Inside look: The amazing Universo Paralello Festival from the eyes of Marina Tavares

Universe Paralello Festival happens once every two years and attracts people from all corners of the Earth… The festival has a variety of musical styles: Electronic and Dance Music of all genres, Reggae and Rap played for eight days in seven different areas with six stages: Chill Out, 303 Stage, Tortuga, Main Floor, UP Club and Paralello Stage.

The Circolou had activities like slackline, yoga classes, juggling, drugs awareness, healing space, cinema & more.

The 13th edition of Universo Paralello started at the 303 Stage on Dec. 27th. The 303 stage is located at the beach, just a step away from the magical sea of Bahia. The refreshing breeze coming from the sea eases the heat of the Brazilian sun, and gives a breath of new energy to the crowd, making it one of the most popular areas in the festival.

The much awaited Main Floor opened a day later. The stage was shaped like a huge boat, and it was simply one of the most amazing settings I have ever seen. Respect to the South African decoration crew “Artescape” for this killer floor & stage design. Outsiders, an Israeli project who is one of my favorites right now, gave a great set.

UP Club Stage also opened on the 28th. This stage is also located at the beach, with a focus on a more “clubby” music and vibes (mostly Techno and some House music). The Chill Out stage offers a diverse universe of music, including Reggae and World Music.

On the 29th the Main Floor showcased some big international “names”. The Mexican “Shove” played one of the best sets at night, totally old school…

The morning of the 30th of Dec. started with one of my favorite styles, Goa Trance, and continued to Progressive Trance in the afternoon. The dawn at 303 stage featured big names such as the veteran Dickster.

At dusk, Zenon Records took over the main stage with their dirty, dark, psychedelic Progressive Trance. It started with Tetrameth & Shadow FX, continued with Fabio Leal and then the Australian Ryanosaurus. Then came Pspiralife, the producer from Tasmania, who played tracks from his new album “The Middle Way”. After that Electrypnose took the stage, and the Swiss producer created one of the best musical journeys in the festival in my opinion.

On the 31st, Wrecked Machines thrilled the audience when he played his biggest hit, the remix of “Enjoy The Silence” by Depeche Mode. ManMadeMan met all expectations and the British couple was followed by the first Dickster’s project (with Matt Coldrick and Nigel Cowely), The Green Nuns Of The Revolution.

Then it was the break time for the big night! At 11pm, the great master Raja Ram played in the Main Floor a Shpongle set… It was a divine presentation! The main floor was celebrating and at the midnight the fireworks began and The First Stone… The project was followed by a super sequence with the British Tristan, Dickster and Avalon…

One of the most unique and exciting moments of the festival took place in the 1st day of 2016, as a wedding took place on the stage!

Highlight Tribe played a live show at the Paralello stage, and the chill out stage hosted great performances with projects like Etnica in Dub and Raja Ram.

After few sets by some Progressive trance projects, one of the best days in the festivals started for me. Raja Ram, The godfather of trance, played the best set of the festival in my opinion. The crowd, and me among them, danced to new tracks and some of his classics for the entire hour and a half of his set. Raja Ram is one of these persons that just vibrates good energy and it’s amazing to see his contagious joy. The crowd reacted in ecstasy to his energy. The set from Space Tribe was awesome!

The 303 Stage had a great sequence with projects from Zenon Records: Evil Oil Man, Krumelur, Hellquist and Ivort. On the 3rd of Dec., Killerwatts (Avalon & Tristan) and Filterheads played great sets at the 303 stage. The Main Floor presented a killer set by the Israeli LOUD. Later in the evening DJ Lucas from TIP played for an hour and a half; the audience held hands and began to dance together… It was a beautiful moment!

The last day of the festival had arrived! It’s amazing how time flies when we are in a parallel universe! On the 4th, the Main Floor had great projects like Future Frequency and Circuit Breakers… The Swedish project K.I.M played before the closing set by Swarup… The Brazilian played for hours tirelessly… It was beautiful to see his emotion and his family… It showed that Universo Paralello is a festival made for an amazing family to shining people from all over the world, a big Trance family! There’s no better place to be! I would not exchange it for anything! I really have been in a parallel universe! Universo Paralello is an essential experience for all the Trance lovers! It’s an experience that opens our mind, expanding our conscious.

Written by Marina Tavares
https://www.facebook.com/marinatavaresdealmeida

Marina Tavares