My Extended Weekend at one of the Best Music and Art festivals in this Tiny Country of the Low Lands

Last month to one and a half has been super busy on the festival front for yours truly. Three multi-day ones, from 3 days up to 6 days. For all of them, I planned to create a video and write a post for you all. A perfect way to get an impression of what is happening around the world on the festival front. Three festivals with three totally different setups. To add some 'memento' element, I'll give you a glimpse into what I encountered from the last till the first of these three.

Starting with: LANDJUWEEL 2022

This festival is a long-time returning one that started back in 1975. It's regarded the oldest festival in our tiny country that resides (mostly) below sea level. The Netherlands for those that didn't get to somewhat cryptic reference 😉 If I remember correctly, the first time I joined was in early 2000. Maybe 2001? or 2002?

Landjuweel: a bit of history

'Landjuweel' is a Dutch word in the English language: Land Jewel. Almost the same in both our languages. Not too strange, the similarities in our languages, since the English and Dutch had many encounters over the last few millenia, from wars to mixed royal houses. For those who are interested in history, Prince Willem the 3rd from the Dutch royal house of Orange was also King of England, Whales and Ireland. Ok, this was about three to four centuries ago, but still 😉

Back in the 17-hundreds, Landjuweel was a competition for amateur poets and performance artists. That's where the name of this festival came from. These days, it's not just about poets and performance artists, but also about music. Music ranges from bands to electronic dance and much in between. These days on a pretty small scale due to the location being partially taken over by container and oil tank fields and companies.

Landjuweel is held in the tiny village Ruigoord. A village that has a special status. Although the big container and oil companies are taking part of the land around Ruigoord, the village itself they can't take over due to its special status. Since the 70s of last century, Ruigoord became one of the very few areas where freedom of mind, activities and actions are the norm. In general terms, Ruigoord is a place where artists and spectators/visitors can freely express themselves without government control.

Anyways, enough about the location...

Recording

The video reflects just a tiny bit of what Landjuweel has to offer. Mostly the music side of things as you noticed when watching. Though I was hoping I would shoot more videos and have more art forms recorded, I simply was too much in the moment. I don't think of anything like taking photographs or shooting videos in such a state. My memory serves as the anchor. Cool for myself, but difficult to bring across to others. Therefore am pretty happy I was able to get some video and still images done 🙃 This year, peeps asked me a few times: "Edje! What are you doing with your phone?" I'm usually the one telling others: "Your phone should stay in your pocket; Your memory serves as the reminder of the festival; No need for photographs and whatnot." I guess I changed after two years without parties 😂

My Experience

Four days this festival lasted. Starting last Thursday and ending sometime in the middle of the night last Sunday on Monday. For four days I joined in. The video may suggest two days, but to be frank and fair: the collection is shot over four days and not necessarily in the order of editing. Though the first and last scenes are indeed what they are, the opening of the festival on day 1 and the (almost) closing of the festival on day 4. The rest is a bit of a mix regarding the timeline.

All in all, I had a great time! Again! The atmosphere created by all the peeps was simply superb. Very laid back and chill. Happy vibes all over. Great food. Super nice art. Not so good music, but okay, Landjuweel is never about music for me. Heard some okay-ish electronic music. There were a few okay-ish bands, but mostly it wasn't the sounds I liked. A festival I experienced with some of my closest friends; Perfect! Connected again with some friends I don't see that often; How nice! A festival that allowed me to make some new friends-for-a-day. The weather was beautiful. Blue sky, Sun high up, Temperatures between 20 (early morning) and 35 degrees (afternoon). Perfect! Well, sometimes a little too warm, but in the shadow it was perfect 😉 Playing outside is so great in such weather conditions. Decorations and all the little display and performance art; Super cool! Most of it is not easy to discover, since they are tucked away in little corners and bushes. That makes everything even more interesting. It's a true adventure, this festival. After the festival was over and done with, I realised I missed out on some of those corners when I saw some of the other photographs of friends. Ah well, whatever, I had a blast and still today have a great feelings about all I did experience last weekend. And that is the most important thing to take home anyways 🙂

Am able to write mucho more, but you may like to see some visuals instead of all those letters, words and sentences. I hope I can give you an impression through the photographs below. Obviously, the video also serves as the necessary and/or wanted visuals. Therefore, if you haven't watched it yet, just press the play button and chill for about 6 minutes.