A beginners guide to Shambala Festival
Grab your party pants and explore the magic that the diverse Shambala Festival has to offer in the heart of Northamptonshire on August 25th -28th! This year’s summer shenanigan at this adorable small quirky four-day event specialises with explosive variations of music, including, ‘rock, pop, folk and world music’…making it a lively occasion to sure not miss out on! You will have the pleasure of listening to the following acts, Guts – the French producer of hip-hop who will be performing from his ‘Django Ep Remix’ album, Jazz band- Gypsies of Bohemia featuring their notable covered tunes, The Eskies playing their debut album… ‘When The Sherry Went Round’, Young talented hip-hop artist- Benny Page, Monki the underground electronic songstress, blues and hip-hop star Scarecrow, Hot 8 Brass Band…who originated in New Orleans, the fab eight-man acoustic band…Ushti Baba, Mammal Hands who will be singing away to their great hit- ‘Hourglass’ and many more!
What’s on?
Enhance your creative mind with the likes of a range of art instalments located on the site! Become puzzled in the ‘Cabinet of strange reflections’ or go single file and join the spectacular ‘Voodoo Funeral March’. You can also get involved in the game ‘Teleconfusion’ where you will be challenged to find out which character you will be speaking to on the other side of the connection, or capture the ‘Son Camelon’ colourful and breath-taking mumma cameleon which will be found slithering through the woods, or come to peace with yourself and ‘nourish your body’ at the Permaculture Area’ workshop. There are many workshops occurring throughout ‘The field, another one, includes the ‘creativity circles workshop’ - if you are craving some sort of inspiration…then this is the one for you, with author of ‘The Upside Down Mountain’, Mags MacKean, speaking out a loud!
Fitness fanatics can stretch your way through the crowd in your best spandex gear to the ‘Power Ballad Yoga’ or ‘Drum and Bounce and Dub Stretch’ venue under an energetic rocking music rhythm! There is also a comic puppet show called, ‘The Smoking Puppet Cabaret’, featuring ‘music, laughter, poetry and drama’ and a more unique workshop of sipping on some fine tea whilst making your own sparkling inventive nipple tassels at the ‘Nipple Tassle Workshop’ which will be run by burlesque favourite, Tabitha Tease.
Get the groove and practice your moves in your best pair of heels at the ‘Stiletto Disco’ or find the festivals fab DJ’s at the ‘Alfresco Disco’! If you would rather learn some dance moves from the professionals, then hop on down to the ‘Impermanence Dance’ venue – where you will find a cabaret of theatrical experts showing off their skills which attracted a wide audience last year…so I wonder what they have in store for us this year! More importantly, a momentum to certainly not miss out on is the dance off in memory of the legend, Prince, following his recent death, there will be a ‘dance off to end all dance offs’ to praise the icons spectacular talent. There will also be another tribute to another recently deceased eccentric star, David Bowie, with the likes of spiritual ballet classes.
Learn something new and take an interest in a range of talks from professional writers, poets and so on! A list of influential people will be present during the event so you can digest what is called, ‘brain food’. Popular food guru, Geoff DeVito, will be talking about the benefits of plant eating and changing to the vegan realm in his ‘Normalise it!’ speech and there will be also be a speech on ‘Food makes Friends. Cuisine cultivates culture’ by ‘international award-winning author, speaker, campaigner and expert on the environmental and social impacts of food waste’, Tristram Stuart, and ‘architect, artist, founder and director of the award-winning art/architecture practice atmos, Alex Haw. Alex also runs the community, ‘Latitudinal Cuisine’, which encourages people to share global meals and meet new people...instructing them on their experiences.
Food & Drink
For all you fish lovers there will be the pleasure of, ‘Bristol Fish City’ and the founder of the project, Alice-Marie Archer. The project was launched in 2011 and based as a ‘community-supported aquaponics farm’…in other words fish and plants put together in a structured ecosystem, ‘to convert fish waste to plant nutrients’. The festival itself promotes urbanisation, so why not pop on down to the ‘Growing Underground Farm’ also referred to as ‘putting the urban into farming’… here you can relish into some healthy fresh salads.
Something not so ordinary introduces, ‘BeChipper’, which is a protein feast of crunchy crickets…yes CRICKETS at the festivals own ‘Insect Café’! Can you take the challenge? If that doesn’t tickle your fancy then try something more diverse by tucking into a delicious Indian curry at the ‘Devi’s Indian Streetfood: Conscious Eating, Plant Power & Food Sustainability’ and listen to a lesson all about ‘Ayurveda’ and ‘plant-based diets’ or visit ‘Mamaby: Changing the world one bite at a time’ and tease your buds with a succulent range of healthy Indian snacks- if that’s not all…every penny you spend goes towards providing care for pregnant women in Indian slums.
Polish that all down and grasp a bottle and make the most of ‘The Milking Parlour’ and hear what ‘Political Ecologist and Performance Artist, Nessie Reid’, has to say about the ‘global dairy industry’.
Tickets
Why don’t you volunteer at the event? This experience will promote your CV, skills, you will have the advantage of making new friends and be given free access to the music! Oxfam has teamed up with the festival organisers since 2010 and offer bar job roles. You will be making a huge difference by ‘lifting lives around the world’. You can apply now on their website for a stewarding job here! Make sure you keep up to date with what will be going on at the Shambala Festival via social media, as more activities will be added in the run up to the event. Otherwise, make sure you join the party this August and buy your tickets on: https://www.theticketsellers.c o.uk/buy_tickets_old/events/?i d=10038584&wlid=279;6
By Stephanie Smith