The event of a total solar eclipse is frequent, however depending on where you live on the planet, you may only witness one a few times in a lifetime. Combine that event with a music festival and the odds of experiencing both simultaneously become even slimmer.
Organisers behind the Rainbow Serpent Festival (Australia,) Symbiosis Gathering (USA), Glade Festival and Mother (Japan) have combined forces to enable festival goers, music fans and eclipse chasers to be thrilled at the experience of witnessing the celestial wonder of a total solar eclipse in an awesome festival atmosphere focusing primarily on music and art.
The international and local lineup are a diverse mix of dub, roots, electronica and gypsy-esque sounds including international acts such as masters of dub, N.Z's Fat Freddy's Drop , the live electro-gypsy group Beat's Antique all the way from the USA, along with the UK's Iration Steppas, Prince Fatty, Mugo's HIFI, and Johnny Clarke.
The Earth stage (one of 5 stages) will also play host to some of Australia's favourite dub and roots influenced bands including OKA, Bobby Alu, Kingfisha, The Bird, Ganga Giri, and Mista Savona.
The appropriately named Moon Stage will present US based Eskmo and Vibesquad with their signature phat beats alongside the rich layerings of Atlanta based Richard Devine and the fibrous oscillations of Austin based producer/composer Govinda, joined by the terrestrial Shamanic pulse of Kaminanda.
The real kicker for me with this festival is that at this point in time, the location details are pretty sketchy, apparently the festival site is within 3 hours north of Cairns. A map will be released closer to the seven day event, but the idea of not really knowing where you are going is some cause for excitement...isn't it?
I can tell you that the location was carefully chosen not only for its position along the centre line of totality (the geographic area from which the eclipse can be seen in Oz) but also for the consistently good weather and the probability of clear skies in mid November. There are also plenty of comfortable places to camp, lots of shelter giving trees and a large natural swimming hole that will serve as a delicious way to combat the tropical conditions for which far north QLD is famous.
The Eclipse Festival will run from November 10-16, 2012. The total solar eclipse is due on the morning of the 14th, just so you know. The full lineup is massive and you will need to click here to check out what is going on at any of the 5 stages over the course of the festival.
This ain't rock & roll but might be a grand opportunity to act rock & roll if you get my meaning....
Tickets are on sale now through Greentix: www.eclipse2012.com/eclipse2012_festival_tickets
For the full event information, music line-up and travel packages head to: www.eclipse2012.com
