On Friday afternoon (12 February) I boarded the big orange ‘Bongo Bus’ headed to Earth Frequency Festival: where civilisation fades into the rear-view mirror and is replaced by the dreaming of a free spirited and loving community of people from all over Australia and the world.
We pulled in at night time at the camp ground at Ivory's Rock (our destination for the weekend). After setting up camp under a crystal-clear night, we got some food in our bellies and set out to see what kind of adventure the grand living organism of Earth Frequency could offer.
Image © Emelia EbejerIt turned out to be the best kind of adventure. There was a constant throb of bassline in the air wherever you walked, only changing in kind depending on where you were standing. It was like the heartbeat of the festival, or some strange ancient creature hidden in the trees keeping everyone fed with momentum and zeal.
There were brilliant and colourful characters from all walks of life swarming all over the place. There were young people, there were middle-aged people, there were babies in prams, there were oldies on canes, there were dreadlocks, there were bald folks, there was hippie attire, there was trendy attire.
Image © Emelia EbejerThere were people high up on stilts dressed as god knows what, there were guys in dresses, girls with crew cuts, there were brothers and sisters from every culture with wide eyes and broad smiles and everybody was keen to meet everybody as this thriving hive of diversity came together to unify with their kin in dance and mutual illumination of the mind.
I took the first night pretty easy, checking out all of the stages. There was the Sanctuary, The Earth Pod, The Subterranean and the main stage. They all had different vibes and played different styles of music. In the centre of the wonky diamond these four stages marked was the market, arts and workshop space.
Image © Emelia EbejerThere were three tents for workshops: the mind node, the body node and the soul node. Near this was the arts tent, the walls were covered in intricate, symmetrical, otherworldly paintings, and just outside its entrance artists would do live work day and night. I stood watching all this in awe for an hour or so and then packed it in around midnight, keen to tackle Saturday with all my energy restored.
Saturday morning had my body shaking and sweating. It was 8am and I was over at the Earthpod under the seething sun with about a hundred other people doing bass-bliss yoga under the guidance of Emerald Adams. A delightful sprite of a lady with blond dreadlocks, a big smile and a friendly, encouraging tone.
Image © Emelia EbejerThat’s the thing about Earth Frequency: it’s not just about the music and the dancing and the wildness, (although it is still at the heart of the festival) there's also a big focus on healing. The workshops are infinitely varied but they all grow from a similar seed: seeking different ways to help us reintegrate our connection to ourselves, our species, our earth and our universe. To restore a clarity that our western world has a knack for turning into static.
I went and received a neck/ back massage, then settled into the body node smelling of eucalyptus oil and practiced some Taoist Qi Jong. A kind of exercise, martial art and philosophy rolled into one.
I stuck around there for another ten minutes and ended up on my back squished in with around 60 others as the shamanic Peter Bowden banged his deep, trancing, medicine drum and guided us through our journey to find our spirit animal then called us all to let it out in its full uninhibited song: some weird and wonderful noises come sailing out of that ecstatic pile of humans. We must have been there at least an hour, chanting and humming in harmony.
Image © Emelia EbejerEarth Frequency really is a place of learning too. There were workshops on alchemy, Ayurveda, permaculture, the nature of consciousness, how to live sustainably, ecstatic dance, indigenous storytelling, poetry, art, meditation sessions, empowering of the sacred feminine and the sacred masculine. Everything aimed at releasing the creative spirit from whatever suppression it may have and allowing it to basically do its thing here on our blue sphere.
Now, onto the music. Earth Frequency channelled its noise in different styles throughout its four outlets. For this was a place for sonic healing as well, the kind of healing that comes from sheer fun. There was psytrance, dubstep, drum & bass, reggae, roots, electric swing, glitch hop: there was an entire forest of music oozing with a million different flavours and textures.
Image © Emelia EbejerFor me it kicked off and peaked on the Saturday. After being charged up by the workshops, I headed to the main stage to see the opening ceremony where Tenzin Choegyal soothed the crowd with sweet Tibetan tunes to usher in the welcoming performance of the traditional custodians of the land, the Jagara people.
Bodies were painted white and in front of the stage kids performed the ancestral dance while a man on stage played didgeridoo and the others sung in the Jagara language. It was beautiful and there was a vibe of deep reverence for the indigenous people of Australia from everyone at the festival the whole time.
From there the night and its wildness accelerated. It was OKA, Blue King Brown, The Funk Hunters & Chali 2na and Opiuo all playing in succession and in doing so, they succeeded in blowing our minds.
OKA - Image © Emelia EbejerOKA with their groovy blend of soulful didgeridoo, reggae and dub flowed into Blue King Brown’s empowering force of tight roots and reggae that was led by Natalie Pa’apa’a’s defiant spirit of love.
Her sharp lyrics called for us all to rise up out of the haze and fight to free the world from oppression and flood it instead with love. It was my favourite act of the festival and it electrified the crowd and had them grooving like mad while holding their fists high in the air.
Blue King Brown - Image © Emelia EbejerThen it was The Funk Hunter’s and Chali 2na bouncing the mass of limbs with their sexy rhythms as Chali 2na’s conscious raps inspired every head prepping them to get loose for Opiuo, the final act for the night. He brought the multiplex of high-energy madness that everyone needed.
People by this point were in their element, busting some of the strangest moves you can imagine, playing with imaginary balls of energy as Opiuo provided the glitch hop constructed from samples of sounds I won’t even pretend I can put my finger on. But it was awesome.
Image © Emelia EbejerSunday night brought just as much talent, madness and energy as people travelled like currents from stage to stage, stomping their feet to the intense tunes or kicking back in the sanctuary of tepees listening to slow, drifty trance, stopping every now and again to sit down and absorb some wisdom from the Nodes.
Image © Emelia EbejerEven the kids had their own space where family movies were played and creative workshops were held: there was something open and wholesome about that.
One of my favourite moments of the weekend was when walking through the market on my last night (Sunday) on the way back to camp. I stumbled upon a group of guys and ladies who had brought bongos, guitars, a melodica and an accordion and were playing sweet gypsy music into the night air right in the middle of the market while people began to gather around, howl, dance and play. It was still going when I walked away about an hour later. To me it said a lot for the spirit of the festival.
Image © Emelia EbejerYes it was a weekend-long event and when it ended some would have to go back to ‘reality’ and its demands. But some would be going back to the reality they were actively creating.
Image © Emelia EbejerThat was the great aspect about Earth Frequency: a public exhibition and open celebration of the changes and growth transpiring in the heart of humankind: weaving, working, making, loving and trying to reconnect us all to the source of life that ignites everything we see around us.
