WF SETE: BIGGER & HOTTER

The 4th edition of Gilles Peterson's Worldwide Festival finished on Monday morning (July 6th 09), at 4am, with the loudest scream of the four non stop days and nights at Sete: singing to the beats of "Something Beautiful". At that point most of us had already lost our voice, knees and a few kilos with the team of artists, concerts, sessions and pure enjoyment we’d had in our ears and hearts, fully responding to the high expectations one felt after last year's memorable moments.

Has then the Festival won the fourth edition syndrome, once the magic number (3) had delivered its protection in 2008? Of course it did: cum laude! WF has never been about big names and strong headliners, but the list of talents summoned to the French southern village of Séte for the first weekend of July looked very different to the previous editions, in that respect.

With the presence of Diplo and Carl Craig as well as the live show of Laurent Garnier the festival seemed to gain mainstream muscle for the night shows, particularly for a year where the new location (St Christ or “the lighthouse” as it would be refer to by the crowd) allowed a bigger capacity (near 2500 people).

But mainstream is certainly a term we can hardly use in a program where quality and ecclecticism join forces to, eventually, provide a closer look (closer meaning face to face) to some of the artists and sounds Gilles Peterson has been supporting for years in his Worldwide radio shows. That’s why one can enjoy some of the broader strokes at the early evening concerts in Theatre de la Mer, where we witnessed Elan Mehler’s introspective jazz, Sebatien Schuller’s atmospheric pop (an example of musical self-demand, execution and ambition in a live band), Soil and “Pimp” Sessions explosive death jazz, Mocky’s catchy folk-pop tunes (“the highlight of the weekend” as Peterson confessed backstage to the group) or Jimi Tenor’s wierdorama psicodelic afrobeat (Fela metes Sun Ra as I call it: pure delight). The sounds and the sunset one can breathe in this open air auditórium remain my favourite time and I hope they’ll be enhanced for the upcoming editions, in search of more magic as we accumulate undeletable moments here over the years.

But 2009’s WF became a hotter dancefloor at night. Concentrating darker and fatter beats between dubstep and techno, from early-midnight to 5am, the crowd danced and screamed to some fo the best talents (just a few, really) one could have invited for any regular club night. But this is a festival, and artists like Theo Parrish, Diplo, Dorian Concept, Garnier, Martyn, Carl Craig, Alex (Jazzanova) Barck or Boozig had to provide a celebration. And they did. A celebration of global electronica, a celebration of Michael Jackson (almost 20 of his classics were played over the weekend) and a celebration of mixing and live creation (no matter what genre they chose). So we all danced, sometimes literally run over by the strong bass poured from the stage, and we cried with emotion as we praised every classic and every discovery in the musical memory of ourtime this festival has already created for us, with us.

The Sunday program is the expansion the festival has created in 2009, combining one of the classic nights in previous editions (the nightime beach stage) and the last minute sunday beach party some remaining worldwiders enjoyed last year, in what has probably become the top moment in Wf’s history. If you don’t know what I’m talking about is time for you to check the countless videos about it in You Tube, where you can admire the magic we lived dancing elbow to elbow to the jam orchestrated by Laurent Garnier, Gilles Peterson, Mark (Bugz In The Attic) Force and Simbad among others. So, with that in mind, GP and company (big shout to WF’s promoters, Freshly Cut: Boris, Ivan, Franck, Guillaume, etc: you guys are beautiful) they had reserved a truly amazing team of international talents for what was expected (and later on confirmed) to be an unforgettable beach party under the sun and moon (from noon until Monday’s 4am). Shuya Okino gave us the perfect aperitif; Jazzamar cooked some of the best jazzdance I’ve heard in a long time; Dj Lefto proved once more what a quick and exciting mind he has behind the digital decks; Michael Rutten renamed heart and soul with one of the best selections of the festival, Gilles Peterson wrote the perfect sounds for sunset and Simbad simply made us rock when we thought we were dead (brilliant choice of MJ’s Thriller, mon frére.)

What a crowd, what a collection of smiles and happy times. I woke up on Monday afternoon exhausted, broken, reduced to pieces (blame it on my youth) but once I’d enjoyed the compulsory two day recovery of food and sea with my international friends gang (John, Raquel, Aman, Mondana, Emma, Teddy: I love you) at Les Salines (Plage du Lazaret) my mind popped the question: how much time is left for 2010’s edition?

Review by Miguel Angel Rolland
http://masajazz.blogspot.com/

(Check out our latest Worldwide footage for day 1, day 2, day 3 and day 4)