World music band hire in Australia: the complete guide

This category name tells you almost nothing, and pretending otherwise would waste your time. It is a filing label that covers Balkan brass, West African drumming, Middle Eastern oud and percussion, Indian classical, Cuban son, Pacific Islander groups and a dozen other traditions that share no instruments, no repertoire and no audience. Two acts sitting next to each other in this list can have nothing in common at all.

So the single most useful thing you can do is name what you actually want before you start reading. Prices from the listed acts appear below, but they will not mean much until you know whether you are comparing a five-piece drumming ensemble with a three-piece string group. Melbourne carries most of the depth here, with Sydney next.

If you have a specific culture in mind, whether that is because of family, a national day, a themed event or a menu you are matching, say it in your first sentence when you enquire. Musicians who play a particular tradition would far rather you asked for it directly than sent a general request they have to interpret, and the ones who cannot help will usually point you at somebody who can.

If you do not have a tradition in mind and you just want something that sounds different from a covers band, say that instead. It is a completely legitimate brief and it opens up the whole category. What does not work is a request that says world music and nothing else, because the act has no way of knowing whether you want quiet strings over dinner or twelve drummers in the car park.

Very few acts in this category publish a figure, which is honest of them. The work varies too much. A duo playing dinner music and a full percussion ensemble leading a procession are different jobs with different headcounts, and a number that covered both would be meaningless. The live figures below come from the acts that do publish, so read them as a sample rather than a market rate.

Expect to enquire rather than shop from a list here. Give the act your date, your room, your guest numbers and the tradition you are after, and you will get a real quote back quickly. A vague enquiry gets a vague answer, which is most of why people find this category hard to price.

A lot of this work is not a set on a stage. Groups get booked to lead guests into a room, to play during a specific ritual or a welcome, to accompany a procession from a car to a door, or to sit quietly in a corner of a courtyard for two hours while people eat. Each of those needs different numbers, different volume and a different conversation about timing.

Be specific about the moment. If the music has to start exactly when a door opens, or stop exactly when a speech begins, tell them that at enquiry rather than on the day. Acts who do ceremonial work regularly build their whole plan around those cues and are very good at hitting them, but only if they know.

If you are booking music from a culture that is not yours, for an event that is not connected to it, the sensible move is to say so plainly to the musicians and ask them what they think. Most will be delighted to play and will have thoughts on what suits the occasion. Some will suggest a different repertoire from the one you had in mind, and their judgement is better than yours here.

The same goes for anything you are planning around the music, whether that is costume, decoration or a theme on the invitation. Ask the act. They have been in that conversation many times and will tell you straight what lands well and what makes people wince.

Which tradition do you play, and how strictly? How many musicians, and can the group get smaller? Do you need power and amplification, or do the instruments carry on their own? Can you play while moving? And is there footage of this group rather than a related project the players also appear in?

The footage question matters more here than in most categories, because many of these musicians play in several ensembles and a video can easily be a different combination of people. Ask for something that shows the group you are actually booking.