best of all worlds

http://www.sunsplash-antalya.com/

So Sun Splash is over, what a fantastic week that was!!! The resort, the festival took place in was surreal. Hillside Su, big up! If you can afford it, go and have a stay at some point… Beautiful beach, luxurious rooms with beds in the balconies, you even get your personal goldfish and lava lamp!!! Food, wow… absolutely amazing! So much choice, I felt like eating non stop… I’m definitely going to be missing those service buttons on the beach.

We arrived at the resort on Monday… All ready to hit the beach. As Serkan was saying earlier in the week, I believe this is the only hotel in the world where you have to wear sunglasses inside. The whole resort is white… even the staff only wear white. We quickly dropped our bags in our room, got in gear and we were down at the beach in no time; found the perfect spot and started roasting under the sun. At 2 o’clock, the first meltdown session kicked in with Lebz, Vinny and dj Soulprovyder behind the decks… Started the festival with a good dosage of soul, funk, boogie and house… The first day of sun hit me bad though, and the excess alcohol didn’t help either. I was totally shit faced by 6 o’clock. Also around that time, I found out that I was going to be playing at the club session… So knowing this, I went up to my room and had a power nap after some food. I was up by eleven, all refreshed, ready to start the club session… Started the night with some upbeat jazzy cuts, slowly building it up for Vinny… He came up and slammed up some fantastic boogie edits of his own… everybody was well enjoying the vibes and there was a whole lot of dancing from day 1… The night went till 4 o’clock with the soulful sounds of Lebz and dj Soulprvyder. I was there till the end!

Tuesday was a difficult start for me… nearly missed breakfast. We were on the beach about 11 o’clock… looked like there was less people than usual, definitely the previous night was to be blamed for this… As I was having a chat with Ahu and Lebz, Henry from SoundSpecies passed by… top guy! After a few hours of sun, sea and more drinking, Ahu started the meltdown session. She played some fantastic Brazilian down tempo cuts… well enjoyed that set. The meltdown continued with dj Fuchs’s selections… After dinner, I went down to the beach party… dj Fuch was behind the decks again, he was playing some heavy deepness. I’ve got to say, that night I had one too many Vodka Redbulls. By 12:30, I was in the club, dj Cliffy was behind the decks dropping some heavy Brazilian favela tunage. Loads of dancing and good times I say!

Come Wednesday, it was my turn on the decks… I woke up late, missed breakfast and was nearly late for my slot. The meltdown session took place near the pool area on Wednesday. I played my usual bit of this & bit of that set… though, I tried to keep it more on the down tempo tip. That was difficult! I was feeling slightly more courageous at one point, so dropped in a few of my in progress tracks… I believe Ket from muchosoul recorded my set. I’m hoping to post it as soon as I get my hands on it. I really enjoyed playing by the pool on Wednesday, everyone was chilling and having a great time under the sun; it was also fantastic to get thumbs up from Phil Asher and Rainer Truby whom I greatly respect. After me, Ket took over; he slammed some serious grooves. Check out the muchosoul podcasts @ http://muchosoul.podomatic.com/. After dinner, Phil Asher got behind the decks to do his bit. I can sum it up with the following “Inspiration Information meets Restless Soul”. He dropped some great classics and a few great bangers; funk, disco and house all together. I was really digging the vibes… After Phil’s set, I went down to the club to check out Rainer Truby… unfortunately wasn’t feeling my best, so had to cut it short and have an early night in. Although, heard that it was pretty good and it went on till the late hours of the morning.

So I’ve just realised, I babbled on about this great festival for about a page. You must be getting bored by now. Well sorry, don’t really care if it’s the case… had such a good time, I can’t stop writing about it.

By Thursday I was in a routine… Getting up early, breakfast, going down to the beach for some sun and sea, partying till 6, dinner at 7 & partying till the next day… Thursday was “Worldwide” day… Djs on rotation included Ahu, bPm, Lefto and Simbad… I must say, I really enjoyed Lefto’s beach party set… check out his weekly podcasts on mixcloud @ http://www.mixcloud.com/LeFtOoO/, the guy has some serious selection talent. One of the highlights of the week was definitely the back 2 back special with Gilles Peterson and Norman Jay… Everyone was feeling the tunes and the club was packed… jazz, funk, latin, hiphop, house… you name it, we got it. I have a few videos from the night, will post some of them after editing.

The final two days of the festival were about live music… Friday was Jamie Lidell and his band. Wow, what a setup… there was so much on the stage. Their performance was fantastic, so much energy and real good music. What was that crazy drum machine? Definitely worth while seeing the band if you get a chance… I believe they are on tour right now. Ahu & the SoundSpecies were on Saturday, excellent performance… saw them live for the first time and it was worth it. Ahu blew my mind! She was singing in Portuguese in one of the tracks! The weekend also had a few good dj sets as well… Norman Jay’s selections at the beach party were educational… I also really enjoyed Manasseh’s reggae and roots music set… Baris K, oh yea, he dropped some wicked Turkish rarities.

Ok, so to sum it up… this was undoubtedly a great festival… I met so many people and made quite a few good friends. It felt just like home and I had a fantastic time. I want to thank Serkan Cetin and his team for organising this event. I cannot wait for next year. Thanks to all the djs and performers who attended the festival, all of you have done a top job! Not to forget the people who came down and supported this festival… without you it wouldn’t happen! Thank you all!

I leave you with Lefto’s Sun Splash Antalya 2010 video…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpJchw63Cjk

Links:

http://twitter.com/Lebzzz,

http://www.myspace.com/djsoulprovyder

http://www.myspace.com/ahudolly

http://www.myspace.com/djfuchs

http://www.myspace.com/batmacumba

http://www.myspace.com/muchosoul

http://www.myspace.com/phlashandfriends

http://www.myspace.com/rainertrueby

http://www.myspace.com/lefteezymusic