Pure Transcendence at Boom Festival

Unlike the mainstream genres of dance music, psytrance distinguished itself by creating its own scene that lives up to its hippie origins in Goa, perhaps best exemplified by the slew of sustainable festivals popular around the world. One such event is Boom Festival, a biennial event held in Idanha-a-Nova, Portugal.

A photo posted by Boom Festival Official (@boomfestivalofficial) on May 17, 2016 at 2:27am PDT

The festival is now in its 20^th year, continuing its focus on providing a self-sustainable arts and culture gathering that draws on the transformational power of electronic music. Musically, it started out as a psytrance concert (still on the main stage of Dance Temple), but has since branched out with four other stages dedicated to house music (Alchemy Circle), chill-out (Ambient Source), world music (Sacred Fire) and general electronic dance (Groovy Beach). Dance Temple is a particular favorite because it often features natural trance music, the acoustic and indigenous forms that inspired Trance.

A photo posted by Boom Festival Official (@boomfestivalofficial) on Dec 18, 2015 at 3:13pm PST

Like America’s Burning Man, Boom Festival operates on environmental consciousness. Beginning in 2004, it began implementing a series of sustainability projects like chemical-free toilets, wind and solar energy, recycling and free cleaning kits for participants. If all of that wasn’t enough, Boom’s organizers were recently invited by the United Nations to participate in its Music & Environmental Initiative.