Folk Ibiza 2010
It was one of those strange twists of fate that I should 'get into' Ibiza just as others were losing hope. 2010 was a year of personal flux. Upping sticks from East London to Brockley (and back) constituted a real shock to the system although the Horse & Groom public house near Liverpool Street continued to be a vibrant cultural nexus for all that weird, wonderful and unaffordable music. With social media at an embryonic stage, I was still spending a lot of time on forums and exotic blogs Donna Slut, Simon Spacerock, Lovefingers, Cool In The Pool.....
Through these I discovered endless articles about music which at the time was being given away for free as mp3s, which seemed almost custom-designed for semi-permanent residency on my Ipod Shuffle. Through these channels I also happened across someone called Justin who ran a bar in Manchester called Folk Cafe and who I learned was staging a festival in Ibiza called FOLK IBIZA. I was becoming increasingly jaded with dance music at the time and this felt like a very different kettle of fish to all the garishly advertised events on the island.
All these years later I'm not sure I've ever been to a festival quite like it. The experience taught me a lot, not least to beware promoters sending photocopied treasure maps, safety pins and bits of torn cloth by second class post and promising parties on phantom pirate ships. In spite of that - or perhaps because of it? - I retain fond memories of the holiday. The week was punctuated by chaos, tension, fallouts, missed ferries and low level farce but I would do it all again. I discovered endless music I was unaware existed from Lucio Battisti to Letta Mbulu and met a community of people who have remained firm friends to this day. Of course 2010 wasn't my first visit to Ibiza (I was there in 1987!) but it was the first that gave me a real glimpse into what all the fuss was about.
Below I’ve attached excerpts from The Guiri (2013) which described that trip in full inglorious detail...
