Fri June 22 & Sat June 23 2012-

A festival with acoustic music at its heart Dartington Hall, Devon

Heading for HOME – the sensational Ballet Nimba

The sensational West African music and dance troupe, Ballet Nimba, is the latest exciting addition to the line-up of Devon’s third HOME festival (June 22-23, 2012). Led by the irrepressible Guinean-born choreographer and performer Idrissa Camara (above) Ballet Nimba interlocks musicians and dancers originating from across West Africa (Senegal, Mali, Ghana and Cape D’Ivoire) in a captivating and dynamic display of dance theatre with potent musicianship and outstanding percussion and rhythms. Expect to hear the sounds of a Fulani flute, Ngoni, Bolon Bata, Kirin, Djembe, Wassaoumba and the Doundoun drums, with some of the most agile dancers you have ever seen. See them in action here.

Ballet Nimba will appear on the Saturday in a late afternoon performance and will also host a dance workshop. 

A significant presence on the UK Black Dance scene, the troupe (now Cardiff based) offers a high energy show for HOME - a festival which brings together artists from its South-West doorstep to the far reaches of the globe.

Celebrating a dazzling range of cultures, languages and sounds, its Friday evening curtain-raiser is followed by an eclectic Saturday programme - offering more than 16 hours of music across three stages.

Headlining the inspirational and cosmopolitan festival in the idyllic setting of Devon’s Dartington Hall will be West Country favourites Show of Hands (Saturday) and Tibet’s exiled Tashi Lhunpo monks (Friday). Show of Hands, celebrating their incredible 20th year in 2012, will be back on home turf after their fourth sell-out of the Royal Albert Hall at Easter.

In an exciting festival coup, the exquisite Japanese pianist Ryoko Nuruki will be making her UK debut at HOME on the opening evening. A brilliant musical innovator, her improvisational solo performances and sensitive compositions create a unique and emotive musical language - a magical melange of classical, Japanese and jazz-infused music.

One of the many highlights of last year’s festival was the “secret garden” gig performed by BBC award-winning Jackie Oates and this year she will return to Dartington with her band on the Saturday. Hailed as one of the finest young fiddle singers to emerge onto the UK folk scene, Jackie scooped the Horizon (Best Newcomer) title at the 2009 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. She has been tipped by some as a natural successor to the great traditional singer Shirley Collins, a key contributor to the English folk revival of the 1950s and 60s. 

Other artists will include Johnny Kalsi’s dynamic Dhol Foundation, with their thundering Dhol drum sound. They will be heard at Dartington on the Friday showing just why their bhangra music has gone down a storm with audiences around the world. 

Further enriching the line-up will be The Krar Collective (Ethiopia) and the quartet SANS whose music ranges from the subtle minimalism of Finnish runo-song to English, Scottish and Armenian trad melodies. Patrick Duff - one of the UK’s finest singer-songwriters- returns to HOME and from Poland come Romany Diamonds whilst the Bristol Reggae Orchestra is sure to get the joint jumping. 

The three stages include a main outdoor stage in the medieval Dartington courtyard and the exquisite performance space of Dartington’s Great Hall where all performances are unplugged.The family-friendly festival will also feature food, films, workshops, craft and market stalls and children’s activities including a popular discovery trail in Dartington’s glorious gardens.

Great value tickets for Friday/Saturday are now on sale price £58.50. (Concessions apply for over 60s, unwaged and full time students). Friday tickets are just £20 and Saturday tickets £45.An exceptional offer will provide one free Under 16 ticket with any adult ticket purchase. Under 5s go free but must be booked in.Tickets HERE

One of the most beautiful festival sites in the country, Dartington is just two miles from Totnes in South Devon and has been described as “a bit of English magic”, with its magnificent gardens, 14th century medieval hall and courtyard, rolling farmland and ancient deer park.