Waking Life, Portugal’s most secretive electronic music festival

Waking Life is a five days arts and music festival, hidden away in the dry lands of Crato, Portugal. Mythical and secretive, this 24-hours day and night non-stop rave came to life with a first and successful edition in 2017. Set around a lake with enough sunshine, mystery and shade, the quiet location makes this intimate electronic music festival unique.

My own exploration with creative writing and electronic music started exactly one year ago with the first edition of Waking Life. It is the very first story I ever wrote: Waking Life - Chapter 1 - The Birth of a new Community. No wonder I feel the call today to dedicate a page on Itinari about the festival that gave me the final push and confidence to explore my own creative journey.

The Making

Waking Life is a safe haven once imagined by infamous Belgian music collective Roots of Minimal, and their on-going music label Moodfamily. Waking Life is a 5-day arts and music festival which came to life with a first successful edition in 2017, and has been confirmed to take place every year for the next five to ten years.

The festival collaborates with Giegling, one of the most prominent, creative and innovative music collectives out there! Think Vril, Konstantin, Kettenkarussel, Atecq,... and their equivalents in Live visuals, stage production and lighting. The collective's multi-disciplinary talents are impressive. Giegling also has very dedicated followers, willing to travel over distant lands and deep oceans to attend any special and secretive Giegling party. If only there was a space shuttle to Planet Giegling... I would be on board too.

The Family

Keeping a festival small, intimate and familiar is key to give dancers a memorable experience. It allows new connections to be made and for dancers as much as the artists and the crew to feel at home right away. I have attended many (many) raves, festivals and club nights, but the settings of Waking Life are just unique: the festival is limited to 2,000 people and set in the most exotic country of Western Europe, Portugal(https://www.livetheworld.com/post/- and on-going music label Moodfamily-, ). It also curates a selective and refined line-up combined with a sense of freedom and community.

The Feeling

© Original texts by Isabel Elwood at stillekraft.

The Music

Waking Life and Giegling are fine selectors, trend-setters and explorers. They are known for scouting artists and spotting talents early on. The seemingly newcomers are the A-listers of tomorrow. For the more in-depth music specialists, the line-up of Waking Life is pure quality straight from festival heaven.

With three stages playing non-stop music for five days, there is room for DJs to explore extended sets and for LIVE performers to touch hidden realities. There is something for everyone at all times of day and night, and for every mood and every feel. The music genres are on the electronic-music spectrum, including soft ambient beats, experimental hybrid sets, Romanian micro-house, hypnotic techno, deep house and anything between, beyond, harder and darker.

Name dropping of last year's edition and the next: Nthng, Ben UFO, Konstantin, Vril, Rhadoo, Luigi Tozzi, Sebastian Mullaert, Stimming, Robag Wruhme, Izabel, Cio d'Or, Rrose, Leafer Legov & so much more.

© All pictures by Isabel Elwood via stillekraft.