WOMAD Aotearoa is excited to welcome four dynamic new artists to the 2025 festival lineup. These include organic-electronic feminist songs from West Africa’s Nana Benz Du Togo, Melbourne’s art-rock pioneers Not Drowning, Waving, who are reuniting with acclaimed Papua New Guinean artist George Telek, a London-based baritone saxophonist and drummer duo, O. and Protoje, the Jamaican artist blending hip hop, soul, and jazz with reggae and dancehall rhythms with his band The Indiggnation.
WOMAD Aotearoa 2025 Festival line Up:
47Soul (Palestine/Jordan) *Amaru Tribe (Australia) * Ana Carla Maza (Cuba) * Bala Desejo (Brazil) * Black Comet (Aotearoa) * CHAII (Aotearoa) * Delgres (France/Guadeloupe) * Etran de’Lair (Niger) * Goran Bregović & his Wedding & Funeral Band (Bosnia/Herzegovina) * Nana Benz Du Togo (Togo) * Nitin Sawhney (UK) * Not Drowning, Waving + Telek (Australia/Papua New Guinea) * O. (UK) * Protoje & The Indiggnation (Jamaica) * Queen Omega (Trinidad & Tobago) * Róisín Murphy (Ireland) * Satish Vyas & U Rajesh (India) * Talisk (Scotland) * The Beths (Aotearoa) * The Veils & NZTrio (Aotearoa) * Ukulele Death Squad (Australia) * Who Shot Scott (Aotearoa/Iraq)
In addition to the music, the festival offers a range of cultural and intellectual experiences. The Kunming Garden will once again host the World Of Words, featuring poetry slams, author talks, podcasts, and comedy.
WOMAD Aotearoa 2025 World Of Words Speakers:
Bariz Shah (Author – Beyond Hope – From an Auckland Prison to Changing Lives in Afghanistan) * Craig Hoyle (Author – Excommunicated) * Courtney Dawson (Comedian) * Emily King (Author 0 Re-food – Exploring the troubled food system of Aotearoa New Zealand.) * Jared Savage (Author – Gangland and Gangster’s Paradise) * Joana Joy (Comedian) * Lauren Keenan (BOOK CLUB – Author – The Space Between) * Leah Dodd (Poetry Slam) * Morgana O’Reilly (Showy Ovaries Podcast Guest) * Penny Ashton (Poetry Slam/Showy Ovaries Podcast) * Tusiata Avia (Poetry Slam).
While, the STEAM Lab will offer fascinating sessions with innovators and visionaries in diverse fields such as marine biology, chocolate making, song creation, and the science of sleep, providing attendees with the opportunity to explore new ideas and challenge the status quo.
WOMAD Aotearoa 2025 STEAM Lab Speakers
Anne Gaskett (Biologist) * Frau Knotz (Electronica Artist) * Dr. Greg Holwell (Naturalist, Zoologist and Behavioural Ecologist) * Liv Sisson (Author – Fungi of Aotearoa: A Curious Forager’s Field Guide) * Maddi Brown (Wellington Chocolate Factory) * Matt Williams (Wellington Chocolate Factory) * Michael Mansvelt (Author – Everyday Opulence) * Professor Emeritus Philippa Gande (Author – Early Birds and Night Owls) * Rochelle Constantine (Professor of Marine Ecology and Conservation Biology) * Sam Johnson.
Image Credit: Fede Pagola
Alongside these exciting new additions, the 2025 festival lineup features trailblazers of the Shamstep music movement, 47Soul from Palestine/Jordan; Australia’s folktronic act Amaru Tribe, bringing their unique sound; Cuba’s Ana Carla Maza, who combines soulful cello and emotive songwriting, seamlessly merging classical training with the rhythms of her homeland; and Brazil’s Bala Desejo, offering a fresh voice in Música Popular Brasileira (MPB), samba, and pop.
The festival will also showcase the power trio Delgres, blending blues with Caribbean influences, and the hypnotic guitar riffs of Etran de’Lair, infusing traditional Tuareg music with sun-scorched desert rock. Bosnia/Herzegovina’s Goran Bregović & His Wedding & Funeral Band will elevate the WOMAD experience with their masterful fusion of Balkan folk, rock, and classical music.
Joining the festival line up is the UK’s Nitin Sawhney, a celebrated musician and composer renowned for his genre-blending artistry, from Trinidad and Tobago Queen Omega who is a powerhouse in the world-reggae scene and Irish electronic pop artist Róisín Murphy.
India’s Satish Vyas & U Rajesh, with their sitar and tabla melodies, blend traditional Indian music with modern influences are set to captivate, Scotland’s Talisk will instantly enthral with their intricate folk arrangements, and Australia’s Ukulele Death Squad will add a playful twist to popular songs, one nylon string at a time.
From Aotearoa, local artists will light up the stage, including Black Comet, a high-energy fusion of rock, funk, and world influences; CHAII, a rising star blending Persian heritage with contemporary beats; and The Beths, known for their catchy, introspective power-pop melodies. Who Shot Scott will fuse Middle Eastern sounds with hip-hop and punk rock, representing the diverse and vibrant Aotearoa music scene. And, Aotearoa’s The Veils, led by the captivating Finn Andrews with the talented NZTrio, will perform, marking The Veils’ new album Asphodel’s live debut.
The 2025 WOMAD Aotearoa festival promises an incredible lineup of global artists, a diverse array of workshops, engaging speakers, and a variety of delicious food and retail options. The festival will also continue to offer family-friendly spaces and for the third consecutive year, ticket prices will remain steady, making the festival accessible to all.
With more exciting announcements to come!
WATCH: WOMAD AOTEAROA 2024 Highlights
“You know that feeling when you go to a concert, and it fills you with so much joy that you remember why you love music so much? That’s WOMAD.” – RNZ, 2024
“Seeing artists from Senegal, Haiti, Estonia and Angola come together in a Taranaki town feels arguably special” – NZ Herald, 2024
“Summer finally gets a festival worth shouting about” – The Spinoff, 2023
“To fully appreciate the spirit, it is best to spend the three days here in the magical botanic gardens. To experience the WOMAGIC” – 13th Floor, 2023
WOMAD 2024 – Image Credit Joaco DibbernWOMAD THE FESTIVAL
WOMAD: World of Music, Arts and Dance, the internationally established festival, brings together artists from all over the globe. The central aim of the WOMAD festival is to celebrate the world’s many forms of music, arts and dance.
As an organisation, WOMAD now works in many different ways. Still, the aims are always the same – at festivals, performance events, recorded releases, and through educational projects, WOMAD aims to excite, inform, and create awareness of the worth and potential of a multicultural society.
WOMAD Aotearoa is part of a festival family that has seen over three hundred festivals worldwide, with over ten thousand artists performing across six continents to an audience of millions over the past four decades. WOMAD UK has celebrated 40 years, WOMADelaide has celebrated 30 years, and 2025 will see WOMAD Aotearoa celebrate the 22nd anniversary of WOMAD Aotearoa at the award-winning Bowl of Brooklands and Brooklands Park in New Plymouth.
First presented in Taranaki in 2003, over its 20 years, WOMAD Aotearoa has presented over 500 acts and 1500 performers from 95 countries, the festival has had 150,000 visitors through its gates and generated over 100 million dollars for the local economy.
The festival’s success could not have occurred without the long-term support of Event Partner TSB whose continuous commitment has strengthened Taranaki’s position as the home of WOMAD.
WOMAD Aotearoa is also fortunate to have Programme Partners, Tui Ora, BOON, OMV, Taranaki Offshore Partnership, and several Media Partners and Event Supporters, allowing the festival to present a world-class event to the people of Aotearoa.
WOMAD Aotearoa
14 – 16 March 2025
The Bowl of Brooklands, Brooklands Park
Ngāmotu (New Plymouth)
Tickets on sale now www.womad.co.nz
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