This august bank holiday was spent at one of my favourite festivals..
Shamabala started life in 1999 as a free party for 150 or so people, and through no advertising or promotion has grown into one of the best dates on the calendar.
Here’s the about -
“Shambala began in 1999, with 150 people in a field with a farmers trailor for a stage and a porter loo. Having hijacked a sound system from a students union, we revelled for a weekend with good music, cream teees and general sillyness. Such a good time was had that the next year a few more folk came, and each year since people have got involved or wanted to come!
Shambala is a wild, creative, low-profile, green and family friendly festival. In a world of “boutique events”, shambala has quietly cultivated a down-to-earth mix of creativity, the unexpected, warm atmosphere, and quality entertainment. we offer plenty of stuff to get involved with - cinema’s; stacks of workshops (dance, spritual, craft, loads of kids activities, circus performance, talks, sauna, cafes, massive site art, a lovely crowd and alot of suprises!
The festival is completely independant from advertising and sponsorship! Having never promoted it, Shambala has grown through word of mouth.
The festival attracts people of all ages and ilks, and has a beautifully warm and open atmosphere. You can relax or go loco…
We are a responsible event: Recycling almost all waste, investing in compost loos, using solar, wind & biodiesel, and carefully selecting traders and suppliers. For more on this see links at bottom.
Who are we… we are essentially a group of friends who have grown over the years. We love creating the festival, with it’s connections, creativity, warmth, challenges and suprises. We all have other jobs for income, but devote what time we can to the event. It’s not a money-spinner, or an ego booster; perhaps an obsession though!
2 musical highlights for me were Mama Matrix (sporting masks by Dramask)
and the Freefall Collective
I dont think i’ll ever forget it!
”
In the 3 16 hour days, most of these are getting someway to being fairly rounded, and i’m now going to couple a meeting about Mr Elephant with drinks and food in the pub with Pyn, (after being inspired by the hundreds of records i got through yesterday), before djing at 
These last two days and today i have been working pretty soldily til 5/6am on the breaks and dubby track, with the occasional blast on the guitar and vox. I’m getting very excited, and having two massive performances to be writing for, is exciting with in itself, and also very useful, as it allows the music to fit with the narrative and location.
Just before i stopped for the day at midnight to spend some time with my girlfriend, i thought i’d make a start on putting the Hero’s Journey set together, opening with my downtempo track, aptly entitled “The Call to Adventure”….. In the words of Boogie Dave, all i can really say at this stage is …”OH MY GOD!!!!”. It far exceeded my expectations, and the narrative and diversity is just seeming to fall into place. Its turning into a very film like experience, and i can see it being most worthy of press coverage. You must excuse my excitable tone, but after 12 years of working on this, to actually have music i have written encapsulated in a set of this proportions is an exciting prospect in itself.. Having the opportunity to perform it in the 2 best venues in Birmingham, with all those talented people, one of which is where it all began for me…Well you can imagine 
A couple of hours later i was chatting to him again at the Project X meeting, and tickets, sponsorship, and a brief look at the various areas, and possible participants were discussed. I’m a little tired to ellaborate on it all now, so more news soon.
) 
I was therefore pleased to find that there were some music workshops from 3-5pm, from the providers of my new deal for musicians course - Armstrong Learning, who were having their annual general meeting there. However after 45 minutes of listening to some guy from stoke who was on a musical mission with his band, i realised at 4.50 that there wasn’t going to be any workshops, and that it had probably been suggested by the person who had just left, due to their current ofsted inspection! Funny how workshops come out when the word ofsted gets mentioned. …….I think we’ve got a one “workshop” now booked for the day of my last N.D.F.M review! Ah well their phone calls are useful.
