The festival season is upon us and in full swing and like salt sticks to skin after a swim, summer music sticks to the balmy air in many different exotic enclaves at this time of year. Between the months of June and October, there are seemingly countless festivals that are filling the wavelengths of our existence with music, art, and live performances. Find your summer of peace, love, creativity, uninhabited movement, healing, exploration, and self-expression! There are all different types of festivals taking place in all different corners of the earth for all different types of seekers, movers, and shakers. Sure, the typical stand outs like Burning Man and Calvi on the Rocks are amazing, but here’s our list of a few alternative and under the radar festivals also on our hot list!
Meadows in the Mountain is a music and art festival that is nestled in the exceptionally beautiful Rhodope Mountains in Bulgaria. The exact location is, “where the land touches the sky and the sun cuddles nature.” Legend has it that this mountain range is the home of the mythological singer, poet, and prophet, Orpheus. Orpheus possesses the special adroitness of enchanting all living things with his music. What better way to spend a long weekend in June than with likeminded souls, open hearts, art installations, eclectic musical performances, and mind expanding workshops?
Aside from traditional camping (you can rent tents, mattresses, and sleeping bags, if you need to), there is also an option to reside in one of the local village houses where you will have a unique opportunity to become immersed in and part of Bulgarian mountain culture. At the end of the festival, there is an opportunity to keep going one more day at the Orpheus pool party. You can purchase a ticket, which will include transportation to the hotel, one night’s stay, access to a Jacuzzi and pool, some of the best DJ’s from the festival, and breakfast the next morning. If you are looking for a great escape, this is it.
Electric Forest Festival is where childhood fantasies and kaleidoscopic dreams come to life in the leaves of the trees, through the call of jams and electronic music, within interactive art installations, and out of the finger tips of happy dancing weekend hippies. Deep in an Alice in Wonderland-esque forest in Michigan, this is a magical place where you are free to playfully indulge your senses. The forest is alive with colors, lights, and jubilee. The attention to detail that went into the creation of this festival is art in and of itself. This will be an exploratory and nostalgic experience where you get to let your inner child run wild.
Boom Festival takes place every two years on the border of Spain and Portugal. “Boom is not only a festival, it is a state of mind. Inspired by the principles of oneness, peace, creativity, sustainability, alternative culture, active participation, evolution, and love. It is a space where people from all over the world converge to experience an alternative reality.”
Music isn’t the only form of expression and interaction at this festival. There is quite a large art and performance component, which includes street theater, jugglers, fire dancers, film screenings, and sculptures. The idea is to inspire out-of-the-box thinking and a connection with one’s self as you are connected to world and all whom reside on this beautiful planet. There is no shortage of workshops, mind, body and soul fulfilling activities, like yoga, mediations, and other holistic teachings.
The Boom Festival has also been awarded the Outstanding Greener Festival Award for its last three festivals, the European Festival Award, and the Greener Festival Award for Green Innovations. This production serves as an important role model as to how we can reduce our carbon footprint and respect nature, while congregating in a celebratory spirit.
Highline Meeting is an international gathering of thrill seekers and slackline enthusiasts that is located in the picturesque Italian Alps. Professional and novice slackliners, nature lovers, and adventure seekers travel from all over the world to congregate over 7,000 feet up in the sky on Monte Piana for a week of slacklining, yoga workshops, outdoor film screenings, food tastings, live music, paragliding, and embracing nature. The beauty of this gathering is that there is no real program or schedule; everything is based around weather conditions and the collective spirit of the day. This is a rare opportunity to spend a week practically suspended above the earth with an eclectic group of individuals. It is a creative, healing, adrenaline pumping, environmentally friendly, and incredibly affordable experience of a lifetime.
Rocking the Daisies is a festival that incorporates music, art, film and comedy into a four-day extravaganza in the wine country of South Africa. With over 180 live performances; there is no shortage of music to groove to! This will be your summer of peace and love experience. It is a festival that attracts all different walks of life from different parts of the world. However, you can expect to meet friends that will become more like family. Get lost in the lush allure of this environment, while getting happily lost in the psychedelic music and ambiance of this hippie fest.
Last but certainly not least, Restival. Near and dear to my heart (as I was at the first Restival in the Sahara Desert in Morocco last November), Restival is the brain child of entrepreneur Caroline Jones. This unique festival is “The lovechild of a retreat and festival”. It is the ultimate opportunity to disconnect from technology and take a journey of self discovery and relaxation. The next Restival is happening in the gorgeous state of Arizona here in the U.S. this September 8th-13th and 16th-21st in the desert on sacred Navajo grounds. In the evenings you’ll have the experience of sleeping under the stars in tipis and eating deliciously locally grown food as a tribe, at one large round table. Your days will be filled with fun activities such as yoga, meditation, gong baths, wellness treatments, workshops, art, a Navajo inspired clothing collection and a pop-up shop filled with authentic clothing and Navajo crafts.
Festivals offer a unique opportunity to bring like hearted people together in an open-minded environment. They are celebratory in nature and bursting with creative energy. It is a place where ideas, cultures, and art can be shared and exchanged. The linear feel of time changes its form and disappears on the breath of music as festivalgoers dance long in the nights where the only responsibility is to be free. The innately, but oftentimes hidden, peaceful and accepting nature of humans comes out. Festivals are often long weekends where one’s perspective on life can be altered in the most positive way. They offer a special insight into how easy it would be if everyone was just able to live in harmony.
