Thomas Brooman

Thomas Brooman CBE (b. 1 April 1954) is a festival organiser and promoter of music, best known for his role as co-founder and artistic director of the WOMAD (World of Music Arts & Dance) festival organisation.

Thomas Brooman
Born (1954-04-01) April 1, 1954
Bristol, UK
NationalityBritish
OccupationMusic consultant & festival organiser
Known forCo-founder of the WOMAD festival & Real World Records
Spouse(s)Amanda Emily Brooman (née Budd)
Children3
Parent(s)Frederick Spencer Brooman & Beatrice Lily Peachey

Early life

Born in Bristol in 1954, he attended Bristol Grammar School and spent time during his childhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He attended Oxford University, reading English Language and Literature at Exeter College under the tutorship of Jonathan Wordsworth, graduating in 1976. The second child in an academic family, his father Frederick S. Brooman[1] was an author and economics lecturer at Bristol University, subsequently Professor of Economics at The Open University.

Returning to Bristol after graduation from Oxford, Thomas took a path in music, firstly as a drummer during the heyday of punk music in the late 'seventies with several bands in Bristol, including The Media, The Spics and The Tesco Chainstore Massacre. In 1980, with a group of friends, he established a record magazine publication called The Bristol Recorder, and through this project made contact with the English artist Peter Gabriel with whom the concept of WOMAD[2] was born.

WOMAD Festival

In early 1981, with Peter Gabriel and a group of colleagues, including Martin Elbourne, chef Jonathan Arthur, Stephen Pritchard and Bob Hooton, Thomas devised and organised the first WOMAD Festival in 1982.[3] Over the following twenty six years he then worked as Festival and Artistic Director of the WOMAD Festival, leading the establishment of WOMAD as an organisation and its affiliated charity, the WOMAD Foundation, in 1983. WOMAD Festivals helped to establish a wider audience for many international artists and contributed to the identification of world music as a description of music from a global context.[4]

As Artistic Director of WOMAD, through until 2008, he programmed and collaborated in the production of more than one hundred and forty five WOMAD Festivals and events in twenty-four countries[5] and islands; in Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe and North America.

Other activities

In 1987 he co-founded Real World Records,[6] a label conceived as a creative partnership[7] between Peter Gabriel and the WOMAD organisation.

In 2000 Thomas also ventured into the world of pub ownership with the purchase of Bristol's historic Palace Hotel in Old Market. Built in 1869, The Palace is a landmark Bristol City centre building and famous for its sloping bar floor and elaborate Victorian columns and ornamentation. At the time of its purchase in 2000, the whole building was in need of total refurbishment and Thomas undertook the project with the help of a small but dedicated team. The Palace opened its doors to the public again in October 2000 and built a loyal following for its music-centred atmosphere featuring weekly gigs and a Saturday night DJ residency featuring Bristol's legendary DJ Derek.

Since 2008 he has worked as a music advisor with Dartington Hall and Creative Youth Network in Bristol and as a music mentor with South West Music School. Thomas also now works as freelance Music Programmer[8] for Salisbury Arts Centre.

Described by the BBC as having an 'open-minded, music-first, approach' he has worked on collaborative and creative projects with many artists from all over the world, including Bill Cobham and Asere,[9] Madosini and Patrick Duff,[10] David D'Or, Totó La Momposina,[11] Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Terem Quartet and Trilok Gurtu. He has also been extensively involved in record compilation[12] and production work.

Awards and honours

Described by The Times newspaper as a 'visionary artistic director' Thomas was also recognised in 2005 by the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) as recipient of the first World Shaker Award in the BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music.[13]

In 2008 he was made a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the Queen's Birthday Honours List for his life services to music and charity.[5]

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References

Citations

  1. "Frederick Spencer Brooman". British National Bibliography. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
  2. "Latest news: Thomas Brooman CBE". Real World Records. 15 June 2008. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
  3. Green, Thomas H. (1 May 2013). "Best music festivals of 2013: 3. Womad". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
  4. Gillett, Charlie. "World music". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
  5. "Womad co-founder is appointed CBE". BBC News. 14 June 2008. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
  6. Greenhouse, Kim (27 April 2015). "Thomas Brooman: Music, Mentorship, & Mastery". It's Rainmaking Time!. Archived from the original on 25 July 2016.
  7. Holland, Simon (22 October 2014). "Real World 25: Interview with Label Manager Amanda Jones". Folk Radio. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
  8. "Meet Our Staff". Salisbury Arts Centre. Archived from the original on 3 February 2015.
  9. "Billy Cobham and Asere 2008". Theatr Mwldan. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
  10. "Patrick Duff". patrickduff.com. Archived from the original on 8 October 2016.
  11. Brooman, Thomas (22 July 2015). "The Totó WOMAD story". Totó La Momposina. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
  12. "Thomas Brooman". Artistdirect. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
  13. "World Shaker Award 2006". BBC Radio 3. Retrieved 29 September 2017.

Bibliography

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