Womad Festival Brings Hippies and Yuppies Together

England will be rocking this coming weekend to the many and varied sounds at the WOMAD Festival in Reading, west of London. Since 1982, the World of Music, Arts and Dance fest has brought us a lot more than your standard fare, and this time round feature acts include the Mahotella Queens from South Africa, Mali singing guru Salif Keita and Brazilian Mr Bongo DJs.

If you're camping out at WOMAD over the weekend--perhaps in a luxury teepee, heavily promoted this year--there's more than music to entertain you, with yoga sessions, a skateboard zone and an international food court with plenty of dishes you've never heard of and still won't be able to identify after you've eaten them.

Organizers also provide pages and pages of advice on their website, surely more than any festival-goer will read. Important info seems to include the fact that there are more than 400 toilets on site--cared for by the "dedicated hygiene team", who incidentally are also responsible for the 84-head shower system. You should also avoid swimming in the Thames due to the risk of Weils disease, and drumming is not allowed between 8pm and 8am. Officials say that persistent drummers will be asked to leave the festival. So eat, drink, dance, be merry, but avoid persistent drumming and you'll enjoy WOMAD.

[Image via bhikku/Flickr]

Related stories:
All Peace and Light at Womad [The Times]
Bestival Music Fest [Jaunted]