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EDM ignites Bali at Dreamfields Festival
Rave: The crowd of predominantly young Jakartans was entranced by the spectacle, singing along and waving their hands in synch with the DJs
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Rave: The crowd of predominantly young Jakartans was entranced by the spectacle, singing along and waving their hands in synch with the DJs. (Lawrence Lilley )" border="0" height="341" width="512">Rave: The crowd of predominantly young Jakartans was entranced by the spectacle, singing along and waving their hands in synch with the DJs. (Lawrence Lilley )Over 10,000 people flocked to Dreamfields Festival at Garuda Wisnu Kencana (GWK) in Bali to witness performances from international DJs of electronic dance music (EDM) on Aug. 16.
The picturesque grounds of the 240-hectare tourist park were transformed into an arena of festivities, with beats reverberating through the limestone canyons.
Three stages in different areas offered lineups of local and international DJs from sunset until early morning.
The crowd of predominantly young Jakartans was entranced by the spectacle, singing along and waving their hands in synch with the DJs like rave marionettes.
The festival juxtaposed modern EDM culture with traditional elements; legong dancers on stage swirled to the saw-toothed melodies and Balinese fire jugglers shared the spotlight with cabaret stilt walkers.
The towering gazes of statues of characters from the Ramayana were illuminated at turns by the glow of the night sky, fireworks and dazzling lasers.
One of the DJs playing on the Garuda main stage was Will Sparks, whose Melbourne-bounce style and social media presence have made him a worldwide touring act at just 21-year-old.
After leaving school, he spent two years making tracks in his bedroom and struggling to build a following.
âIâve done a lot of work DJing. I used to play like five times a night in Melbourne. Twenty, 25 gigs a week. And it just got to a stage where people were starting to buy tickets and really wanted to see me,â Sparks said backstage.
His standout set featured an impromptu collaboration with Timmy Trumpet, who improvised over Sparksâ pulsing remix of âAnimalsâ by Martin Garrix.
âDance music is hard. Itâs rage. Itâs lose your mind. Itâs just absolute chaos, and you forget about all your problems. People have frustration that needs to be released and we get it out with music,â Sparks said of the sound of dance music this year.
The first EDM festival of its kind in Bali, Dreamfields was the result of a partnership between Indonesian and Dutch organizers, who ensured an excellent sound system and thoughtfully maintained supply of free water.
The growth of EDM culture was evident in various commercial forms; from official festival apparel, ticket scalpers lurking near the park entrance to hawkers selling diffraction glasses, glow sticks and wristbands.
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span class="caption">Rave: The crowd of predominantly young Jakartans was entranced by the spectacle, singing along and waving their hands in synch with the DJs. (Lawrence Lilley )
Over 10,000 people flocked to Dreamfields Festival at Garuda Wisnu Kencana (GWK) in Bali to witness performances from international DJs of electronic dance music (EDM) on Aug. 16.
The picturesque grounds of the 240-hectare tourist park were transformed into an arena of festivities, with beats reverberating through the limestone canyons.
Three stages in different areas offered lineups of local and international DJs from sunset until early morning.
The crowd of predominantly young Jakartans was entranced by the spectacle, singing along and waving their hands in synch with the DJs like rave marionettes.
The festival juxtaposed modern EDM culture with traditional elements; legong dancers on stage swirled to the saw-toothed melodies and Balinese fire jugglers shared the spotlight with cabaret stilt walkers.
The towering gazes of statues of characters from the Ramayana were illuminated at turns by the glow of the night sky, fireworks and dazzling lasers.
One of the DJs playing on the Garuda main stage was Will Sparks, whose Melbourne-bounce style and social media presence have made him a worldwide touring act at just 21-year-old.
After leaving school, he spent two years making tracks in his bedroom and struggling to build a following.
'I've done a lot of work DJing. I used to play like five times a night in Melbourne. Twenty, 25 gigs a week. And it just got to a stage where people were starting to buy tickets and really wanted to see me,' Sparks said backstage.
His standout set featured an impromptu collaboration with Timmy Trumpet, who improvised over Sparks' pulsing remix of 'Animals' by Martin Garrix.
'Dance music is hard. It's rage. It's lose your mind. It's just absolute chaos, and you forget about all your problems. People have frustration that needs to be released and we get it out with music,' Sparks said of the sound of dance music this year.
The first EDM festival of its kind in Bali, Dreamfields was the result of a partnership between Indonesian and Dutch organizers, who ensured an excellent sound system and thoughtfully maintained supply of free water.
The growth of EDM culture was evident in various commercial forms; from official festival apparel, ticket scalpers lurking near the park entrance to hawkers selling diffraction glasses, glow sticks and wristbands.
Showtime: The towering gazes of statues of characters from the Ramayana were illuminated at turns by the glow of the night sky, fireworks and dazzling lasers. (Lawrence Lilley)
Conceptualized in Holland, Dreamfields follows the recent global escalation of the EDM scene, involving the spread of festivals dedicated to hosting exclusively electronic acts, such as Electric Daisy Carnival and Tomorrowland.
The latter was started in 2005 but has become one of the biggest music events in the world, with all 360,000 tickets for its 2014 event sold within an hour.
That Saturday night in Bali, other headlining DJs included Dash Berlin ' currently rated No. 10 in the world by DJ Mag; and Sidney Samson, who had the most original and eclectic set of the night.
Samson included sounds outside of the EDM genre, including many hip hop songs and surprising left-field selections such as Toto's 1980s hit 'Africa'.
At midnight, legendary Indonesian singer Anggun C. Sasmi emerged to perform the official Dreamfields anthem 'Right Place Right Time' with 19-year-old DJ Indyana. Closing the main stage was Turkish DJ Ummet Ozcan, whose touring schedule will take him to the UK, Austria, the Netherlands, the United States, and Canada, all before the end of this month.
His song 'The Code' with W&W was highly influential in the hard sound of current EDM.
On the benefits of knowing about sound design and synthesis, he said that: 'If you know how sound works and how you can manipulate it, you can create really original tracks. Everyone just tweaks synthesiser presets but if you make everything from scratch, you can have really unique sounds and your own signature.'
' Photos by Lawrence Lilley
