BANGKOK POST - SEPT 2005 (le passage intéressant est en rouge tout en bas...)
"On Koh Samui on a sweltering afternoon, a handful of workers are pumping thick
brown water out of huge holes that will eventually anchor tonnes of scaffolding
and a state-of-the-art lighting system. The stage is nowhere in sight and
there's an ongoing discussion about whether or not they'll be able to mount the
elaborate fireworks show that was planned.
To the unambitious eye, this may seem more like a typically slow-going
construction project than the site of a large concert whose start date is
rapidly approaching. But Alan Sadd, director of the Koh Samui Music Festival,
is determined to stage an event unlike any in the region, and seems to have no
problem seeing the big picture or rolling over roadblocks.
Sitting in the open-air blues bar he opened almost two years ago _ "Because," he
deadpans, "I wanted to open a blues bar," _ Sadd is talking about last year's
Samui Blues Festival, a much smaller affair that was scheduled to begin on
December 28, and whose fate was thrown into question two days before it was set
to open.
"We had the tsunami, which was a disaster. We were of two minds: should we
proceed with the festival given the tragedy or should we call it off. We
decided that the best thing we could do was to go forward and raise money for
charity," the British-born Sadd says.
The event was by most accounts a success, in spite of the grim overtone, and
both festival-goers and musicians came away from the event with a good feeling.
This year, Sadd decided to drop "Blues" from the festival's name, invite
musicians from a wider range of genres, and create a venue that can accommodate
6,000 people a day. While blues still figures prominently in the lineup _
there's a tribute to the legendary bluesman John Lee Hooker featuring his
daughter Zakiya _ reggae, rock and jazz are all represented.
Alan Sadd says he'd like to make the festival an annual event.
"We've realised we don't want to get categorised," Sadd explains. "We want to
bring in different music from different parts of the world and let people enjoy
it, so that's what we've done. We're not just rock, we're not just blues, we're
not just jazz _ we can do anything."
The list of headliners speaks for itself: UB40, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Wailers,
Jools Holland, Ike Turner, the Preservation Hall Dixieland Band and Modern Dog
are all scheduled to perform over 10 days beginning September 23.
To assemble this eclectic lineup, Sadd decided to hit the west coast of the US,
specifically the San Francisco Bay Area. Roughly 40 years earlier this had been
the spot where you could find the Grateful Dead jamming on their porch, Beat
poet Allen Ginsberg chanting in Golden Gate Park and swarms of kids "expanding
their minds" with a galaxy of strange and nefarious new ingestibles. And while
the hipster scene may have faded away long ago, Sadd has enlisted two holdouts
from the Haight to rock Samui _ Big Brother and the Holding Company and Canned
Heat, a band featured at Woodstock in 1969.
Was it hard to entice these acts to travel to the other side of the world to
play on a small tropical island?
"To be honest, one or two groups we asked were a little bit nervous because of
the tsunami and everything else, but the guys that are coming out we haven't
had a problem with," Sadd says. "In fact, UB40 are staying over a week _
they're coming on vacation."
Some of the musicians taking the stage in Samui will have far less distance to
cover, notably Fong Naam, the Soi Dog Blues Band, Cannonball and FLOW, who will
be joined onstage by two members of the Grateful Dead.
Maintaining a balance between international acts and homegrown talent is an
important element of the festival, and Sadd says he's proud to be able to bring
the Thai bands together.
"We live in Thailand, we're very privileged to live here and it's very important
that we have Thai involvement," Sadd says. "It's quite unique that we've managed
to get all these Thai bands on the same bill _ it's some lineup. I don't think
they've ever played together before."
But the music festival, despite its rather straightforward name, isn't all about
music. To keep the kids happy they'll be shadow puppets, the renowned French
balloonists Les Plasticiens Volants and Thai mannequin theatre courtesy of Joe
Louis's hoon lakhon lek.
Lighting designer Derek Watson, the man at the helm of 15 tonnes of lighting and
projection equipment, envisions a surrealistic good time. "We'll have helium
inflatables of giant fish, multi-headed beasties, crab-headed walkabout jobbies
and all sorts of nonsense going on."
One performer that may just help cement a carnival atmosphere is Junkie
Brewster, a French songstress brandishing a ukulele and one of the more bizarre
biographical entries you're likely to come across _ apparently, she's been
"doing the wild wild rockabody machine since March 2004."
Sadd admits that he's intrigued by this act more than any other. "I really want
to see Junkie, she's something different," he says and laughs. "I've got a
feeling that she could actually steal the show. Apparently, she hypnotised 800
people in 22 seconds, but I don't think it's meant literally."
Whether or not Junkie delivers, Sadd is already avidly brainstorming the next
music festival he'll unleash on the island, although for the moment he's
understandably preoccupied with this year's extravaganza. Sadd says he would like to make the festival into an ongoing annual event, but
given the inevitable headaches, red tape and the potential loss of cash, why
bother?
"I can't play an instrument. I can't do anything really except listen to the
music, and it's as simple as that: I enjoy the music." And for the thousands of
other concert-deprived music lovers who'll join Sadd on Samui, it's a good thing
he does.
The Koh Samui Music Festival runs from September 23 until October 2 at the CoCo
Blues Bar and the Main Stage at Chaweng Lake. Tickets, which range in price
from 1,200 baht per day on the weekends to 22,000 baht for a VIP 10-day pass,
are available at www.thaiticketmaster.com. For more information, please visit
www.kohsamuimusicfestival.com.