Stay updated with breaking news from Mark kidel. Get real-time updates on events, politics, business, and more. Visit us for reliable news and exclusive interviews.
theartsdesk on Vinyl 81: Nobro, Adrian Sherwood, Evian Christ, Ozric Tentacles, Maple Glider, Viken Arman and more theartsdesk.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from theartsdesk.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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.
From the NS archive: Four-wheel drive 27 January 1978: Abba, carefree joy and the erosion of local culture. By Mark Kidel After winning the Eurovision Song Contest with “Waterloo” in 1974 – the first Swedish contestants to do so – Abba became famous almost overnight. But it wasn’t until a few years later that they became true superstars. By the time they released “The Album” in December 1977, Abba were fresh off a tour of Europe and Australia, with multiple number-one hits and a movie on the way. They were universally accessible: their Eurovision entry was unique because they sang in English rather than their native Swedish. In this review of that record, Mark Kidel writes that Abba “might as well come from any town in the world with a hamburger joint and a Holiday Inn”. Kidel is wary of Abba’s universal success – their shiny, joyous accessibility represents a kind of mass-media flattening of culture. And yet he cannot help but recognise Abba’s irresistible hooks, “flawless production” and songs that “glitter with cleverness and charm”. “They have elevated the middle of the road to a cult,” he writes,