The poster says it all. A girl rising up amidst a crowd with her arms arched, obviously to the sound of music. And with just two words above ‘Hapoona Matata’ and a tag line ‘what a wonderful change’, a play on the words Hakuna Matata from Lion King which had a tagline ‘What a wonderful phrase’
This is the poster of the Supersonic Festival in Pune. Yes, you read that right, Pune, not Goa. Dates Feb10-12, 2017. And the tagline will haunt those who loved not just the festival but the festival in Goa – “What a wonderful change”.
Meanwhile Sunburn too is on the verge of pulling out, if it hasn’t already made up its mind. Its website still has the dates for Sunburn as December 27–30, but there’s no venue. Goa has been removed. Thus after a decade of Sunburn and three years of Supersonic, both the EDM events, which quite clearly put Goa on top of the electronic music map, will be held elsewhere.
Hakuna Matata roughly translated means no worries. But Goa will have to worry. Agreed there’s a lot that needed to be done to streamline the two festivals and to prevent them from being held at the same time and in close vicinity of each other. But their eventual pulling out, is a result of a failure to come to a middle ground where the festivals were held and Goa’s concerns were addressed.
The Goa government had taken a position that the EDM events needed to be held outside the December 15 to January 15 period to avoid uncontrollable pressure of tourists pummeling down on creaking infrastructure. The organisers of Sunburn held their ground saying that it was their festival and they would not budge from their dates. Supersonic, formed as an off shoot of Sunburn three years ago decided not just t move to Pune and announce ‘What a wonderful change’ but hold their festival in February.
So what really went wrong and how will this impact Goa’s image as a destination which welcomes and can host events like these on an annual basis. Will this affect the confidence of other international event organisers? Will this drive home a message that Goa may be a great place but it’s tough to do professional work?
The truth is that it is too early to know but a fall out of this is a given. Sunburn was listed by CCN as one of the top ten festivals of the world. The lakhs of EDM fans who arrived in Goa kept the tourism season from a free fall.
Likewise for Spersonic. Notwithstanding the intense rivalry between the two events, the spin off effect they had on stakeholders like hotel and guest house owners, shack owners, the taxi operators and the motorcycle pilots, was phenomenal. The short term impact of the pullout of both festivals (though Sunburn hasn’t quite made a firm decision yet) is clear. But it is the long term image hit that Goa will have which should be a bigger cause for worry.
One of the problems that the organizers of both festivals have had with the government is the acute delay in getting permissions each year. Even with the dates known a year ago, the organisers manage to squeeze out permissions barely hours before the first performer goes in stage. This isn’t conducive for any kind of partnership. Meanwhile, the Goa government has serious issues about dues piling up of the organisers who have allegedly not cleared their bills for security for two years. But honestly their side of the story hasn’t been heard.
Meanwhile, an area where the festival organisers have remained adamant is the venue (in the North Goa coastal belt) with one of the organisers, Sunburn rigid about the dates. This is where a greater flexibility could have been shown.
But the Goa’s government isn’t blameless here. For starters, it should have nothing to do with an electronic festival. If all rules are complied with, the permissions should be given and the organisers allowed to conduct their event, with no interference. If they cannot sort this out in a decade for one festival and in three years for another, then it is either a system malfunction or a system with malafide intentions. The government should have facilitated as well kept a hawk like eye on security and other concerns like the supposed consumption of drugs inside festival venues. And its role should have stopped there. All interactions with government should have been through one point with an efficient nodal officer reporting to government. In fact if the Prime Minister’s manta of more governance, less government was followed for these two EDMs, Goa would have still hosted them.
The impact will be felt later. And Goa will not be in a position to sing Hakuna Matata.
