WAKARUSA 2012 ‘Festival & You: Making the Connection’

Festival season is well under way, and the excitement of 55 short days until Wakarusa 2012 is almost too much for some of us to bear. We’re called by the mountain; we’re here for the music. Everyone comes to festival for a different reason: the tunes, the camping, the food, the clothes and costumes, the drugs… but one thing that is common to all of us, we come to festival to CONNECT.

Connection is simple, painless, and easy at festival. Why? Because festival has made it so! Imagine how much easier connection would be without the stresses of our everyday lives. You have no reason to connect to the lady pushing her cart at the supermarket, or the unhelpful teller at the bank, the bored kid at the coffeeshop, or even your boss. Now, let’s take away all those labels, all those places and the stigmas that go with them. Let us, just for a second, imagine what it would be like if you could put yourself in a place where you have a good deal in common with your Entire community. That you, and the people surrounding you were together for a common goal or purpose; a purpose that wasn’t work or groceries. Let’s say you were all together for the sole purpose of community, of connection. What could it be like with everyone’s energy focused toward that end?

Festival is that common place, a place where the energy you put forth in the world does not fall on bitter people, or dissipate in the air around you. Thousands of people are preparing themselves for this quest right now, as I type. Our mission is to create, for just a few days, a place for us to all be together and feel the joy of human connection; to feel what it is to be part of a collective that is shining, happy, carefree… just plain Free.

Festival challenges us to be part of something bigger. Wakarusa’s success depends on each of us bringing our positive energy.

If someone hasnt had the chance before, a festival is the best place to connect to new music because the driving energy of those that surround you compel you to get into it as well. It could be the lyrics, or the buildup of the song itself, or the showmanship and energy of the players themselves. It could be the sheer ease and enjoyment with which they play that makes you feel alive and part of the vibe being created. music. vibration. and all that vibration is travelling through you and through me and through the people next to us, and back up to the musicians on stage. It is So Beautiful. and WE are the biggest part of it. These people (the artists) would not bother with the effort if we didnt. So i do, and i am Never sorry!

It isnt easy to keep multiple thousands of people happy all the time, but I do think that Wakarusa tries their damnedest to get close! They believe that there is room for every kind of music at festival. I read a funny response to the facebook drop of Wakarusa’s line-up: ‘i don’t really care if Nickleback is on the line-up, that’s just one show i won’t be at.’ and, no, Nickleback did Not make the line-up, but the poster has a point. If Waka brings 20 bands i dont feel like watching, then that is more chance for me to see the remaining 80+ bands!!! (not to mention the workshops, yoga, art installations, and the ferris wheel…wha!) With five stages, multiple sets from various artists, and the inevitable all-festival jams that spontaneously breakout over 3+ miles of camp, there is plenty of music worth hearing, plenty to keep you connecting. Meet you on the mountain!

Wakarusa Official Page
Paste Interviews Brett Mosiman (head coordinator Wakarusa)
WAKARUSA 2012 Video Playlist
The Southern Journal for Jam talks Waka

The more you know, the more you grow.

The more you grow, the less you need.

The less you need, the more for all of us.