Picture yourself on a beautiful, sand island off the south-east coastline of Australia.
The weather is perfect, the beaches are pristine and the water temperature couldn’t be better. Gathered with you are a few thousand people from all ethnic, economic and cultural backgrounds who are all connected through their love of music, culture and community.
Island Vibe is a spectacular festival that gathers a community of people to celebrate indigenous Australia, island culture, environmental awareness and of course reggae music! Once a year in late October people gather on Minjerribah, also known as North Stradbroke Island, for a weekend of reggae, roots and dub.
The indigenous Quandamooka people kicked off the festival with their warm and welcoming opening ceremony on Friday afternoon. The festival quickly took off with energy and at 8pm the Brisbane-based Katia Demeester took the main stage. With an amazing group of musicians combining their talent tightly on stage, the audience got into the groove of their funky-world tunes. Katia invited Kazman from Dubmarine on stage, who as per usual exerted an enormous amount on energy into his performance and really complemented the piece.
Katia Demeester and Kazman
Friday night had a very relaxed feeling, which suited the island vibes. However, things took off by Saturday when the Brazilian samba group Som De Calcada had a midday set on the main stage. With the combination of Brazilian drums, didgeridoo, saxophone, guitar and bass they sure have an original sound. Despite the midday heat, they still gave a vibrant performance which got the crowd moving.
Som De Calcada Image © Emelia Ebejer
Island Vibe presented Cheshire, from Melbourne to come and share his tasty jazz-infused, soulful beats. Cheshire gathered an energetic crowd with his set at Bamboo Bass on Saturday night. The dancefloor was packed and resembled a bush doof which was a great juxtaposition to have within the festival.
Chesire Image © Emelia Ebejer
On Sunday afternoon a howling wind moved through the festival site as Archie Roach took the stage. The audience sat quietly in awe as Archie shared his life experience as an indigenous Australian through tale and through song. As he sang about his story as a boy from the stolen generation, a father stood to the side of the stage cradling his daughter with such intense love and compassion. A woman sat beneath the stage with tears running down her face with one hand positioned over her heart.
Archie Roach Image © White Moth Photography
The wind swept his beautiful song, story and wisdom through the festival site and through the hearts of the crowd.
By the evening the festival had a very intimate, family feeling, as everyone had spent the weekend together, blissing out on the island. Hugo & Treats played an epic conclusive set as Hugo freestyled about consciousness, community and anti-conformism. At the end of their set the crowd came in for a massive group hug, which perfectly concluded the festival and symbolically summed up the ideologies that make Island Vibe something special.
