Are you ready to Boom?

(GibChronicle/John Charles Culatto) One of the world's biggest alternative festivals will be held in Portugal at the end of August. The Boom festival, now in its eighth edition, plans to be the best yet, aiming once again to create a space where people from all over the world can live in an alternative space. The atmosphere created gives individuals the opportunity to express their individual experiences and creative thoughts not only through the universal medium of music, but also with other artforms, like sculpture, cinema and photography. It includes entertainment for all ages, with various stages, restaurants and stalls selling clothes from around the world. Inspired by travellers and free spirits, it has become a focal meeting place for those who want to inspire and be inspired no matter where they come from and what they do.>

This year the theme is water, and comes with a change of location to a flatter, more forested area of the Idanha-a-Nova lake where it is traditionally held close to Castelo Branco a few kilometres west of the Spanish border. This alternate venue will provide more shade from century-old trees, flatter ground for camping and better access for visitors.

Started in 1997, it runs every two years in the area, hoping to create a familiar atmosphere which draws parallels with other similar events around Europe like the Fusion and Ozora festivals, held in Germany and Hungary respectively. Attracting some of the world's top Djs in Psychadelic and Goa trance, it expects to draw over 25,000 people from the 18th to the 26th of August, peaking with the celebration of the full moon during this time.

This year's emphasis on water goes hand-in-hand with its eco-friendly and sustainable ethos, and the recyclable qualities of water are something the organisers want to highlight. In their website, (www.boomfestival.org) they show the importance of water in connection with many of the world's religions, from Christianity to Taoism, and its circular properties related to rebirth and everyday survival of all animal species. Water's role in global warming is highlighted, citing environmental author James Lovelock in his analysis of the dual threats of the melting of the glaciers and the expansion of water as it heats. He urges the world population, especially in the West to "weave the sound of the alarm clock into our dreams".

"We will need to respond more like the inhabitants of a city threatened by a flood. We have to stop pretending there is a way back to the comfortable and beautiful earth we left behind in the 20th Century," says Lovelock.

In the current drive by alternative communities to reduce the carbon footprint, Boom is also backing those who play their own part by cycling to the festival. In particular, it is supporting Global Wheeling Foundation, whose founder, Kayden Klehinhans, has spent the last seven years cycling across three continents and plans to cycle across South Africa planting over 2000 trees. He urges fellow attendees to take up the challenge and have a lot of adventures at the same time. Born in Africa, he took up cycling as a courier in London before deciding to make it a full-time thing. He hasn't looked back since and hopes to complete a world tour soon. Read up about his adventures at the Boom website, describing how it has restored his faith in humanity: "When the needy and less fortunate have a loaf of bread to share with you and they open their hearts and homes, [you realise] that true wealth is not something that you can carry or buy but rather an accumulation of memories born from real organic experiences with everyday people."

Boom is sure to give you many such memories and experiences. Check out the Boom website for more interesting features as well as details on how to get there and buy tickets, which are also available at the door.

It is sure to be an experience not to be forgotten and one which could drastically change your perspectives at just a few hours’ drive from Gibraltar.