Ummm….THIS IS HUGE! The First Belize Electronic Music Festival in Placencia

For someone who considered herself plugged in to popular culture (I read my Kindle US Weekly religiously each week), I am surprisingly NOT.   I can’t really blame it on the fact that I’ve been in Belize for 8 years…it’s really just my age.   Sigh…

So when I saw the information on the Belize Electronic Music Festival in Placencia this coming weekend, it didn’t really strike me as all that important.  Here is the facebook page.

But then the organizers of the event contacted me…and offered me a ticket and I started talking to some people here in San Pedro about it.  And apparently today’s music is ALL about ELECTRONIC music.  It’s not some fringe movement.  It’s a big freaking deal.

According to some articles that I have been reading, if you are between 15 and 25, electronic music is your rock n roll.

Festivals like Burning Man in the US (2014 attendees: 66,000 in the Nevada Desert), Tomorrowland in Belgium (2014 attendees:  400,000) and Electronic Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas (attendees 2014:  400,000) are all about Electronic Music.

Huge.  And interesting.  And more and more exciting to me.  DJs coming in from around the world.  Ibiza, London, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico and more…

And a few nights at the Belize Ocean Club – the venue and what looks like a gorgeous spot?  I’m in!  But I had a few questions for the organizers first – Anna Perigo and her husband Marcus who both founded Belize’s first electronic label Sisimito Records.

And it went a little something like this:

ME:    1. Belizeans LOVE music and love to dance but for here – this is SO new.   What gave you the guts to try this in Belize?   Was it hard to convince artists to come on down?

Anna:  We used to both individually be promoters in the UK and USA before moving to Belize. Marcus is now getting back into music production and we have set up Sisimito Records. Belizeans love drums and partying, so we always thought it would be well received if given a chance, there are very few places in the world that do not have this type of music, so why not. We are promoting this music to Belizeans, and promoting Belize to the electronic music community. The Sisimito is an old Belizean folklore tale. It was really easy to get artists to come, everyone is very excited to be part of something new and super excited to share their love for electronic music.

2. You are coordinating events at BOC…is it a place that wants to host events like this often? What’s the vibe of the place?

BOC will be hosting a variety of cultural events as we have this very unique space – the shore house! we have already hosted 450 people for the Mistletoe Ball and 8 central american heads of state and delegates for the SICA summit. The vibe depends on the event created!

3. Who are you expecting to attend? Belizeans of course…but are people travelling?

I have sold weekend passes to Belizeans but there are also a lot of people traveling down having been to BPM festivals in Mexico. People are coming from USA, Puerto Rico, UK, Mexico, Honduras, etc.

4. If someone (like me) knew very little about electronic music…who would you recommend they listen to…something to ease us oldies into it?

There are a lot of different genres of electronic music, an “oldie” might enjoy our deep chill pool party as an introduction to the music.  (Sunday’s event)

5. Can you give me a “sneak peek” at what might be going on over the weekend? Bonfires? Glow sticks? I’m getting excited. Thanks!

We will transform the BOC Shore house to a club with lights & visuals by Belize Filmworks (also filming the whole project), firedancing with Fyah Gal.

Oh…and worried that this takes place over Super Bowl Weekend?  Don’t be.  You can have you Electronic Music and your football too.

The Belize Ocean Club Party will go from 9 to 4 in the morning, Friday. Then we are doing an after party at Tipsy Tuna, starting at 3 and going until midnight, Saturday. The Sunday Pool party has really chilled beats and is a nice place to recover.  After the pool party BOC will show the Super Bowl on big screens.

I’ll be there.  And reporting back.

And for ALL information and ticket information, check out the Facebook page.  See you there 🙂