Cheikh Lo, Hanggai, and Mayra Andrade make sunny Womad Las Palmas well worth a visit

With the weather changing for the wetter and colder, the summer festivals feel so long ago, and next year's so far away. Alas, all is not lost; you can escape the chill and combine a warm weekend abroad with the magic of Womad, at Las Palmas, Gran Canaria.

With pre-planning, it is even possible to visit Womad Las Palmas for much less than the price of a ticket for Charlton Park's summer event, albeit such cost cutting would require you to join the many dreadlocked festival goers that sleep on the nearby beaches.

With a toddler in tow (veteran of 15 festivals and she's not yet two), we pre-booked a nearby hotel, about a minute's walk from the festival site in Santa Catalina Park. The park is situated toward the North of Las Palmas, with the city's busy port in sight to the East; and the hotel area and 3km long Las Canteras beach, a minute's walk to the West. Travel to the area is easy, with regular buses (no 60) from the airport heading to Santa Catalina Park, where the bus station is out of sight, underneath the festival site.

A free event, Womad take over much of the Park for a full 4 evenings, bringing their trademark global music, workshops, and stalls. The site is mainly hard-standing and plays host to 3 outdoor music stages, an indoor area hosting children's art workshops and "Taste the World" food workshops; and a cinema in the nearby science museum showing cultural movies and shorts.

Of course, it wouldn't be Womad without an abundance of stalls; the bulk of which are given over to traders selling crafts and the usual hippy goods, a smattering of food vendors (not enough of them, but we did enjoy wonderful kebabs, fabulous Morrocan platters, and tasty falafels), and a selection of NGOs including Oxfam, Greenpeace, etc.

Being in Spain, the timing of the festival was somewhat different to what we are used to at UK festivals. Whilst stalls opened in the afternoons, and workshops took place for children and adults, the main music stages didn't commence until the evening and then continued into the small hours. Even taking advantage of afternoon siestas, we rarely made it to the final acts, but did get to enjoy most of the earlier evening performances around the site.

And what performances we saw. There was a clear Spanish/Canarian tilt to the programming, with a variety of other acts from across the world. The Ska-soaked Toubab All Stars commenced proceedings on the Thursday, the Parisians getting the crowd immediately into dancing mode; followed by Canarian rock band, La Perra de Pavlov whom seemed to go down well with the mainly local crowd, but were somewhat lost on us.

With the site fully open on the Friday, the afternoon was whiled away checking out the many stalls; enjoying impromptu drumming and juggling shows, and visiting the children's art workshop where costumes were being made in readiness for Sunday's parade. The evening's music was opened by Canary Islands' own Rasta Glover who delighted with his pop tinged reggae, then handed over to guitarist Amparo Sanchez and her Cuban influenced sound. The highlight of our day though was the fantastic Hanggai, whom I'd enjoyed at Charlton Park back in the summer. Never ceasing to amaze, Hanggai blend Mongolian throat singing with punk and folk sounds, their "Drinking Song" being a particular favourite. The crowd were ecstatic.

Saturday was to be a quieter day for us on the music front. The late nights were taking their toll and we having to seek out suitable areas for our toddler to stretch her legs. With no boundary to the site, and no restriction on taking drinks into the festival, the sad result is much broken glass and shards of shattered plastic on the grassed areas where the nightly cleaning trucks don't reach. The small number of toilets, or perhaps shear laziness, turned several areas of the festival site into stinking open-air urinals. What started as lovely areas to sit and relax became no-go zones for those with unsteady children, and we had to move further away from the site to find safe areas for her to toddle around.

By Sunday, we were refreshed and ready for more music. We missed the first act of the evening, but arrived in time for Cape Verdean Mayra Andrade's performance. And what a performance it was. Bare-footed and beautiful, with so much passion and emotion poured into her songs; I can't believe I've not seen her before. Andrade won 2008's BBC Radio 3 World Music Award for Best Newcomer, and if Sunday's show was anything to go on, she will likely win more awards in future.

Gladly, Sunday also saw many more families on site, and the festival felt less crowded than it had on previous evenings. Our little one decided that sleep, not running around, was for her tonight, and with her encased in her ear defenders, we took the opportunity to watch the final acts of the weekend. Ethiopia's Dub Colossus took the penultimate slot. I was glad to hear a different set to the previous times I've seen them, but I find their take on dub a little boring and somewhat lacking the energy seen from other performers.

Saving the best until last, Sunday evening, and the festival itself, was closed by Senegalese superstar, Cheikh Lo. Resplendent in colourful patchwork clothes and knee length dreads, Lo sung, drummed, played guitar, danced, and thoroughly entertained the crowd with his blend of Latin, Cuba and Senegalese sounds. A great close to the festival, and I was glad to catch him, after missing his performance at Charlton Park back in the summer.

So, did how does the smaller Womad Las Palmas compare with its UK parent? The Womad vibe was clearly there; with a friendly atmosphere, many families in attendance, and things to see and do apart from music. There were negatives though, but these would mainly of issue to only those with smaller children (very crowded at times, and hardly anywhere safe for children to have a run around).

We're going to stick to Womad UK in future, but if you fancy a weekend in the sun listening to some wonderful music, and have older or no children, then Womad Las Palmas is well worth a visit.

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