The Allure Of Organik: I Now Get The Hype Of This Taiwanese Festival

Festivals are always about the escape. For days, you are isolated from the doldrums of reality and sheltered within an environment designed for desires. As a globetrotting punter, my desire involves religiously hunting for music and exotic locations to feed my soul. This time, I looked for my escape in a place called Niushan Huting (which translates to “Cow Mountain”), in Hualien just a three-hour train ride away from Taipei, Taiwan.

This is where I found Organik.

For years, several of my fellow Singaporean ravers fed me hype of the easygoing nature of Organik, its wildcard variety of selectors, and more prominently, its renowned black sand beach locale that sounded too good to be true. Having arrived in the evening, I could not verify this at first; I was more focused on pitching my tent in pitch-dark circumstances, which proved to be an arduous but rewarding feat once accomplished (note to self: purchase a headlight).

By the sea, the campsite is shrouded in nearly absolute darkness at night, illuminated just a tad by the stage lights a short stroll away. You don’t see anything, but you certainly hear the crashing of the waves and the chunky booms of bass galloping from a Funktion-One at full volume. Like flies to a lantern, you are inevitably lured to it, as I was. At the main Organik stage, Martinou flung out deep, pulsating grooves that wrapped the festival in a hazy, hypnotic aura – a preamble to the revelries that would occupy the next 48 hours.

You see, the music at Organik didn’t stop, at all. Music was constantly being dished out from at least one of the two stages, including the cloistered Blue Star Stage indoors that catered more to lesser-known acts. It’s where I discovered the versatile Yoni who teased dense house cuts and jubilant moments of Italo, and the underrated Hao, who kept everyone toasty with body-juddering numbers when it rained.

It wasn’t till my first sunrise of the three-day festival, however, when I finally got a proper look at Organik. As Agonis ushered in the golden hour with rolling drum & bass breaks – yet another testament to Organik’s penchant for genre diversity – a spectrum of colours began to emerge through the waning shadows. The silky beaches are truly charcoal-black, the surrounding contoured hills gorgeously green, and stretching as far as the eye can see, a sea of tents in all shapes and sizes forming a kaleidoscope on the shore.

Organik is a different creature in the daylight. A festive sojourn for just over a thousand people, it gives off an amicable vibe that doesn't feel overwhelming. You can’t help but feel enticed to socialise, given that you’re likely to bump into familiar faces several times on the grounds. I never once felt cramped. This intimacy, to me, was what made its daytime sets even more jubilant.

Everyone in attendance would concur that Smoke Machine resident, Diskonnected, played an ebullient set, meandering through upbeat house selections with infectious energy. Hibiya Line, founder of The Observatory in Vietnam, would also go on to plaster smiles on people’s faces with a revitalising four-hour journey, humorously ending with the ’50s, twangy, surf-rock classic, “Sleep Walk” by Santo & Johnny.

Another moment that deserves mention is the ambient and experimental sunrise set by Chris SSG, just preceding Hibiya Line. Sunrises, themselves, are surreal phenomena. But when you couple that with heavy synth pads, lulling drones, industrial twitches and irregular percussion, you have yourself a memory that’s nearly impossible to dislodge.

Organik is not a festival filled with big names (a winning quality, if you ask me), but it is not devoid of them. An act that many would know, Ben UFO took over the decks just past sunset on the second evening. In an envelope-pushing environment like Organik, even he fell for its spell, pushing out an unpredictable trajectory that went from slow and spiritual to indulgently bouncy. Halfway through, he busted out a remix of Pet Shop Boys’ “Heart” that threw everyone into a tizzy.

From that point, things went up a notch. An unexpected barrage of fireworks would suddenly ignite above us during Valentino Mora’s entrancing techno set, encompassing minimal grooves and modular textures. The much-awaited tag team of Vril and Voiski (dubbed Vrilski) combined the alpha qualities of their sounds in a savage live set, unleashing a salvo of aggressive, melodious techno onto the floor, even playing an edit of Voiski’s “Megatrance 2” to great effect.

And believe it or not, that wasn’t even the hardest set of Organik. That honour undoubtedly goes to Mama Snake, who pushed above 140BPM for over three hours. Brutally relentless, she truly tested the stamina of us all with techno that sprinted, and psy-trance that tossed sentimental synth hooks into the frenetic fray.

You know that feeling of heading home from a fantastic rave? That feeling when your legs are thoroughly jellified and your hips ache a lil’, but you’re pleased as punch and smiling all the way back because you know it was all worth it? In a beautiful campsite surrounded by the wonders of nature and like-minded kindred spirits, Organik magnifies that triumphant sensation.

I know I definitely felt it on Organik’s final night, following the wondrous back-to-back set of S.A.M. and Diskonnected that closed the festival. From its abrupt jungle inclusions to the soulful swan song, “You’ll Never Need Somebody Pt. 2” by Merlyn Brooks, it was delightfully bizarre and, I dare say, straight-up bonkers. Yet, everyone remained affixed to the floor, never feeling alienated and embracing every educational moment that this festival courageously provided.

That walk back to my tent was great.

I reiterate: Organik is an escape. It’s as much an escape from mundanity as it is an escape from convention. Organik boldly plays by its own rules, and as I have seen, attracts a good-natured community that respects them. Without excessive frills and commercialising intentions, it has instigated a growth that, in the last eight years, has genuinely been organic.

For more information on Organik, visit its official website.