Mia Escobud's Tales of the Underground.
A South East Asian tropical island - white sand beaches, palm covered jungle, turquoise waters - a jewel in the Orient, where a sub-hippy culture came to party under the Full Moon over 30yrs ago.
A fusion of cultures and musical influences continues to simmer in this vibrant melting pot 3 decades later, growing now into what is, in 2013, one of the most progressive dance scenes on this planet.
This is our home; this is our island: this is Koh Phangan.
* It's Thursday night and all us local Koh Phanganers are down in the heart of Haad Rin at the Kawee Coffee Shop, nestled in a side Soi two streets back from the Full Moon beach, for their intimate Secret Garden Party held once every two weeks.
Tonight the theme is 'French Kiss'
Philippe the owner treating us to a line up of visiting and local French/Belgique DJs, some of whom we know, some completely new to our interested ears.
We turn up to find high season has arrived - normally the dancefloor is just heating up around 11.30-12, but tonight the coffee shop has been full since 9.30pm and the dancefloor is already packed, with arms in the air to the sounds of KRP.
As we survey the crowd from the outskirts of the open air cafe we find a mixture of faces old and new gracing the scene!
'Old' as in the old skool long-termers who have been residing on these shores for the past 10-20yrs.
'New' as in the new funky faces who have been livening up the parties for a season or two; then there are the returning visitors completely at ease in this 30-something scene, and a few wide-eyed 20yr old tourists, watching the locals in awe as we unashamedly strut our stuff and move our body to the beats.
Us Koh Phanganers - forever young at heart! - will show them how to do it!
I laugh to myself as I watch a group of 20yr olds embrace the wild abandon for themselves, allowing their bodies to groove to the music and finding their own individual expressionism on the dancefloor. I guess that's what this island does to you!
| 'Old' as in the old skool long-termers who have been residing on these shores for the past 10-20yrs. | 'New' as in the new funky faces who have been livening up the parties for a couple of seasons |
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| The Returning visitors completely at ease in this 30-something scene | The wide-eyed 20yr old tourists | Us Koh Phanganers - forever young at heart! - the ones who will show them how to do it! |
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The last DJ of the evening takes to the decks at midnight, all the way from the Paris Underground scene, DJ Ecarat - now this will be interesting - French Carnival Techno!
Recognisable tech beats that we all know how to dance to, juxtaposed with the most surprising of breakdowns - a moment of classic French jazz or Latino fiesta - before banging back into thumping techno.
Back to the break and feeling like you're in a French pavement cafe waiting for Edith Piaf to break into song, before - bang! bang! bang! -knowing that really you are immersed in the Paris Underground. Fascinating, different … and very FRENCH!!!
Philippe is beaming -
his vision of a beautiful party space in the middle of Haad Rin has come to full fruition!
A tropical Garden of Eden decorated with class and style, to pleasure all our aesthetic senses.
It is a hit with all of us Secret Gardeners instantly, locals and newcomers alike - we are all growing a fond love of the Secret Garden party.
Merci bien, Philippe!
| Previous blogs by Mia Escobud | |
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French Kiss at the Secret Garden |
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Loi Lay A Musical Journey |
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Jungle Experience with Marco Loco |
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