In the beginning... there were three men - Peter Gabriel, Thomas Brooman and Bob Hooton who put their innovative musical heads together and founded The WOMAD Festival. This was 1980.

It took two years to actually realise their dream and bring WOMAD Festival to Shepton Mallet. And this was July 1982. The crowds came in their droves and encountered a feat of extraordinary musicians and artists, workshops for all. Don Cherry, Simple Minds, Imrat Khan, The Drummers of Burundi, Echo and The Bunnymen and Peter Gabriel (to name but a few). WOMAD was perhaps the first truly international music festival to emerge at this time.