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A Ray of Hope in CROATIA

After a tragic death of one of our most influential people the scene in Croatia has almost disappeared. But the tradition of our annual Underwater Overground festival is still going strong. There aren’t many parties you can hope for but there is something which you won’t find in many places today, a really underground squat atmosphere. So if you’re looking for something different you’ve come to the right place!

Right around this time a year ago a great tragedy happened in Croatia. We lost one of the scene's most influential people. The main organizer of our only festival Domagoj Šeks (DJ Kobayagi) was killed in Goa under suspicious circumstances and ever since things haven't been going really well. Although we all stood together and made the 3rd Underwater Overground festival as a tribute to him we still felt that the scene would go down after it and we were right. His amazing personality was the glue that kept all of us together and his enthusiasm and energy broke all borders of Croatian bureaucracy which has always made problems for organizers of cultural events. To make matters worse the only underground club Attack that had regular trance parties in Zagreb was closed down by the sanitation department. However hope still remains. As it usually goes when one big thing crumbles, smaller ones appear and so we have seen some parties held in other smaller towns in Croatia, like Osijek and Knin for example, where a bunch of younger people got their own space for trance parties. Naturaly there are much more things for them to learn but since most of the people in Zagreb do not have the necessary nerves and time to push on I do feel that the new generation will take over soon. Also a notable mention needs to go to DJ Tomislav who has managed to have a trance radio show for more than 10 years on a small college station and also make a couple of private trance parties in the mountains above Zagreb.

Most of the people on the scene aren’t well informed about the music and so it’s quite frustrating to organize an event with only local artists and make a lot of money then bring a good name from abroad and lose all of it. It’s also ironic that the techno and house scenes here have been really big since the start and trance has always remained deep in the underground. But then again I know a lot of people who would love to have it as we do. Even though it might seem that there is not much going on here our biggest hope is still alive. The 4th Underwater Overground festival is confirmed and although many of you would think that this just one of those many festivals out there you have to consider that this is all we have. The difference between most other festivals I’ve been to and our own would be the fact that we don’t just find an empty spot and build everything from the ground up but rather try and breathe new energy into places that have been deserted. So we’ve had a history of squatting for 3 years now in an abandoned camp, a children’s hotel and last year a military base. Naturally there are a couple of smaller parties held on the coast during summer with local DJs and we have festivals that focus more on workshops and presentations rather than music.

Drug Policies

If you are interested in drugs just talk to people about it however possession of any drug is illegal and so is driving under any influence of alcohol. There is no allowed minimum of alcohol or drugs in your blood while driving.

Artists

Parrket, Shuma, Mokk

DJ’s

Ganesh, Hip, Njax, Avex, Sekkt, Nesho, Alen, Twisted Twins, Kick, Tomislav, Dovla, Val Vashar, Pipal, 3TT, Richma, Om Kudjo, Tu em, Funky, Compressor, N20 and several more starting.

Shuma
Shuma Is a Zagreb based project of Davor Tosovic (25) and Emir Cehaic (27). The project was formed 5 years ago, and since then they played at every major trance event in Croatia; Underwater Overground festivals, Media Mediterranea festival and many others, making them the live act with the most appearances on the Croatian trance scene. They also played on big techno open air events like Exotica 2003 with techno names like Ade Fenton, Inigo Kenedy, Takaaki Itoh e.t.c. After their first releases they started to play gigs more and more in foreign countries, so till now they played in Cyprus, Germany, Austria, Czech rep., Slovenia, and Romania.

Facts

Small population of about 4 million people with the trance scene being no bigger then a couple of hundred. A beautiful coastline with many small islands and beaches

Pretty much everyone understands English or German and the country is very tourist friendly.

There are is only one shop in Zagreb where you can find trance music called Planet Music (Ilica 37) and also Superheroes Shop (Preradoviceva 34) that deals with juggling equipment, backdrops, kites, clothing and tons of more stuff.