Thailand’s sustainable music and lifestyle festival Wonderfruit has revealed the first details on its upcoming 2017 edition, featuring music from electronic, hip-hop and pop favourites, a search for the next big bands, and a pioneering initiative to pay artists in trees.
Wonderfruit returns to its home base of The Fields at Siam Country Club, Pattaya, on December 14-17 (Thur-Sun). This will be the second Wonderfruit taking place this year after the 2016 edition had been pushed to February.
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Organiser Scratch First has unveiled the first names for this year’s music lineup, led by veteran techno DJ Richie Hawtin and UK rapper and producer Rodney Hylton Smith, aka Roots Manuva, with his full band.
Ravellers will delight in the Thai Molam-inspired funk from Texan trio Khruangbin before grooving the night away to Brazilian house producer Gui Boratto. More electronic music will be provided by Ecuadorean producer Nicola Cruz and Danish techno maverick Be Svendsen.
Richie Hawtin / Izzy Bizu
Khun Narin and his Electric Phin Band will be lending the taste of Thai psychedelia whereas English singer-songwriter Izzy Bizu brings her full set to the Land of Smiles for the first time after guest-appearing and charming the crowd at HONNE’s Bangkok gig in March.
Fans have always been able to discover new music at Wonderfruit but even more so this year as Wonderfruit introduces Intermission, a program to mentor and provide a platform for unsigned bands and soloists to perform on the main stage. Demo submission will be open soon.
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Having pledged to go carbon neutral last year, Wonderfruit is sticking to its eco-friendly initiatives by planning to pay artists and collaborators in tree tokens – a cryptocurrency backed by natural capital and traded on the blockchain.
As always, expect more than just music – art installations, packed activity programs and talks are lined up for Wonderers of all ages, these include Leeroy New’s biomorphic alien creation, the new look of after-hours hideout The Quarry by Marvel’s comic book artist Adam Pollina, the man behind previous edition’s Wonder Kar, an inspiring talk from best-selling author Bea Johnson of Zero Waste Home, and Buglife, an exploration into the insect world for younglings at Camp Wonder. For more details on the program, visit Wonderfruit.
Wonder Kar ©Wonderfruit
Tickets are now available through Event Pop. Phase one price for 4-day tickets is THB5,000 and THB4,700 for weekend passes.
