xylophone player.

Artists