I attended the sensory wonderland of “Maitreya Festival” over the long weekend. Highly, highly recommend. Spent 3 glorious days in the sun surrounded by a captivating concoction of music, open-air, camping, glitter and dust. For days, I walked around in mud-blocks-for-shoes but being a barefoot ‘boog-ier felt so good. Maitreya exceeded expectations. The vibrancy of the art, music and food was absolutely charming. I loved that I could look around and everyone’s clothes, or lack of, and despite the contrast, everyone seemed to feel accepted in his or her own way.

I got the vibe that the festival’s identity promotes individuality and a ‘do what you feel’ philosophy, but it still bought me back to an idea from my Popular Culture class the past week.

Sociologist Sarah Thornton’s case study, found in Interrogating Popular Culture (2015) by Stacey Takacs, deals with club cultures and discusses masses drifting from the so-called “popular” music identity in society, and how this drift can become a group identity in itself, in terms of dress sense and interests. Thornton says race and class have little impact on the shape of club communities. Different people can be welcomed as long as do many things as well as perceive themselves as apposed to the mainstream. This identification as an alternative to mainstream society is what interested me. Although Maitreya implied everyone was included, I did get to thinking about whether (for example) a festival-goer straight from Stereosonic or a Taylor Swift concert (vastly different styles of music) would feel like they belonged in that crowd also? I’d like to think so, but I’m unsure.

Anyway, fab festival xx