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Photo courtesy of Afro Nation Facebook

News
Afro Nation Puerto Rico Has Been Canceled afro-nation-puerto-rico-canceled-due-coronavirus-concerns

Afro Nation Puerto Rico Is Canceled Due To Coronavirus Concerns

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The fest was set to take place from March 18 to 21 in San Juan
GRAMMYs
Mar 13, 2020 - 12:16 pm

Afro Nation Puerto Rico, which was originally scheduled to take place March 18-21, has been canceled due to ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic concerns.

"Recognising the national concerns surrounding COVID-19 and under the instruction of the Puerto Rican Government, the Afro Nation organisers have today announced that with much regret, they will not be going ahead with the festival due to take place in San Juan next week (March 18th-21st)," organizers wrote in a statement. 
  
"Customers will be contacted in relation to refunds with details on rescheduling to come. If requested, refunds will be processed within 7 working days," they continued. 

Afro Nation Portugal, which is set to take place in July, is as of now still scheduled to take place.

Until then, make sure you're washing those hands ⁣
⁣#AfroNationPortugal pic.twitter.com/ONxIyalkXC

— AfroNation (@afronation) March 13, 2020

Afro Nation Co-Founders Smade & Obi Asika Talk Festival Origins, Uniting The African Diaspora & Celebrating Diversity
 

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Obi Asika & SMADE

Photo: Courtesy of Afro Nation

News
Afro Nation Founders On Uniting African Diaspora afro-nation-co-founders-smade-obi-asika-talk-festival-origins-uniting-african-diaspora

Afro Nation Co-Founders Smade & Obi Asika Talk Festival Origins, Uniting The African Diaspora & Celebrating Diversity

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Afro Nation Puerto Rico, taking place March 18-21, is the first-ever American edition of the swiftly expanding event
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Mar 5, 2020 - 10:23 am

With Afro Nation Puerto Rico around the corner on March 18-21 (and a second Afro Nation Portugal in July), the fast-growing new music festival is bringing its vibrant energy to the U.S. for the first time. The first-ever American iteration of the fest—taking place beachside at San Juan's Balneario de Carolina—will be the third event in total since its launch last summer.

Nigerian superstar singers Burna Boy and WizKid, American rap kings Fabolous and Rick Ross, Jamaican reggae act Chronixx, Nigerian Afropop songstress Yemi Alade and Trinidadian soca hero Machel Montano are among the headliners for this month's event. Those are just a few of the names within the epic lineup, which has been rolled out in waves over the past four months.

Each Afro Nation fest highlights the biggest players—and up-and-comers—in Afro-fusion, reggae, dancehall, hip-hop, soca and other black-led musical movements. As cofounders SMADE and Obi Asika share, the idea for the event came from what they saw as a lack of representation in the event space for Afrobeats artists they worked with.

https://twitter.com/AfroNationPR/status/1234500294148608002

The diaspora united! 🌍 @ChronixxMusic performing in Kenya 🤩 ⁣
⁣
See him live at #AfroNationPuertoRico 🇵🇷🇵🇷🇵🇷 ⁣ pic.twitter.com/k1vm7m3Hnw

— AfroNationPuertoRico (@AfroNationPR) March 2, 2020

We caught up with the two Nigerian-born, London-based music industry powerhouses over the phone recently to discuss their groundbreaking Afro Nation movement. Read on to learn about the story behind this successful partnership, how they're learning as they go, their hopes and vision for the future and more.

The next Afro Nation fest is coming up soon, the first-ever Puerto Rican event. What are you most looking forward to with this one?

SMADE: We're on our third edition now. The first one was in Portugal in August, and then we've just finished the second one in Ghana in December. We're moving on to Puerto Rico next month, which I'm excited about. I'm looking forward to enjoying the beautiful sandy beaches in San Juan and having fun, as we always do. I'm also looking forward to seeing people from different races and cultures coming together to celebrate African music and seeing the unity that Afro Nation brings to people.

Obi: SMADE and I are both Nigerian, so obviously we do these events to give a platform to artists from the African diaspora. We've done Portugal and it was a lot of the European diaspora. Then, we've done Ghana which is more like the brand coming home. But for me, I'm really looking forward to seeing America because we sold so many tickets to Americans interested in the brand, the music and culture, and the diaspora there.

Also, Puerto Rico is a really interesting place because it's America, but it's also the Caribbean. I can't wait to see how people are going to vibe there and what's going to happen. Every festival we've done so far in different places, they all have their own feel. I think that this is going to be a really interesting one. We've literally got people coming from every part of America. I think it's going to be super interesting and really cool.

Wave 1: Afro Nation Puerto Rico: Patrice Roberts, Beenie Man, 2Baba, Afro B & More

You've been announcing the Puerto Rico lineup in several waves, and it just keeps getting better! How did you choose who to work with?

Obi: When we kick off the lineup, SMADE and I always have a chat and go, "What do we think? Who do we think our crowd's going to be? What are they going to want to see and be interested in?" One of the reasons why we don't announce everything at the beginning is that we want to read the crowd. We read a lot of the messages, we get a lot of the DMs, have all our team telling us what they hear and we do adapt things on the fly. We say, "Okay, let's add that."

These events are something that haven't been done before. We have such a complex and layered culture in terms of from the east, to the south, to the west of Africa, and obviously all the diaspora as well. SMADE and I were saying, we need to go and do a trip to Angola and go and hang there, understand what's going on, so we can understand what the Portuguese side is at.

SMADE: Also, we research and see the best acts to be on the stage. The platform is a huge one. Our stage is one of the biggest stages in the world for the acts, to be honest. What we try to do is research, look out for people that deserve to be on that stage, both from Africa and the diaspora and everywhere really. There's so much talent.

Obi: It is a bit of a voyage of discovery for us. There's so much talent and we want to include everyone, and we want to include everyone for each destination, but it's a process even for us. We are constantly learning about new music and new artists. One thing that we're very fortunate in what we're doing right now is that there's just so much talent. It's a constantly evolving process.

Our crowd is very active on social media. You have some people like, "Why can't we have this person?" and it's always the same names. But we try and give other people opportunities. SMADE and I were laughing the other day because we can't wait to see a performance, I won't say who it is. We wanted to put these two acts together because when we know when they get on the stage, it's just going to be crazy and make new fans. They might be overlooked on social media, but we know that they will be one of the highlights. We try not to make it about booking the same people at every show. We really want to give a focus for everyone. Particularly in Puerto Rico, we are going to add some local acts but expect that year two, there'll be even more local acts.

It's funny, year one of Portugal, everyone was like, "All you guys are about is West Africa." We are West African, so we're understanding things as we go along. SMADE and I spent a lot of time in France this year, because a lot of French people are coming to our show and we didn't even push it for France that much. It was organic. Then we had a couple of shows in France. It was crazy. We realized the market is massive. So, we were like, "We've got to include more French acts next year."

Sometimes we need to push our customers to new things. You don't have to worry about maybe someone doesn't speak the language, because with music you can feel it. When people are on stage, even if they're singing in Spanish or Portuguese or French, we don't actually see an issue in mixing everything up. It can be quite powerful. It's not a worry for us if we think it breaks those barriers.

Watch: Burna Boy Talks 'African Giant,' Damian Marley & Angelique Kidjo Collab, Responsibility As A Global Artist

It sounds like it really keeps growing naturally as you meet more people and explore different scenes. Do you have any plans or ideas for future locations this year or next?

Obi: Yeah, it does. We've already confirmed another location for this year that will be announced in another month or so. We want to always let people focus on what's next. Right now it's Puerto Rico and Portugal, but yeah, we've got another really great location.

SMADE & Obi Asika at Afro Nation

SMADE & Obi onstage at Afro Nation | Photo Courtesy of Afro Nation

Looking back a bit, can you tell me a little more about what inspired you to start Afro Nation together?

SMADE: I think Obi and I, we noticed a lack of representation of our acts. We know how talented they are and how much work they put into their music, but we weren't seeing them on the big stages. So Obi and I came together and we were like, we're just going to do it ourselves. We didn't even think it was going to be this big.

Obi: It's exactly what SMADE said. I'm a talent agent and he is a promoter. One of the things you do as a talent agent is headline shows in order to get your artists on big stages at the festivals. We struck up a partnership quite quickly, because SMADE is incredible. He was selling tickets for Afrobeats where all the big promoters weren't able to do it. We both obviously had a passion for this music, this genre, the culture because of our background. We struck up a partnership and we started having real successes, selling big tickets in London.

It wasn't really translating to the major festivals booking the acts. They wouldn't give them what we perceived as the respect they deserved, and I know a lot of these guys, they're my friends. It was like, "Obi, man, we just got our heads around hip-hop a few years ago, and now you're telling us to put these Afrobeats acts and give them serious, high up billing? We started off as a rock festival." They were also like, all those Afrobeats fans, they won't come to the festivals. They don't buy tickets. Everyone said it's not possible and I was like, how can we be selling out the O2 Arena with WizKid or SMADE selling them out with Davido, and then you're telling me that they can't play this?

"At our events, all the fans are very passionate. It's more than just going to a festival. I feel like it's the pride in their heritage and their culture and in their identity." - Obi Asika

We were just like, "Look, we're just going to do ourselves." And when we did it, it just felt—we weren't expecting it. We just wanted to prove a point, and within 24 hours, all the tickets were gone. People decided to buy a flight, buy a hotel, buy the ticket and go to another country, all for their love of Afrobeats. That's not small, it's a real commitment. I think that's why at our events, all the fans are very passionate. It's more than just going to a festival. I feel like it's the pride in their heritage and their culture and in their identity. It's driven us to keep going. We're having so much fun with it.

It's a very unique situation. Our people are everywhere in every part of the globe and the fans are everywhere. The biggest thing is if you just went on the norms of our industry of music and you say, "Oh, this person isn't on the charts or that person isn't signed to that label," but Afrobeats doesn't actually move to that. One of the things, obviously the success of Wizkid, Burna Boy and Davido, all the younger guys coming through is now shining a light on that in the records world. In the live music world, I think Afro Nation has shocked a lot of people that this crowd will buy tickets in advance and [pauses] I don't know many festivals that most of the crowd are female. In Portugal, we had 85 percent female.

Afro Nation

The crowd at Afro Nation Portugal 2019 | Photo Courtesy of Afro Nation

That's so cool.

Obi: I tell you, they are really amazing. Watching, I felt, "This is girl power going on." It was crazy. We'd never seen anything like it. It's a very powerful statement. It was a very unique festival. [Afro Nation] is such a positive event and is very special to us. We're very proud of it.

When you think of Afro Nation, what song comes to mind?

SMADE: For me, it's Fela [Kuti], any sound that comes from the legend Fela. Because a lot of these new acts now and the ones that have done great, from Wizkid to Davido to Yemi Alade to Burna Boy, when you see them on stage, that right there, for me, is Fela. That reminds me of Afro Nation. It's not just in West Africa alone. If you look at the highlife artists or the dancehall artists in Ghana, Shatta Wale, Stonebwoy, the way they present their performances and all the stuff that they do on stage just reminds me of Fela.

https://twitter.com/afronation/status/1232726873614028800

🇬🇭 Afro Nation is all about celebrating & promoting our culture. Not only do we want to have fun, we also want to make sure that we do a little something extra for the beautiful countries who host us.

Thank you to everyone involved and thank you Ghana. 🙏🏾 ⁣#TogetherWeMove 🌍 pic.twitter.com/JL5bxJfn47

— AfroNation (@afronation) February 26, 2020

From your perspective, what you think real diversity and inclusion looks like in the music event space?

SMADE: Honestly with this, it's hard to define because everyone's got a different perspective of what equality looks like. However, right now in the music industry, I think we are heading in the right direction although we still have a long way to go. There needs to be more recognition of all types of genres.

That's the beauty of Afro Nation. Even though the most [focus is on] Afrobeats and African music and the culture, we also infuse the Jamaican acts. Like in Portugal, we had Busy Signal, Buju Banton. And there's the different genres, there's your Afroswing, soca, bashment, reggae, and then Afrobeats. There's also hip-hop. We bring everybody together as one on our stages. We had acts from the U.S., the U.K. and then also from the Caribbean and Africa. Bringing them all together to celebrate the African culture and music in Portugal was a great experience and feeling. The way everybody just connected, I felt like it was part of it.

Obi: I really agree with what SMADE said. To be honest with you, as we said before, it's ever-evolving. As an event and as a brand, we are constantly learning about new genres and what different parts of the world are listening to. It's just about trying to push the envelope. There's a lot of people involved in Afro Nation, from all different parts of the world, putting the show together. We're a very diverse brand and company, but we're always trying to do more. We all have to strive to include everyone and just give everyone an opportunity to do their thing. I think we're a very diverse event. I don't think there's many events that have French, Portuguese, Spanish and English speaking artists.

At our first couple of events, we were very aware that we didn't have enough female acts. There's a lot more female acts for Puerto Rico, and that is something that we have to check ourselves on a little bit to make sure. You just can't be lazy with it. Sometimes, you have to just take your time and find new acts. Maybe if your first choice wasn't available, take a risk on a younger act or newer act. It's important.

Read: Beyonce Shares Epic Track List For 'The Lion King: The Gift:' JAY-Z, Kendrick Lamar, Mr. Eazi, Shatta Wale & Many More

What is your biggest hope, for the next five or so years, in connecting the African diaspora through music and entertainment?

SMADE: My biggest hope is to connect and to use this platform to unify not only the Africans in the diaspora but also for other races as well to also experience and know the African culture. I'll give you an example. We just finished Afro Nation Ghana, and we had people from different races and different culture come down to Ghana. We had [Jamaican act] Popcaan buy a house in Ghana, and shown interest in Africa. We have people that never ever thought they would be in Africa celebrating, leaving their homes, or coming with their families to celebrate in Africa during the festive period.

Obi: Yeah, you were right, SMADE. It was crazy, wasn't it? We'd see the tickets sales and be, "Russia?" Russia, Australia, Ukraine…

SMADE: Right. It was amazing. This is what Afro Nation is doing. This can bring unity amongst everyone, every one of us. I hope the generation coming behind can also be inspired by the growth of the industry, and we can have many more superstar talent like Wizkid, Davido, Burna Boy, Tiwa Savage, Yemi Alade. And even the French-speaking and the Portuguese—there's Afro Portuguese now. From Afro Nation Portugal there are people trying to connect with the [Portuguese] culture, people going back home to check their DNA and all that stuff. This is what we're doing. This is what Afro Nation stands for, unifying.

Obi: I know for me, to be honest with you, I've got two real hopes. I want more, like SMADE's saying, of all these young artists coming through. I just want them to get through and become superstars, so we can have more headliners to keep pushing the industry forward. Now, in Europe anyway, every festival is booking Afrobeats, so half of our job's done. We want to see more commercial festivals booking Afrobeats. Those like Coachella, Reading and Leeds, Lollapalooza, we want to see them booking these acts. That helps the whole machine of it.

We got Ghana done and we're very proud of all we achieved because it's very difficult, as there's no infrastructure of the industry. Ghana is an amazing place. A lot of things work in Ghana like the roads, the airport. It's a safe place, it's super cool, but the entertainment industry, they've got lots of artists but there's no festival. You can't just call up someone and say, "Oh yeah, bring me this fence in and bring me this sound." It was really tough and we really put ourselves on the line because it's very expensive doing these events. But, we came through it, we produced something that we're proud of but we want to build it. We want to help keep building the African entertainment industry, because there's so much potential, there's so many acts.

Burna Boy Announces 2020 'Twice As Tall' World Tour

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Taboo (L) and Will.I.Am (R) of The Black Eyed Peas perform in 2019

Taboo (L) and Will.I.Am (R) of The Black Eyed Peas perform in 2019

Photo: Sam Tabone/WireImage

News
Supersonic 2020: Black Eyed Peas, Steve Aoki, More japans-supersonic-2020-black-eyed-peas-steve-aoki-clean-bandit-asian-kung-fu-generation

Japan's Supersonic 2020: Black Eyed Peas, Steve Aoki, Clean Bandit, Asian Kung-Fu Generation And More Confirmed

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The festival announced the lineup additions during the coronavirus pandemic, noting, "Under these difficult circumstances, the entire Supersonic staff is working to welcome the audience in the best form possible this fall"
John Ochoa
GRAMMYs
May 20, 2020 - 9:43 am

Supersonic, the new multi-day, multi-city Japanese music festival, has unveiled its second artist lineup announcement for its first-ever edition this fall. The three-day event, taking place Sept. 19-21 in Tokyo and Osaka, has confirmed additional artists Black Eyed Peas, Steve Aoki, Clean Bandit and others. The festival has also added local Japanese artists including Asian Kung-Fu Generation, one of Japan's leading rock bands, Nulbarich, BiSH, chelmico and several others. 

They join headliners and other confirmed acts like Post Malone, The 1975, Skrillex, Wu-Tang Clan, Liam Gallagher, Fatboy Slim and Kygo, who were previously announced in early April.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CAZN_VeDToF

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by SUMMER SONIC / SUPERSONIC 2020 (@summersonic_official)

The lineup news comes as the coronavirus pandemic has decimated the festival and live music industry since mid-March, essentially shutting down the global concert business. At the time of this writing, Japan has more than 17,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and 778 coronavirus-related deaths, according to The New York Times. In early April, the country declared a state of emergency and this week fell into a recession for the first time since 2015, The New York Times reports.

Read: Recording Academy And MusiCares Establish COVID-19 Relief Fund

In a blog post shared on the festival's website announcing the lineup additions, organizers addressed the "difficult circumstances" the COVID-19 pandemic has caused.

"Under these difficult circumstances, the entire Supersonic staff is working to welcome the audience in the best form possible this fall while exploring a new form for the festival from now on," the post reads. "We thank you for your understanding and cooperation."

Supersonic is produced by the team behind Summer Sonic, one of Japan's biggest music festivals that's held annually over the summer in Tokyo and Osaka. Festival organizers postponed this year's installment of Summer Sonic to 2021 due to the 2020 Summer Olympics and Summer Paralympics, which were originally scheduled to take place in Tokyo this summer before the global sporting event itself was also postponed to next year, and instead introduced Supersonic for this year only, Japan Web Magazine reports.

Last August, Summer Sonic celebrated its 20-year anniversary with a lineup that featured Red Hot Chili Peppers, BLACKPINK, The Chainsmokers, Weezer and more. Attracting 135,000 visitors over three days, Summer Sonic become Japan's biggest outdoor music festival last year, IQ reports.

How Will Coronavirus Shift Electronic Music? Maceo Plex, Paul Van Dyk, Luttrell, Mikey Lion & DJ Manager Max Leader Weigh In

Primavera Sound 2019

Primavera Sound 2019

Photo: Jordi Vidal/Redferns/Getty Images

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Primavera Sound Barcelona Postponed Until 2021 primavera-sound-barcelona-postponed-until-2021-due-covid-19-force-majeure

Primavera Sound Barcelona Postponed Until 2021 Due To COVID-19 Force Majeure

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The 20th edition of the eclectic music and arts festival, originally scheduled for June 2020, was initially postponed until August but will now be taking place June 2-6, 2021
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
May 11, 2020 - 1:44 pm

Today, May 11, Primavera Sound announced the 20th anniversary edition of their flagship Barcelona music and arts festival will be postponed until June 2021. The legendary fest was originally scheduled for June 3-7, 2020 and then, in late March, postponed until Aug. 26-30 due to coronavirus concerns. Now, after continuing to consult with Spanish health officials and the increasing uncertainty of festivals being able to be safely held anywhere this year, Primavera is citing force majeure.

The upcoming Primavera Sound Barcelona will now be taking place June 2-6, 2021—all previously purchased tickets will be valid for the new dates, as well as be eligible for refunds. The organizers will begin to reveal lineup updates on June 3.

https://twitter.com/Primavera_Sound/status/1259846112858583042

Bailaremos juntos de nuevo. Muchas gracias por vuestro apoyo. pic.twitter.com/wT0yznWVuB

— primavera_sound (@Primavera_Sound) May 11, 2020

In a message shared on their social channels (read it in full above) today in Spanish, English and Catalan, the fest wrote: "Primavera Sound announces the most difficult decision in its history: finally we will not be able celebrate the 20th anniversary during 2020. In the face of the evolution of the COVID-19 health crisis, we find ourselves obliged to postpone the next edition of Primavera Sound Barcelona, for reasons of force majeure, until next year: from 2nd to 6th June 2021.

We are devastated and are terribly sorry for the inconvenience caused, but the health and well-being of our audience and of all the people involved in the festival has always been and still is our absolute priority. We cannot thank you enough for your patience, love and understanding in this very uncertain scenario. We will never forget this."

WATCH LIST: Online Concerts From Jennifer Lopez To Yo-Yo Ma To Catch During Coronavirus Quarantine

They also note that ticketholders who keep their tickets for the new 2021 dates will receive "special benefits." Tickets will alternatively can be refunded, beginning June 3—everyone who has bought tickets will be emailed with more details soon. The first round of lineup updates will also be revealed on June 3, as the fest works with artists to confirm availability for the new dates.

"On that same day [June 3] we will announce the first artists for Primavera Sound Barcelona 2021, whose lineup will still celebrate the 20th anniversary of the festival embracing the #bestfestivalforever philosophy thanks to the great commitment and effort of the artists themselves, who have also been greatly affected by the current situation and who will do everything possible not to miss this event. It doesn't matter when it is: this will be our anniversary party and we want to celebrate it with everyone who was going to come this year," the announcement on their website added.

To Watch: Phosphorescent, Built To Spill, Sierra Hull & More On This Week's Pickathon's A Concert A Day Benefiting MusiCares

"Until then, please take good care of each other and follow the advice of the authorities at all times. The festival team continues to work intensively in order to be able to celebrate something more than just Primavera Sound's 20th anniversary: seeing each other again, and dancing together again."

Bad Bunny, Tyler, The Creator, Lana Del Rey, Maggie Rogers, Iggy Pop, Massive Attack, the Strokes, Mavis Staples, Koffee, BROCKHAMPTON, Bikini Kill, Beck, Disclosure, Caribou, Kacey Musgraves and many more were previously announced for the eclectically stacked Primavera Sound Barcelona 2020 lineup.

Primavera Pro, their music professionals meeting will still be held this year, although completely online. More details will be announced soon, but it will be taking place on July 21-24, "with the aim of analyzing, reflecting and debating about the innumerable challenges facing the sector in this new paradigm."

NOS Primavera Sound, the offshoot festival in Porto, Portugal, was rescheduled for September 2020 at the same time the flagship fest was, but no further updates on the Portugal fest have been revealed at this time. The inaugural Primavera Sound Los Angeles is also, at the time of this writing, slated for September 2020.

Last week, on May 7, Primavera announced the special Iron Maiden "Legacy of the Beast" show they were throwing in Barcelona would be postponed until June 19, 2021. On May 8, Sónar, another major Barcelona summer music festival, revealed their 2020 event will now be taking place in 2021 as well.

ARTBAT On New CamelPhat Collab, DJing In The Clouds & Loving L.A.

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Crowd shot at WOMAD Festival 2017

Crowd shot at WOMAD Festival 2017

Photo: C Brandon/Redferns

News
WOMAD 2020 Canceled Due To Coronavirus Pandemic peter-gabriels-womad-festival-2020-canceled-due-coronavirus-pandemic

Peter Gabriel's WOMAD Festival 2020 Canceled Due To Coronavirus Pandemic

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In a statement, Gabriel said many of the artists originally confirmed for this year's festival "have already offered, or agreed," to return for 2021
John Ochoa
GRAMMYs
Apr 8, 2020 - 9:35 am

WOMAD (World Of Music, Arts And Dance) festival, the international music and arts festival from Genesis founding member Peter Gabriel and others, has canceled its 2020 edition in the U.K. due to the growing coronavirus pandemic. Originally scheduled to take place July 23-26 at Charlton Park in Wiltshire, England, the festival, which featured headliners The Flaming Lips, Angélique Kidjo, Kate Tempest and Fatoumata Diawara, among many others, is confirmed to return next year (July 22-25), according to the updated dates on the event's official website. 

https://twitter.com/WOMADfestival/status/1247843177505132545

WOMAD Festival 2020 update. https://t.co/UCISGS4G5x pic.twitter.com/FpZ1X2klGT

— WOMAD UK (@WOMADfestival) April 8, 2020

Festival organizers announced the event's cancellation via statements from Gabriel and the WOMAD team, both shared on the festival's official website and social media accounts today (April 8). In his statement, Gabriel said many of the artists originally confirmed for this year's festival "have already offered, or agreed," to return for 2021.

"Like many others, we have been hoping, waiting and watching the Coronavirus situation," Gabriel wrote. "Finally, we have been told that we will not be allowed to hold WOMAD this year at Charlton Park.

"Safety for all of our festivalgoers, artists and our own staff surpasses everything.

All of us involved with WOMAD have already been really touched by the help and generous offers of many of those we depend on to make the festival come to life. Many of the artists have already offered, or agreed, to play for us next year and we will now put our energies into making a great WOMAD 2021."

"We hope to see you all at Charlton Park next year for a big celebration, when we've put this meanie back in the bottle," he continued, alluding to the festival's return in 2021. "Your love and support for the dream that is WOMAD, has always meant a lot to us, but especially now."

Read: Recording Academy And MusiCares Establish COVID-19 Relief Fund

"Following a meeting with the Licensing authority, the combined emergency services and taking fully into account the government advice on halting the spread of the virus, it is clear, that in order to meet our goal of protecting the health, safety and wellbeing of the whole community there is no way we can go ahead with WOMAD 2020," a statement from the wider WOMAD team read. "We are devastated but confident that this is the right and responsible decision and that we have to play our part in helping the country stay safe and to recover."

For ticket holders for its canceled 2020 U.K. edition, WOMAD is offering a transfer of tickets for the 2021 edition or full refunds. For those who paid for their tickets in installments, the festival is allowing a temporary pause on payments to be picked up again next year for WOMAD 2021 or refunds for the face value of the tickets. More information about ticket transfers and refunds is available on the festival website.

The festival, which originally announced its initial lineup this past February, posted an update about the event's U.K. edition last month (March 19). "At WOMAD we are examining the advice of the government, other authorities and of course the healthcare professionals before making a final decision on what actions we should be taking to lead by example and help to keep everyone in the WOMAD community safe and well," the statement read. 

In February, WOMAD postponed what was to be its first-ever edition in Mexico, originally scheduled for March 27–29, "due to events outside of our control," according to a post shared on the festival's website. While no new dates have been announced, WOMAD Mexico will return "later in the year," the post reads. 

WOMAD has already completed three international festivals in 2020, including installments in Chile in February and in Australia and New Zealand in March. 

WOMAD is the latest festival to be canceled or postponed this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. Since March, Governors Ball, Glastonbury, Isle Of Wight, Download, All Points East, Lovebox and Parklife, Bonnaroo, New Orleans Jazz Fest, BottleRock Napa Valley, the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, Coachella and Stagecoach, Ultra Music Festival, SXSW, Lollapalooza Argentina, Something In The Water, Treefort Music Fest, Afro Nation Puerto Rico, Brussels' Listen! Festival, Record Store Day and several other major events and festivals around the world were called off or rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

MusiCares COVID-19 Fund: MCR's Frank Iero, Rita Wilson & Naughty By Nature, Ellie & Drew Holcomb & More Support With Livestreams & Beyond

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