Organizers of a music and art festival in Lund this weekend represent a growing trend in Powell River that fulfills a need in all communities: every culture needs a counterculture.
Most residents are familiar with larger and more established local music and culture events, such as the upcoming Sunshine Music Festival at Palm Beach Regional Park or the annual PRISMA festivities held in June.
While those events are always excellently produced and paramount to bringing our community together to celebrate music, culture and art, they do not fulfill everyone's interests and suit everyone’s taste, especially those attracted to the fringe elements of the underground.
Promoters wishing to do something different, such as the No Sound Like We festival taking place at Lund Gazebo on Saturday, August 26, are met with all types of logistical challenges.
Finances are always a consideration, but underground promoters of counterculture rarely plan their efforts with dollar signs in mind, often giving back all proceeds to the artists who perform or a local charity.
Promoters of underground events will be the first to admit that their efforts often go without any type of personal monetary gain, but that is not the point.
The rewards small promoters reap come with knowing that at the end of each event, no matter how many people attend, they have exposed a specific audience to something different, perhaps something new, and have inspired others in the community to pursue their own art in turn.
Some might slough off underground music and art as too weird, or experimental, but all art comes with experimentation and pushing the boundaries of what is considered acceptable or the norm.
Most artists and musicians were, at one time, labelled too fringe to achieve what is defined as success. Shunned during the height of their creativity, or during their formative years, a large number of these artists went on to achieve fame later in their lives.
Why not give the underground a chance now?
Jason Schreurs, publisher/editor
