What happens when the sun never sets and all your eyes can experience is light and nature? You step into a harmonic bubble of beauty where time disentangles from space. Inspired by this concept, Solstice Festival was born, with the hope of creating a peaceful womb of sonic and visual mystery. During our second visit to the festival, we spoke to co-founder Joni about his perspectives, their club Post Bar back in Helsinki, and the tight-knit Finnish community they are fostering.
The atemporality of time
Sunset merges into sunrise and the light is preternatural, leading nature to never sleep. The passing of time is signalled by the progression of tracks and the shifting of artists scattered through the stages. You can’t decipher it with your eyes, only through your ears. Is this a dream? Are we all just stuck in the land of Morpheus? Hard to believe the opposite, but dreams become reality on top of the Rukatunturi mountain where Solstice Festival takes place. After landing in the capital city Helsinki, a long nine-hour drive awaited through valleys and lakes up to the festival site. As you drive closer to the festival, nature seems to engulf as traces of man-made constructions are lost completely out of sight. The closer to nature you get, the more mystical the atmosphere. The ancient Finnish Midsummer celebration carries an aura of mysticism and ritualistic observance, which symbiotically trickles into the festival’s energy.
Into the sonic portal
The Rukatunturi mountain acted as our sonic playground for the whole three sunlit days. Densely trapped between trees and musk, the Valley Stage showcased the expertise of artists such as Spekki Webu who opened the dances with a deep, texturised and dubby selection. Important mention goes to Finland’s own Sansibar ambient performance in the Kelo Tent. Ethereal soundscapes and emotive lust melted into our ears, in the only angle of darkness provided by the high conical tent walls. The sky turned magenta and it’s Roi Perez’s closing the Valley. People sprouted with energy, as the Panorama Bar resident hit the sweet spot delivering the perfect finish line funk: an absolute glut of high-calibre dance music.
With the most beautiful afternoon sun as a backdrop, day two showcased talents such as Australian duo Andy Garvey and DJ Scorpion, who through a last-minute appearance managed to shake bodies and minds with a hyper psychedelia, avant-garde electronics aesthetic. At the Kelo Tent, Swedish Velv93 carried us away with ambient electronica while bursting energy could be found at the Peak Stage. With highlights as UK-born Angel D’lite packed the floor with smiles and laughter, further continued by closing act Sansibar’s effortless, uptempo ghetto house selection. However, besides its musical diversity and subtle art programming you can sense there is more to the festival.
Shaping Finnish music culture
Compared to the rest of Europe’s tightly interconnected scenes, Finland’s club culture is particularly isolated and reserved, yet incredibly blooming. ’The Finnish subculture has been strong since the nineties through all kinds of raves: from woods to warehouses, temporal escapes from reality were provided, with a few more longer-standing clubs and underground venues as well. “At some point, we felt like we wanted a space of our own, the next step in the continuation, which could offer our idea of this escape from reality.“, explains Solstice co-founder Joni.
Joni Stanley, Dennis Okoth, Daniel Kayrouz, and Justus Valtanen have been central figures by providing spaces such as Helsinki’s intimate Post Bar and off-events in various locations. In order to escape the hectic city life, Solstice Festival came into existence. During the festival, in the midst of its endless greenery, we take a walk in the woods guided by Joni, where we sit in between musk and bushes to dive into a conversation about its origins and aims.
When did you start Solstice Festival?
We started planning in 2018 and made the first edition in 2019. The following two years we had to cancel the editions, but now this is our consecutive second year of activity. As the pandemic halted all our plans and created a big temporal separation between the editions, last year honestly seemed like the first-ever edition again, and the 2019 round acted as a test round. We were unsure of its functionality and reach, as it is very far away from Helsinki. The first year we had around 700 people, and it has organically grown into a bigger family.
When did you start Solstice Festival?
We started planning in 2018 and made the first edition in 2019. The following two years we had to cancel the editions, but now this is our consecutive second year of activity. As the pandemic halted all our plans and created a big temporal separation between the editions, last year honestly seemed like the first-ever edition again, and the 2019 round acted as a test round. We were unsure of its functionality and reach, as it is very far away from Helsinki. The first year we had around 700 people, and it has organically grown into a bigger family.
Besides the obvious fact that the sun is literally never setting during Midsummer, does this period of time carry any philosophical message?
There’s plenty of mythology related to this tradition. For example, if you put flowers under your pillow during Midsummer, then you’ll see your future spouse in your dreams. An important theme is time. Living in the present moment becomes incredibly important, as the sun never sets and time seems to stop. The absence of darkness adds up to the unreal feeling of the whole surroundings and provides 24/7 adrenaline.
Talking about the surreal surroundings; how do you think the energy of the soil translates into the energy of the crowd?
The scenery is fundamental: wherever we look there’s just nature, which allows us to completely detach from everyday reality. It feels like we’re in our own little world. There’s nothing else but freedom. That's the magic of Solstice. Plus the crowd is amazing: whoever I talk to shows great open-mindedness, kindness and passion towards music. It’s a long way to get here, which makes a big difference because everyone is invested and grateful. The crowd this year is a bit more international compared to the past editions, but the overall energy is still so pure, which adds to the magic of the scenery and to the creation of an alternate reality.
Sustainability and respect of nature appear as another crucial factor of the experience. Instead of strong regulations, this ethos seems to be embedded in the crowd here naturally. How come?
People here respect nature, and as festival organisers it’s really important for us to communicate this in everything we do. Nature is one of the most important themes of the Midsummer celebration, which, when respected by the whole community, creates an additional layer of family by adapting to shared values and beliefs. Food vendors provide delicious vegetarian specialties with locally produced and organic ingredients, we provide ashtrays to everyone for cigarette buds, and of course, we recycle everything to maintain our circular economy system. All waste from this year will take a new form through our processes and will be used next year.
Let’s zoom out a bit. You started out with the club Post Bar in Helsinki back in 2018. How did this come into being?
We just felt a big need for a permanent breeding ground within the Finnish electronic music scene. After some time being involved in organising parties, running an underground venue and deejaying, we started looking for the next chapter. We were presented with an opportunity to take over this empty basement located in the area of Kallio and immediately decided to make it our home base: Post Bar. We took on the challenge to build and create the intimate 250-capacity club space we envisioned. Except for this, we didn't have any bigger plan and our common bond to music genuinely evolved into its creation.
How did you come up with the idea of putting together a festival way up north, when you already had a strong scene and community with Post Bar in Helsinki?
I’ve been coming to Ruka since I was a kid, mostly in winter for snowboarding and I came to know the area really well. A good friend of mine, Jussi Saarinen, started working here as an event manager, which gave a big input for using the area and all its possibilities for cultural events. We started talking about the lack of tourism during summers and possibilities to attract an audience. This unconventional location triggered our interest even more, and from there we put together our forces and started mind-mapping about Solstice.
Is there a strong connection between Post Bar’s community and the one present on the festival ground?
The sense of community is very strong for us. The Finnish crowd is already familiar to us because of Post Bar, which acts as the original nucleus of Solstice Festival. It acts as an extension of Post Bar, also from an artist selection perspective. We have a lot of residents playing across the stages.
The family Joni mentioned earlier is true. At Solstice Festival, you witness a melting pot of the Finnish scene as a whole. It’s a gathering of friends, family, and everyone who is contributing to the creative scenes of the Nordic country. As our conversation ends, we grab a bite and walk towards the Peak Stage where local artist Paula Koski showcases heavy-hitting dance floor power, followed by Colundi poet Aleksi Perälä and trip master Wata Igarashi. To close off the festival, originators Denzel + Joni DJ guided us through their finer house selections as they leave the concluding slot over to ISAbella. As we enter the middle of the night, we are left with nothing but nature, silence, and a never-ending burning sun as we walked down the hill back to the village.
The closing
Feelings of nostalgia invade our minds as we commence our slow descent back to reality. Solstice provides a space for stillness and movement, silence and sound, eternity and recurrence. Here, we experience the significant meaning in all the small things. Festivals such as these offer glimpses of unity with mother earth and humanity against the division invading modern cultural exchanges. With its humble and grounded mentality, Finland’s music subculture is a golden gem of infinite light.
