In 1982, the first Womad music festival was held in Shepton Mallet, UK. The organisation, which stands for World Of Music Arts And Dance, was set up in 1980 by English rock star Peter Gabriel (Genesis), Thomas Brooman, Bob Hooton, Mark Kidel, Stephen Pritchard, Martin Elbourne and Jonathan Arthur.
Nattapon âNatâ Siangsukonâs love affair with
molamâthe electrically-charged roots music of Northeastern Thailandâstarted mostly out of necessity. After seven years living in London and DJing up and down Portobello Road, he found himself back home in Bangkok in 2007, and broke. Unable to justify the hefty price of importing wax from abroad, he began scouring the dusty record stores of Chinatown for time-warped gems.
âThere was so much music and so little information, so Iâd go around with my portable record player and listen to everything as the sleeves all looked so damn cool,â the DJ, who records and performs as Maft Sai, recalls with a laugh. âMy first reaction was, âHow? Why? Whatâs going on?!ââ