Waking Life

What an incredible festival. The scale and attention to detail was unparalleled. Lighting impeccable. And music was too good everywhere. Reflecting on the experience is still rather dreamy and surreal. All in all 11/10.

It was hot, like 40 degrees kind of hot. And the walk from the campsite to the lake - where all the stages were was fairly long. Each day involved packing a backpack (the fast pack came in clutch) and heading out for most of the day, a campsite visit for night time clothes was optional as it never really dropped below 25 degrees even well into the night.

I came into the festival pretty sick - which turned out to be quite well aligned to the way that I wished to approach it. The first few days were very chilled: daytime adventures, swimming, ambient music and visiting the workshops followed by an early night.

The stages were incredible, all with their own vibe - yet impossible to really pin down a specific genre assigned to a stage (except for Praia, which was dubbed the “British stage”). You could drift from area to area, being called over the lake by beautiful sounds.

Apon arrival you were given a comprehensive booklet with everything that you needed to know. The phrase “capatalistic techno” was coined when referring to the anxious feeling of needing to see all the incredible acts playing simultaneously, an impossible feat. Waking Life become Walking Life for those daring to check all their favorite DJs off their lists.

My favorite - and the producer that introduced me to the festival was Leafar Legov. Who opened the Outra Lado stage. He started ambient and minimal, with only a hundred or so people sitting down. His hands shaking, eyes fixed to the laptop. Then drifting off into some of his classic songs the mood continued to lift until over a thousand people were raving in the Portugues heat. A beautiful experience.

Later that day - around sunset - when my sick body was starting to crash, Cait and I stumbled upon an open mic tent where a Palestinian duo on guitar and violin were playing. We sat down and were truly moved: political commentary mixed with soulful local songs. He spoke of an organization that he had setup in Gaza to allow people to make music to express their lives - most people were in tears.

Nighttime was a light show. Words don’t really do justice to the sight of sitting on the banks of the lake, looking across. A tasteful color palette of light ringed the water’s edge. Ebbing and flowing to the music. All paths were well lit, in creative ways. Small details that went such a long way.

Food was exceptional. You loaded “Klingaling” onto a wrist band to pay for everything. 1 Klingaling = 1 Euro, which after a few days lost its meaning and suddenly 12 Klingaling for a delicious Tagine felt like a bargain. Saving the wallet involved some amazing picnics that we carried around with us all day.

Trash? None of it. A 1 Klingaling cup deposit meant that finding a cup on the floor was the equivalent of a R20 note - so it was a rarity. Bins were great and the dancefloors were spotless.

Compost toilets worked perfectly. A much better experience to the Boland toilet hire potties that we were used to.

We met Rouge - a Polish person who sat in an armchair next to us by the water. She asked which Altra shoes to buy and we spoke about everything under the sun. It was Saturday and midsummer’s eve. She invited us to her creative camp to make crowns. The sun was setting and we wove plants that we picked into crowns to celebrate the longest day of the year.

I had managed to give Cait my sickness - but she bounced back in half the time it took me (aided by a big sleeping day by the water). The whole crew assembled and sent it through the night (made easier seeing that it was the shortest night of the year). Chaos and fun. GigiFM destroyed a 9 hour set which saw us into first light and we watched the sun rise from a deck. A special day.

There’s so much more to write about here - hopefully I’ll come back to it in time.