Jamaican artist Protoje and his band Indiggnation, will bring a blend of hip hop, soul, and jazz combined with reggae. Photo: Supplied / WOMAD
Womad Aotearoa has announced four new artists for its 2025 lineup in New Plymouth.
Melbourne's art-rockers Not Drowning, Waving, will be joined by Papua New Guinean musician George Telek, while West African quintet Nana Benz Du Togo promise to get the dancefloor moving.
Jamaican artist Protoje and his band Indiggnation, will bring a blend of hip hop, soul, and jazz combined with reggae, and rounding out the latest announcement is 'O.' - a London-based baritone saxophonist and drummer duo - known for their rowdy dub-jazz sound.
They join acts announced earlier such New Zealand favourites the Veils and the Beths, and the UK's Nitin Sawhney.
The festival has also reveal its World of Words and Steam Lab lineups for 2025.
Author of Beyond Hope from Auckland Prison to Changing Lives in Afghanistan Bairz Shah and investigative journalist and author of Gangland and Gangster's Paradise Jared Savage will feature on the World of Words stage in the Kumming Gardens.
Penny Ashton and Tusiata Avia meanwhile will perform in the Poetry Slam.
At the STEAM Lab, Liv Sisson - author of Fungi of Aotearoa: a Curious Forager's Field Guide - will be joined by naturalist, zoologist and behavioural ecologist Dr Greg Holwell among a host of others.
Womad is being held at the Bowl of Brooklands and Brooklands Park 14-16 March 2025.
Ireland's Róisín Murphy will also grace the stage during Womad. Photo: Supplied / WOMAD
Womad Aotearoa 2025 Festival music line-up so far:
Musicians
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).
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, 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).
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.