FreioMusic

TMRW.TDay ~ The Vibe

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Photo (above) by Corey Hamilton

Culture Festival in Jamaica | TMRW.TDAY | Beachside Music Venue (Photo Description: Stage facing towards the land and the photo is taken looking straight at the stage towards the ocean horizon | Seven Mile Beach | Photo Credit: Michael Morahan
TMRW.TDAY | Negril, Jamaica | Photo Credit: Michael Morahan

TMRW.TDAY is a unique gathering of mindful reggae lovers. The cultural fest has a touch of house, a toe-pinch of white sand beach, a mouthful of flavorful fruits, a breeze filled with tropic scents, and island lifestyle for the retreat of a lifetime, and plenty of reggae to sooth your soul.

As an American who had never been to Jamaica before, it took a few days to reset my urgent internal clock, from a rapid walk to a soulful stride, more closely matching the graceful rhythm of the waves.

With early morning 8am, (yes this was ‘crack of the dawn early’ or the coffee shop is still closed early), Meditation the day started with a gentle stretch of the body and mind.  The venue was a 5-minute walk from where I stayed, so just an easy stroll on the beach and I was on “festival grounds”.  The meditation on the beach was enhanced with some live instrumentation for stress elevation.

Irie Soul's Stacy leading a yoga/meditation class ~ Savasana ~ Photo by Corey Hamilton
Irie Soul’s Stacy leading a yoga/meditation class ~ Savasana ~ Photo by Corey Hamilton

The Irie Soul Beach Wellness Program has a plentiful schedule of meditation (starting at 8am) and various yoga classes throughout the day. Clear-minded people flow off the mat and into the mingling area. Friendships created from the chance occurrences at Chances on the Beach.

With fruit drinks, a full bar and some local food, everyone is well nourished and in a good mood.

The pace of ‘island time’ is a phenomenon not unique to Jamaica.

The tides map the hours of most businesses and the music fills the void.

The event schedules tended to begin at least 30 minutes late, which made it easy to be early.

The live headlining acts command control of the 11pm-2am time frame.

Fun Fact:

The newly enacted Jamaican law requires a permit to host events at night and promoters must obey the Noise Abatement Act. “… permission is given to have an event up to 12 midnight during the week and 2:00 a.m. on weekends…  These laws are to protect the patrons that are coming to your events. Organizers must take into consideration the safety and security of the patrons. We (JCF) want the patrons to be safe,” – Head of the JCF’s Corporate Communications Unit (CCU), Superintendent Stephanie Lindsay (Jamaican Government).

 

Naturally, music pushes the limits.

 

Photo Credit: Russell Ward
Main Stage TMRW.TDAY | Negril, Jamaica | Protoje | Photo Credit: Russell Ward

 

Tmrw.Tday is run on island time and is designed for relaxation. With built in “just chill mon” times from 9am-4pm followed by a drum circle session from 4pm-7pm, one is never rushed.  Plenty of time for livin, chillin, and being. A dive into the tropical jungle. A dip into the calm ocean.  A soak on the white-sand beach.

Photo of the sunset over the ocean with a small motor boat silhouetted in the foreground.
Photo by Michael Morahan

The pace of the island is ⅔’s time, a slow wandering stroll’s beat.

The energy of the island comes from the sun during the day and from the people at night.

Looking back on the festival…

Tmrw.Tday was simple yet diverse. Easy to navigate yet spread out.  The variety of venues and attendees made the whole thing a pleasant experience.  We are excited for what the future of this Culture Festival has in the works.  First-year festivals are by definition an experiment, a new test and there are many unknowns to be worked out along the way.  With the first year

Don’t worry, we covered the music from Tmrw.Tday as well!  Music from Jamaica and Tmrw.Tday Festival 

 

 

 

 

Impressions from the Jamaican Culture:

Photo of street market in Negril, Jamaica. Colorful bags and clothes hanging on walls.
Photo by Michael Morahan

[quote] A morning went a little something like this:

I stroll to the beachside restaurant.  Get out my pen, notebook, & order:

“A Jamrock omelet, coffee & water, please”

“Ya mon”

“Thank you”

The rain yields for the time being to a cloudy haze that blends the ocean’s horizon into the sky.

The temperature is ripe.

The humidity is lively.

The pulse of the island is coming into light.

From the crickets of the night to the dancing paintings and carvings on the wall, music runs through them all.

The soulful melodies spill forth, almost involuntarily, from the locals.

Is everyone a natural vocalist?

[/quote]

The small businesses thrive in Jamaica and the markets are vibrant with people and goods. One person employment can be seen from the seven-mile beach.

One beach hustler’s day

Mad Rebel Recording Studio with two musicians out front of the ocean-front recording studio| Negril, Jamaica | Photo Credit: Michael Morahan
Mad Rebel Recording Studio | Negril, Jamaica | Photo Credit: Michael Morahan

A man carries coconuts, straws, and a hatchet. “Coconuts…” he says, as he walks along the beach trying to make eye contact with any and all tourists. He takes 5-7 steps.  “Coconuts…”  he repeats, as he is now 1o-15 feet further down the beach. He knows the limitation of his voice’s range and he is competing, after all, with other people and the ocean.  Again 5-7 steps.  Finally, “Coconut Mon….” for the last 1/3 of his vocal cadence.  The three-part vocal loop seems to serve as advertising, a pace setter, a marching beat, and reassurance that he is actually getting somewhere on the 7-mile beach.  If you are sitting on the beach you will probably hear the loop twice as he passes. What is that rule 7 for advertising again?  Oh ya, that people buy after they hear about your product several times.  When business is good, a quick walk inland and a new harvest can be acquired. When the sun gets low the day is done.

Each step is one closer to a new sale.  “Co-conut”… “Coco-nut”… “Coconut Mon”…

“There are around 500 beach hustlers” – Paul (beach hustler)

There is an ever-changing flow of people, tourists, and travelers who soak up the island tropical sun.

Friendly entrepreneurs selling a story with their product or service. Friendly people so jolly that a word is worth it.

The smooth trotting pink-hatted horse riding salesman, slowly making his moves. Everyone is hustling their products and services

A Yoga class stretching on the beach. Photo by Corey Hamilton with a man in a pick hat leading a horse in the background by the edge of the ocean.
Yoga Stretch | Photo by Corey Hamilton 

Later that day, the pink-hatted beach horse salesman scored a lady tourist for the ride of a life. He washes the young rider with vocal melodies and song.  With gentle guidance and a quick step, the man leads the lady and horse along the water’s edge. (The legend himself can be seen in background of the picture – see left)  
Creativity in approach, service, products & storytelling is on full display. Rude guests foil high hopes.

Clearly, the Jamaican culture benefits from tourism, festivals, the cross-cultural exchange of ideas.  Jamaica continues to attract creative minded people to the lush jungles and white sand beaches, to enjoy a brief visit to paradise.

 

 

 

 

 

We covered the music from Tmrw.Tday as well! Read and take a listen here: Music from Jamaica and Tmrw.Tday Festival 

 

 

Sonic Bloom 2016

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    Sonic Bloom 2016 has a stacked lineup producing incredible performances too numerous to describe here.  It is safe to say, “SonicBloom has become one of the best electronic music festivals in North America!”  It is worth noting the international talent attracted to the base of the Colorado Rockies to share their vision, talent and art.  To see the full lineup click here.  

     The mindfulness and vision to attract the top talent from across the globe, must be recognized and commended.  The three official stages vibrated with historic house music. This festival is the nexus of the Colorado electronic music scene.  The location is perched atop a beautiful space of land with the foothills of the Rockies to the west and windmill filled fields that go on to meet the eastern horizon.  The festival has succeeded at curating a fertile ground for the world-wide cutting edge of musical maneuvering. 

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      The sound systems are tuned to the valley and can bump through the entire festival grounds.  The security is appropriately staffed and energetically aligned.  The friendly faces can be found throughout the campgrounds, stages, in swinging hammocks, in high fiveing security guards, or the dancing chefs who happily serve nourishing food at reasonable prices.  The ice, in high demand in the hot sun is the only noticeably overpriced product at $1/lb.  The showers run at full capacity as people line up for their chance to clean off that layer of accumulated dust and dirt that is kicked up from all of the movement.  The sunny and beautiful weather also brings with it the dryness enabling the dirt to turn to dust.   The wind is welcome and the stream is an oasis for people looking to take a dip and cool off. 

Photo by M.Morahan © Freio Music 2016
Photo by M.Morahan © Freio Music 2016

     The unofficial or ‘renegade’ stages include tipis and camp sites stacked with speakers and subs.  The colorful crowd and the apex of art have arrived to create an immersive experience that people are willing to dedicate four days to.  Some of the crowd has traveled from across the continent to enjoy the this dreamed up reality. 

      This festival has become a small close nit group of people who are looking out for one another to form a utopic village for just under a week.  The production continues after the last set as everything needs to return to its original order; stages must come down, lasers, lights, projectors, sound & lighting boards, 1,000’s of yards of electric wiring, speakers, microphones, instruments, and framework to name a few.  The thankless work of setting up all of the stages and hauling in the gear was executed with time to spare and enough technology to entertain even the most avid of festival goers. 

      People in their ‘A-Game’ costumes come energetically into the festival entrance in groups.  Everyone has made 10+ new friends and friendly neighbors.   The exchange of ideas, paints, music and visual art permeate the mind of every attendee.  One cannot help but be inspired by something of unique beauty.   

Day in the Life; at Sonic Bloom:

Winds whip down the hills and across the plains. Dust moves in a hurried Eastwood direction. Every walk of electronic culture strolls through the grounds interacting with experiences, sonic vibrations and frequencies across the perceptible spectrum. Cars have been rolling in for over 12 hours at a steady pace filling up the campgrounds. The lucky and wise are nestled among the 6′ shrubbery whose neighbors are bushes and trees. My neighbors on the other hand-made the pilgrimage to SonicBloom from Louisiana. A tightly packed vehicle of four young energetic and enthusiastic beautiful artistic human beings.  As a group, it does not seem possible to gather so many like-minded humans in a place to enjoy and thrive in a collaborative environment.

Friendly staff greet the goers. The hippy chicks and the electric glowers.

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      From the lighting to the sound, from the stages to the camp ground, there are smiles to go around. With the hammocks from Yammocks, and the beats from the peeps the festi is full of fun-loving music geeks.

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      Three stages of stacked sets featuring some of the top electronic acts from around the world.  American electronic music lovers treat this event as an annual pilgrimage to discover and reunite with the music, people and source of creative energy that is the foundation of a festival.  Creativity flows from the ornately decorated stages and sublimely composed tracks that suddenly take hold of the listeners and create a simultaneous bodily expression of enjoyment including but not limited to twerking, spinning, jumping, dropping, exploding or floating.

         The breeze kicked up into a howl for Nightmares on Wax’s last song featuring one of the most recognizable guitar riffs around.  The high energy Bonobo set was filled with masterfully woven bass lines pulsing through the night.  The crowd can be heard cheering for miles. 

Photo by M.Morahan
Photo by M.Morahan

      The late night stages rage like there is no finality to human diurnality. The artists continue to stoke the flaming crowd into the next adventure and from one set to the next. The solitude of night embraced with the warmth of bass and faces.With the evolution of the performances, the pulse of the festival was amplified and magnified by the exemplified beat technique. The audible entertainment abruptly ended, with a slow retreating high pass filter that faded out for 15 min or more notifying the audience that the silent disco was starting. With headphones on, the party rolls on…

The nexus of Colorado electronic music counter-culture is here; at Sonic Bloom, on the beautiful property at Humming Bird Ranch.