It's really hard to explain what it is about WOMAD that makes the whole thing so special, but it really is unlike any other festival out there.
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 music but relatively unknown quantities to most in England that helps take the pressure off of those fearing missing out on 'the big names'.
This makes 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.
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, there are talks, science experiments, arts and crafts activities, poetry, discos and other random things, in short on any given day, anything can happen.
Swindon Advertiser reporter Daniel Wood in a hot tub at the WOMAD spa (Image: Newsquest)
For example, on the opening Thursday I watched a group of poets perform poems about regenerative farming.
I spent an hour in an on-site luxury spa complete with a hot tub which I'd recommend for those who can afford it and enjoy the finer things in life.
I then watched children performing on the festival's main stage before first-headliner Italian reggae artist Alborosie lit up the stage.
Throughout the festival, I tasted amazing food prepared by a Mexican Cumbia Group or a New Orleans-based singer, I marvelled at Tesla Coils performing music via instruments, I debated the future of media in the UK, I watched my wife sing Amy Winehouse and All Saints with a full band accompaniment in a late-night bandeoke session and then perform a poem to a huge crowd of people the following day.
Oh, here’s my wife performing Amy Winehouse in a small tent at @WOMADfestival with a full live band of volunteers.
— Daniel Wood (@DanWood_Adver) August 10, 2024
What a star! pic.twitter.com/3UVqKAEp11
Whatever I was doing, wherever I was, people were engaged, they were smiling and they were seemingly at peace with the world.
The atmosphere and vibe at WOMAD is extraordinary, it is full of families, I've never seen so many babies at a festival in my life, it is full of older people, full of teenagers, every type of person is everywhere, and everyone is enjoying themselves - tiny joys at every turn.
Everyone is kind and supportive. My wife's poem was about our adoption process and afterwards, we had people queuing to share their experiences with adoption and to tell us we would be amazing parents - and this followed us throughout the weekend, positive people sharing positivity to strangers.
WOMAD festival (Image: WOMAD Festival)
Some of the above is obviously deeply personal to me, but outside of that the whole experience of being at WOMAD and feeling relaxed in an ever-stressful world is something that I'll carry with me forever.
The fact that all of this is right on our doorstep is nothing short of remarkable.
The festival is asking people for feedback as it looks to continue in an increasingly challenging environment, all I can say is that I hope it finds a way to continue long into the future.
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