Now in its fourth year, The Air Festival has established itself as one of the foremost gatherings of visionaries, musicians, artists and dancers in the region.
Musically, you can expect all sorts of organic grooves from house to soul and everything in between. Fans of deep, spine tingling house music will love the fact New York’s Fred P from Soul People Music is playing, while Tuskagee and Crosstown Rebels artist Bas Ibellini will bring plenty of fresh tech house. Rampa will deal in warm, progressive and melodic house and more. Ata, DJ and founder of renowned club Robert Johnson whos labels include Playhouse, Klang, Ongaku also billed to play. More names include Mimi Love, KMLN, Peak & Swift, Jonathan Kusuma, Esther Silex, Dave Dinger, Walker Barnard, Tiago Oudman, Sylvie Forêt, Dr. Kessler, Ricardo Who, Archie, Trigan Young, Dr. Yez, Kai, Kusaki recently so expect more of the same from him, with much more covered from Studio Barnhus put out a fantastically cuddly album of charming house on Art Alfie will keep you dancing for days. Sweden’s Boris Werner and loopy tech house man Kelinemusik and Innervisions with his releases on labels like
Founded by a group of friends in 2015, Air Festival started out as an intimate event. The original team comprised of Walker Barnard, Sylvie Forêt, Tiago Oudman, Kelly Ariella and Alexander Bonkas — all of them rooted in underground dance music, who started the party with a “letʼs just do this and see what happens” kind of attitude.
With their commitment to leaving the beautiful island of Gili Air better than before, the folks behind Air Festival offer support to the local community in ways of waste removal and reduction, plus renovations at their local school. They will also be challenging themselves to go completely plastic free. Above all, expect to have the best time with more intention, love and light on the dance floor under the stars.
Apart from holding space for the more epic dance floor moments with DJs from around the world, 2017 saw the introduction of the Awan Stage – the festival’s living heart where the sacred fire burns, the cacao flows, and super-inspiring live musicians and slow DJs share their songs and organic earth vibes. The Air Stage and the Awan are complimentary zones where festival goers can move from peak time party to relaxed and grounded gathering and back again all within the same container.
The Air festival measures its success not only in ticket sales and dance floor eargasms but also in terms of how lightly we tread. As in 2017, they are virtually plastic free and as always they leave the beautiful Gili Air cleaner than it was before the festival started. Grab your tickets here.
