BALI SPIRIT FESTIVAL

BALI SPIRIT FESTIVAL

Bali Spirit story

By Alison Bone

The second annual Bali Spirit festival kicked off on 28 April. The event was billed as a celebration of yoga, music and dance and the opening night ceremony featured a traditional Balinese blessing; African reggae; American folk music; Balinese dance and a fire dance show. It was just a small taste of things to come as 20 yogis and teachers, 75 performers and over 1000 festival goers from around the world gathered for 6 days in the beautiful grounds of the Purnati Arts Centre, near Ubud.

During the day workshops took place in billowing white marquees that sprawled across the expansive lawns. The hum of the rainforest and the sound of the flowing river provided the soundtrack while verdant tumbling rice paddies provided a scenic backdrop. The eclectic mix of workshops on offer included; Laughter yoga; Ecstatic dance; African drumming; Chakra purification; Holistic hip hop; Javanese movement meditation; Qi Gong; Didgeridoo workshops; Kundalini yoga; Mayan cosmology; and Sacred Middle Eastern music traditions. There was plenty of laughter, lots of blissed out smiley faces, and lots of talk of sharing and healing, but the event wasn’t nearly as “hippyish” as I had expected. In fact the participants were as an eclectic mix as the presenters themselves There were middle aged professional women from the US and Australia; European backpackers; grandfathers; Ex pats; Japanese and Koreans and a number of Indonesians – predominantly yoga students from Java.

There was very little separation between the participants and the presenters, Sibo Bangoura came to Kundalini yoga, Rocky Dawuni, was at the crystal healing workshop, movement teacher Sofia Thom joined the celebration of women yoga class. And as we, the participants practiced playing African rhythms, or learned to hip hop or danced like fairies in the ecstatic dance workshop, we became the performers. Program Director Daphne Tse said that the best part of the festival for her was the “melding of all disciplines, seeing everyone from first time yogis to master teachers so eager to learn from the others, to practice different disciplines. There is absolutely no ego. They are Bali Spirit”.

If the daily workshops were about learning, the nightly concerts were all about entertainment, cocktails and beer were served and we were treated to some really incredible performances. Saharadja, featuring Javanese Jazz trumpeter Rio Sadik and his Australian wife Sally Jo, a classically trained violinist, played their unique jazz fusion; Rocky Dawuni, also known as Africa’s Bob Marley had everyone swaying to his mix of reggae and African beats; Sibo Bangoura and In Rhythm saw the crowd bouncing to the booming percussion ? Sibo played his drum so hard the skin broke. Akim Funk Buddha and Funky Geisha mesmerized us with their funky hip hop moves; While Australian ensemble Ganga Giri provided the most unique and unforgettable musical experience of the festival with their blend of traditional Australian didgeridoo with tribal beats and dub.

As well as bringing global music to Indonesia, the event also showcased Indonesian dance and music, giving it an international platform. The culmination was the closing ceremony which saw a mix of the Indonesian and international performers crowded on to the stage jamming it out in a rousing finale, truly captured the spirit of the festival.

I meet one of the founders, Megan Pappenheim for lunch one day, we find shade under a palm tree and eat organic nasi campur served on a banana leaf plate, she tells me of her vision of creating a conscious lifestyle festival. “The festival is about collaboration, an exchange of ideas and an exchange of cultures, a vibrant uplifting event that creates a container for positive change”. It’s a festival but its not just about good times and we discuss the Bhinneka Initiative, the charitable arm of the festival, comprised of a variety of community based projects promoting holistic health and creative collaborations in music and dance. The musical outreach program featured Pre-festival concerts headlining Michael Franti, Rocky Dawuni and Tom Freund and raised over $20,000 for the Pelangi community school in Ubud. As part of the yoga outreach program free Pre natal yoga classes were held for local women. Also under the Bhinneka Umbrella came Hari Cinta Keluarga (family day) - the final day of the festival which was free for all and specially devoted to family with a range of family and child oriented workshops which saw a huge turnout of Balinese. Megan tells me that next year she is thinking of choosing an AIDS charity as the beneficiary of Bhinneka and is hoping to get a condom company to sponsor the festival.

Despite running big losses since its inception, Megan is more excited than ever about next year’s event. “Its not about the money, it’s about the message and the vision”.

Next years event takes place from 1 – 5 April 2010

BALI SPIRIT

Sibo Bagoura

Bali Spirit