Dear Latin Village (or any other festival or music event) 2018…
Is there life beyond the touch screen?
Latin Village this year was awesome. As one of the biggest dance music events in The Netherlands and the world, it has a reputation to uphold, and it did – at least for my girlfriend and I: we had a blast. Only one thing kept throwing us off. And it’s exactly what you’d expect. How are we going to fix this?
First off: why Latin Village 2018 was still awesome
Have you ever climbed up on a grassy hill top, to look out over a valley crawling with dancing, happy people, and not known where to look first for all of the beautifully dressed stages, screens, and ladies; not known which way to walk down the hill for all of the chilling people hanging and relaxing on rocks or on hammocks, under parasols; for not knowing which awesome beat was pulling at your chest and your feet more?
Then you’ve never been to Latin Village.
Check out some of the footage here to have an idea of what the festival, held yearly near Amsterdam, is about (while we wait for this year’s official aftermovie):
Seriously. Shiny, beautiful happy people, of all colours, ages and creed – for real. Afro-house, Eclectic house, Latin dance; Salsa, Bachata, Merengue; Brazilectro, Favela Funk and good ol’ fashion Cape Verdean Kizomba and Zouk – you name it, it’s there. But my gosh, the venue – the color, the scene; the valley, the stages, the lineup, the entourage. And my gosh, the atmosphere.
If you’ve never been to Latin Village, and you one day have the chance – you really, really should.
Me and my girlfriend went for the first time since years and we had an absolute blast. Two things really stood out to us, between the music.
1. Cabo Verde represent
My people where there! And by that I mean they were representing. Not so much because they were there in such great numbers or carried their flag – all nationalities go; all of them united and many of them proudly waving the flag of their homeland.
Cape Verdeans were there, doing their thing, man. Not only were a lot of the bigger names on various stages Cape Verdean; not only did Cape Verdeans rally to said stages and dance their beautiful brown butts off – my girlfriend and I both noticed Cape Verdeans dancing all the time, at all stages (where the music was hype).
We especially enjoyed a couple of very beautiful Rotterdam Caboverdianas shaking their things and their pretty hair with a vigor, only to calmly and courteously wave ‘to the left, to the left’ any time the next contender would dare and dance a little bit too close to them. My girlfriend got so enchanted with this spectacle she walked up to two of the girls and started talking to them. ‘We’re just here to dance and have fun!’ One said. ‘And it’s hard, too – I’m single right now!’ Said the other.
But they were doing exactly what a dance music festival is made for – why you pay so dearly for an entry ticket; why you dress up and why everything – from the colours of the banners to the ice in your drink to the smiles on the faces of security workers are so perfectly arranged – for you to enjoy the atmosphere, and the music; and dance.
So what went wrong?
2. Smartphone people
And that’s the other thing that stood out. The single, simple question that kept coming up for us. Why, oh why do so many people stand in front of the stages or walk around between stages with internationally acclaimed artists performing on them, staring at a small touch screen?
Scroll up for a second. Look closely at the photograph and see how many shiny screens you can count at this one moment, in such a dark setting in such a large crowd; at the height of the event. Too many, right?
Well it’s nothing compared to what we were seeing when it was still daylight.
Why are you watching a set from your favorite dj or singer through your touch screen?!
And who are you texting or responding to on instagram that’s more important or relevant than being in the moment?
Questions that I personally have been asking for a very, very long time now;
How do we fix this, at least at music events?
This is a serious question I’m raising and I’d love to hear your thoughts.
It’s an important question, too, because the fact that this happens at a music festival like this makes me wonder two things:
- How serious is smartphone addiction getting, especially for younger generations like my own, if we can’t even look up from our screen and be in the moment at events like these?
- If there’s ever a place and a time to try and change something about this, maybe music festivals are exactly where you’d want to do that.
Dear Latin Village; dear any and all music festivals and events around the globe: let’s turn this around. Let’s help people enjoy what they came to enjoy more. I’d love to be at next year’s edition with my Life Beyond team with t-shirts that say something like:
And, I don’t know – photobomb kids taking 7 selfies in a row; handing out free merchandise for people who turn their smartphones in for pick-up when they leave the party.
Let’s do something about this, right?
I wonder what else we could do, or what could be an even better idea. Or maybe you’ll tell me I’m being an annoying old man, and people taking SnapChat selfie-viddys of themselves with bright smiles and hands in the air, only to revert to standing still in a circle looking down at their phones isn’t such a big deal.
I’d love to hear your thoughts. You tell me.
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