The Village du Monde, situated in the upper left corner of the grounds, is the area dedicated each year to world music. The concept is to invite a different area of the world to each festival, this year's guest of honour being the Far-East. The Dôme hosts concerts by bands exploring the traditions of their culture, as well as expressing their contemporary identity. It is always a great place to discover smaller bands and artists who are usually very talented, and often at the meeting-point of avant-garde and tradition. Tuesday night saw a succession of Mongolian Folk/Rock complete with polyphonic throat singing (Tulegur), Korean Percussions (Noreum Machi) and Chinese Rock mixed with traditional songs (Second Hand Rose). Noreum Machi are actually playing again on Wednesday, and are worth the walk up to the Dôme.
But the Village du Monde isn't just about the music. The idea is create an area with its own visual identity, celebrating the far east through the decorations and the food stalls. If you want to eat a pot of Thai noodles with a delicious coconut sauce, while sitting on the edge of a beautiful Zen garden, or eating Sushis while walking under Japanese arches, this is the place to come to. The decoration team have done a great job decorating the Village du Monde - as they do every year- and it has a very serene feel to it. The Village du Monde is completed by a second tiny stage, with beautiful golden decorations, where some of the bands playing at the Dôme come and do smaller intimate showcases. It's the perfect way of enjoying a band you loved in a different setting, or catching up on one you missed. There are also other animations on such as dancing and DJs. The programme for this stage, called L'Escale, can be found here.
As I mentioned above, the many food stalls offer a culinary adventure across Thailand, Tibet, Malaysia, Korea, Japan and more. The Restaurant, situated haflway down the left side of the stalls is the perfect place to eat in a calmer atmosphere, and includes traditional Japanese low tables, where people sit cross-legged on Tatamis to eat. You can book a table and find more information here.
If you're looking for vegetarian or vegan food, quite a few stalls do a vegetarian dish, including Owen's noodles (just next to the delicious ice-creams of Le Bougainvillier). You get to choose between 6 different sauces, and it is also gluten free. Another great place is Tashi, where you can eat delicious Momos, Tibetan dumplings and Thukpa, a soup that takes me back to my travels in Ladakh. They have an incredibly spicy sauce you can add on, which is worth the try!
If you're looking for something to sooth your parched throat, head right down to Le Palmier. This bar, located right at the back of the Village du Monde, not only serves Cocktails and Granitas, but will be giving all of the profits to charity. You can also try taking part in a karaoke whilst cycling or pumping weights, something of a fad in Asia apparently. Lots of great fun guaranteed!
Meanwhile, elsewhere on the grounds Let's not forget the concerts which took place last night! A special mention to Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp, who played early in the evening at Le Detour. Not only do this Swiss band have an amazing name, their music is wacky and melodic, the combination of many different instruments. They play with style and energy, and had every one under the tent grooving pretty fast. It would be hard not to mention this year's most expensive band, Kings of Leon. They apparently managed to bring even more lorries than Robbie Williams, (six!), and provided their own security members in front of the stage. Used to playing in huge stadiums in the States, they weren't daunted by the massive crowd that had gathered to see them play their hits. Basically all of Paléo was in front of the main stage, leaving the rest of the grounds empty and calm. Playing under a huge screen that mixed visual animations and views of the crowd and the musicians, they delivered their concert without really engaging with the crowd. Despite the singer telling the crowd that "we don't have many concerts this year so we're going to try and have as much fun as we can", the Kings of Tennesse didn't seem to be fooling around on stage that much. On an other scale, Alo Wala, the reunion of Chicago-born rapper Shivani Ahlowalia and Danish based Tropical Bass pioneers Copia Doble Systema, who played under the Club Tent, had a totally different attitude to the crowd. Her frenetic flow and the heavy bass delivered by the group had everyone one moving with passion and fire. She frequently interacted with the crowd, making them shout and explaining what a great first time in Switzerland she was having. You'll be reading more about her as I managed to catch up with her before the concert and ask her a few questions for an article which will be up on the site in a couple of days. On a last note, if you are coming to the festival tonight- Wednesday- a storm has been announced, so come prepared!