Factory International

WOMEX 24 Festival: Friday

This event has ended
Group photo of Les Mamans du Congo x Rrobin looking down at the camera
Date
25 Oct 2024
Venue
Aviva Studios, Water Street, Manchester M3 4JQ
Tickets
£30

9pm – 1.30am

To book access tickets please call 0161 817 4531 (Monday to Saturday, 10am to 6pm) or email access@factoryinternational.org

This event has ended

Suitable for ages 18+ Please bring ID

Accessibility features available for this event: Wheelchair Access

Discover sounds from across the globe at this year’s Worldwide Music Expo (WOMEX)! Book your Friday night ticket here.

With 27 acts over three nights, immerse yourself in a vibrant mix of musical genres and styles, encompassing a global spectrum of folk, roots, jazz, and electronic music.

Aviva Studios lies at the heart of the WOMEX 24 Festival, playing host to three stages across the Warehouse and Hall. A perfect place to hang out, soak up the atmosphere and experience music representing diverse cultures and regions worldwide.

The full schedule including stage times is available on womex-festival.com. Please note this is subject to change, and final stage times will be released closer to the event.

Line-up

Six members of BIM stood outside under a bridge, wearing bright, patterned clothing

BIM [Benin International Musical] (Benin)

BIM is a collective of seven artists from Benin who come together to celebrate and showcase the vital and enduring legacy of Benin’s Vodoun worship dances, integrating their voodoo origins into rock and rap. Each performance is a rock and voodoo ceremony, offering a rare and unforgettable experience that should not be missed!

Photo by Axel Vanlerberghe.

Four members of Ghazi & Boom.Diwan X Arturo O'Farrill performing on stage wearing white robes

Ghazi & Boom.Diwan X Arturo O'Farrill (Kuwait / United Arab Emirates)

Founded by applied-ethnomusicologist, professor of music, composer and global jazz musician, Ghazi Al-Mulaifi, Boom.Diwan is a modern Khaleeji ensemble that takes a contemporary approach to reinvigorating the dialogic spirit of Khaleeji sea-faring music.

Three members of É.T.É with their instruments, on a light pink background

É.T.É (Canada)

É.T.É combine violin, cello, bouzouki and scintillating vocal harmonies, creating their own trad universe with original compositions and arrangements of Québécois and Acadian repertoire, bringing the joie de vivre of a kitchen party to international stages.

Photo by Camille Gladu Drouin.

Ëda Diaz playing the double bass with her eyes closed

Ëda Diaz (Colombia / France) 

Steeped in Latin traditions, French-Colombian bassist Ëda Diaz has been exploring and refining her rich dual musical heritage. Her music poetically blends traditional Latin American sounds with experimental pop influences and industrial electronica.

Photo by Jacques de Rougé.

Group photo of El Laberinto del Coco stood on a street at night

El Laberinto del Coco (Puerto Rico)

El Laberinto del Coco is an Afro-Puerto Rican Bomba Fusion 13-piece ensemble founded in 2017 by visionary percussionist Hector “Coco” Barez. With a unique blend of exciting musical ideas, Barez presents new interpretations of the traditional dynamism of Puerto Rican Bomba.

Photo by David T Diaz.

Three members of Kamakan stood in front of a dark blue curtain

Kamakan (Iran / France)

Kamakan is a musical project from Tehran. In their music, Mehdi Saki and his band explore the Persian and Arabic traditions of their homeland. The project draws on the musical traditions of southern Iran, incorporating elements of Arabic and Persian heritage, as well as classical and contemporary poetry.

Photo by David Tabary.

Group photo of Les Mamans du Congo x Rrobin looking down at the camera

Les Mamans du Congo x Rrobin (Congo / France)

Led by the charismatic singer and percussionist Gladys Samba – and here live-meeting DJtronica Rrobin, the female group Les Mamans du Congo was formed in 2018 in Brazzaville. In a project where dance merges with ancestral Kongo lullabies, the five mothers sing in the Lari language, telling the history of their people and the daily life of Congolese women. They set these narratives to music with complex rhythms played using forks, plates, pestles, and other improvised instruments.

Photo by Vivi What.

Photo of Shauit in a dark green shirt and red cap, stood in a forest

Shauit (Canada)

From the Côte-Nord region of Quebec, singer-songwriter Shauit sings about the complexity and beauty of the Innu nation, set in a fusion of folk, roots, and reggae that has brought him multiple awards and international festival appearances.

Photo by Yanick Boyer.

Members of Votia performing on stage and smiling

Votia (La Réunion)

Votia is the stage name of Réunion singer Marie-Claude Lambert-Philéas, chosen in tribute to her mother, who came from Madagascar and belonged to a family of traditional Maloya musicians. This artist from Réunion Island carries her music with a soft yet powerful voice reminiscent of Erykah Badu and Sharon Jones. Through her lyrics and Maloya music, she touches upon themes of love, mourning, and both the living and the deceased, inviting the public to discover her rich musical universe.

Photo by Peter Graham.

Ticket information

This ticket is for the WOMEX stages at Aviva Studios on Friday night only. Tickets for Thursday and Saturday night at Aviva Studios are available here.

Factory International members get early access to book day tickets at Aviva Studios:

Factory International members on sale: Thursday 19 September, 10am

General tickets on sale: Friday 20 September, 10am

3-Night and 1-Night Passes are also available giving you access to all other venues and showcases. Visit womex-festival.com to find out more.

For ticketing and box office related enquiries, please contact tickets@factoryinternational.org or call 0333 322 8679 (phone lines are open Monday to Saturday, 10am to 6pm).

For more information please visit Ticketing and Sale of Goods Terms & Conditions – Factory International

Credits

WOMEX is produced by Piranha Arts. Manchester Music City is the local host partner for WOMEX 24. WOMEX 24 is supported by Manchester City Council, Arts Council England, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), Manchester Airport Group.

Access information

Our full address is Aviva Studios, Water Street, Manchester M3 4JQ and the what3words is chop.feeds.chase.

You can approach Aviva Studios along Water Street (coming from Quay Street) or along Liverpool Road (coming from Deansgate or Castlefield). Both entrances to the building have double sets of glass doors.

Once inside Aviva Studios, there is step-free access to all areas of the venue. The flooring throughout the building is smooth concrete.

The entrance to the Hall is by lift, escalator or stairs from one side of the Social beside the brick arches. There is only one escalator, and this will take you up to the Hall before the show, and will be reversed so that you can travel down at the end of the performance.

The Social has a range of seating, including those with arms and backs.

The bars in the Social and Hall Foyer have lowered accessible service points.

Our building is large. We have portable stools available to borrow if you would benefit from resting along the way during your visit.

We have wheelchair spaces and seats at standing events for all events.

There are accessible toilets on all public levels of our building.

Accessible toilets are located inside the main toilets space in the brick arches of the Social.

Here you’ll find a mixture of accessible cubicles with left- or right-hand transfer, towards the back of the space, as well as ambulant accessible cubicles with grab rails, as well as a Changing Places facility.

The toilets in the brick arches of the Social are split into male, female and gender neutral – all of which contain accessible cubicles. There are shared handwashing facilities in each arch – they have soap dispensers under the mirrors to your left and dryers to the right. There are separate handwashing facilities inside the accessible cubicles.

There are additional single-room accessible toilets located in both Hall Foyers, at stalls and circle level.

There are additional single-room accessible toilets located in the Warehouse Foyer.

You do not need a key to use the accessible toilets at Aviva Studios.

Assistance dogs are welcome in our building, and we can provide mats and water bowls on request, just ask a host when you arrive. We can also take care of your assistance dog if you do not want to take your dog into the performance space. Please also refer to our assistance dogs policy.

If you are bringing an assistance dog to a ticketed event, please let us know in advance by contacting access@factoryinternational.org or calling our access phone number: 0161 817 4531 (phone lines are open 10am to 6pm, Monday to Saturday).

We are sorry that assistive listening is not available for this event. To explore events that do have this access provision available, check out our access performance information page.

Travel information

Our closest stations are:

Salford Central station: 0.4 miles

Deansgate station and Deansgate-Castlefield tram: 0.6 miles

St Peter’s Square tram: 0.6 miles

Manchester Victoria station is approximately one mile from Aviva Studios

Manchester Piccadilly station is approximately 1.3 miles from Aviva Studios

Click on the links above to find detailed access information for each station.

By Bike

There are 40 bike parking spaces at Aviva Studios including space for two accessible bikes.

National Cycling Route 6 passes close to the venue and this TfGM webpage can help with route planning.

You can also hire bikes from on-street docking stations across the city centre. The closest docking stations to our venue are currently on Deansgate by Liverpool Road and (400m from the building) and by King Street (500m from the building). Take a look at Transport for Greater Manchester’s webpage for advice on cycle hire.

By Walking and Other Active Means

Aviva Studios can be approached along Water Street via Liverpool Road (coming from Deansgate or Castlefield).

If you're coming from Quay Street, the safest route to avoid construction works is via the cut-through opposite Gartside Street and past Booking.com.

All footways in the surrounding area are well lit and there are appropriate crossings across all main roads.

Pedestrians with visual impairment are recommended to approach the building via Water Street, from Liverpool Road. This route has traditional carriageway and footway design with fixed street furniture which should help with navigation to the entrance.

A footbridge at Left Bank in Spinningfields provides an accessible link across the River Irwell to Salford Central station, and a further footbridge also links Aviva Studios with the Salford area of Middlewood Locks.

Free bus services stop at all city-centre stations, and near to Aviva Studios along Deansgate, Bridge St and Quay St. Buses on these free routes are wheelchair accessible. For full details of the free bus routes, please visit the TfGM website.

There is a car park approximately 0.6 miles from Aviva Studios at Water Street Car Park, New Elm Rd, Manchester, M3 4JH.

There is also a NCP car park (Manchester Spinningfields) approximately 0.5 miles away from Aviva Studios at Spinningfields, New Quay Street, Manchester, M3 3BE. It has 35 accessible bays.

There are a small number of Blue Badge spaces along Water St and Quay St. Otherwise head towards Liverpool Road, Great John St and Lower Byrom St – close to our neighbours, the Science and Industry Museum where there are a small number of additional Blue Badge spaces.

For a list of other parking bays available in the area, visit Manchester City Council website.

Become a Member

Experience extraordinary, all year round by becoming a Member. It’s just £45 for 12 months of benefits including priority booking, discounts, offers and much more. Are you in?

Join now →
Sign up ↓