Oktoberfest - World’s Largest Beer Festival

Oktoberfest - World’s Largest Beer Festival
Oktoberfest is a 16-day festival held each year in Munich, Germany, running from late September to early October. It is one of the most famous events in Germany and the world's largest fair, with some six million people attending every year, and is an important part of Bavarian culture. Other cities across the world also hold Oktoberfest celebrations, modeled after the Munich event.

The Munich Oktoberfest, traditionally, takes place during the sixteen days up to and including the first Sunday in October. In 1994, the schedule was modified in response to German reunification so that if the first Sunday in October falls on the 1st or 2nd, then the festival will go on until October 3 (German Unity Day). Thus, the festival is now 17 days when the 1st Sunday is October 2 and 18 days when it is October 1. The festival is held on an area named the Theresienwiese (field, or meadow, of Therese), often called d’ Wiesn for short.


Visitors also eat huge amounts of traditional hearty fare such as Hendl (chicken), Schweinsbraten (roast pork), Haxn (knuckle of pork), Steckerlfisch (grilled fish on a stick), Würstl (sausages) along with Brezn (Pretzel), Knödeln (potato or bread dumplings), Kaasspotzn (cheese noodles), Reiberdatschi (potato pancakes), Sauerkraut or Rotkraut (red cabbage) along with such Bavarian delicacies as Obatzda (a fatty, spiced cheese-butter concoction) and Weisswurst (a white sausage).

Oktoberfest numbers (2007):

• Area: 103.79 acres (0.42 km²)
• Seats in the festival halls: approx. 100,000
• Visitors: 6.2 million
• Beer: appr. 6,940,600 liters (126,900 liters non-alcoholic)
• Wine: 79,624 liters
• Sparkling wine: 32,047 liters
• Coffee, tea: 222,725 liters
• Water, lemonade: 909,765 ½ liters
• Chicken: 521,872 units
• Pork sausages: 142,253 pairs
• Fish: 38,650 kg
• Pork knuckles: 58,446 units
• Oxen: 104 units,
• Expenditure of electricity: 2.8 million kWh (as much as 14% of Munich's daily need or as much as a four person family will need in 52 years and 4 months)
• Expenditure of gas: about 205,000 m³
• Expenditure of water: about 90,000 m³ (as much as 27% of Munich's daily need )
• Waste: 678 t (2004)
• Toilets: about 980 seated, more than 878 meters of urinals and 17 for disabled persons
• Telephones: 83, also for international credit cards
• Lost property: about 4000 items, among them 260 pairs of glasses, 200 mobile phones, wedding rings, and even crutches.
  

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Top 10 Music Festivals Around the World

Our top ten list of music festivals worldwide includes the most spectacular and diverse locations, the broadest spectrum of artists, and the above all, the most interesting events, all of which are accessible to backpackers and budget travellers.

1. Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts: Worthy Farm, near Glastonbury, England. Normally held on the last full weekend in June with an occasional year off to allow the fields to rest.

The festival was started by landowner Michael Eavis in 1970 when a ticket would have set you back £1. These days you’ll have to dig a bit deeper into your pockets as Glastonbury can lay claim to being both the world’s longest running and biggest Greenfield music festival attracting 177,500 ticket-holding attendees and almost as many staff in 2007.

Glastonbury Festival exemplifies the hippie ethic, evolving its own (sort of) self-governing community. It is vast so make your peace with the fact that your schedule for watching bands might just go out the window. Instead embrace the chance to see what it’s like when 200,000 people come together for 4 days to live and love in the Somerset countryside.

2. Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival: Empire Polo Fields, Indio, California, USA. Last weekend in April.

Set against the stunning backdrop of the Colorado Desert Coachella is the daddy of America’s music festivals. The event first took place in 1999, was shut down for 2000, and was resurrected in 2001. Since then the festival has grown, earning international acclaim and attracting world-famous acts. Alternative rock reigns supreme at Coachella although cutting edge electronica, dance, hip hop and many more are also represented. It is heat stroke inducingly hot during the day but be prepared for the temperature to drop drastically at night.

3. Roskilde Festival: Roskilde, Denmark. The campsite usually opens on the last Sunday in June and the festival starts the following Thursday.

Roskilde is the second largest music festival in Northern Europe. It has been running since 1971, and since 1973 as a not for profit enterprise with any revenue donated to national and international causes. Roskilde proudly celebrates progressive rock, metal, hip hop and electronic music. Alongside the global acts that headline each year are many upcoming artists. Tragically the festival was marred in 2000 when it was the scene of a tragic accident in which nine people died. Since then crowd safety has become an international concern and Roskilde has gone from strength to strength, famed in particular for its friendly atmosphere.

4. Fuji Rock Festival: Naeba, Japan. The last weekend in July.

After a disastrous start – the first festival held in 1997 near Mt. Fuji was almost destroyed by a typhoon – Fuji Rock moved to its current home on the slopes of the mountains in Naeba and is now considered Japan’s biggest and best music festival. The site itself is characterised by hilly trails and vast amounts of forested space between stages; it’s a truly spectacular setting. The line up shares much in common with many global rock festivals but with a certain amount of Japanese eccentricity.

5. Sónar: Barcelona. Spain. Usually begins in the third week of June.

Held over three days and three nights, Sónar is a festival of cutting edge music and multimedia arts. By day the festival takes place in cultural centres and arts venues in the centre of Barcelona. At night special coaches transport revellers to a huge venue outside of the city centre, where DJs, VDJs, bands and artists from a broad spectrum of electronic music play into the morning hours.

6. Festival au Desert: Sahara Desert, Essakane, Mali. Three days in January
 
It’s in its relevant infancy – it only started in 2001 – but the Festival in the Desert is already straddling the line between traditional cultural showcase and modern international music festival. It is held primarily as a celebration of the music and culture of Mali and the surrounding area but has recently grown to include international artists that collaborate with Malian acts in their own unique way. Festival in the Desert is most notable of course for its location among the dunes of the Sahara Desert; just getting there can be an adventure!

7. EXIT: Petrovaradin fortress, Novi Sad, Serbia. Usually starts on Thursday in the third week of June.

Held in the shadow of the eighteenth century Petrovardin fortress by the River Danube, EXIT festival has a magical energy. The festival had political beginnings as it was first held in 2000 as a rebellious act against the regime of Slobodan Milošević; it turned out to be an event of great importance and a catalyst for change. Today EXIT continues to provide Serbian youth with musical entertainment whilst also attracting thousands of visitors from Europe and across the world.

8. Big Day Out: Various locations around Australia and New Zealand, various dates.

Big Day Out was first held as a Sydney only show in 1992. The festival was such a success that further dates were added and Big Day Out now tours Australia and New Zealand as a showcase for contemporary rock, metal, indie and electronic music. The massive headliners remain the same across the venues but the smaller local acts vary. In recent years the festival dates have sold out in a matter of hours.

9. Austin City Limits Music Festival: Zilker Park, Austin, Texas, USA. Held over three days at the end of September.

Often held in sweltering temperatures, the Austin City Limits Music Festival nevertheless attracts massive crowds armed with bottles of water. The festival was devised as an offshoot of the legendary ‘Austin City Limits’ television show, which focused primarily on Texan performers. Today the festival is renowned for its incredibly eclectic selection of artists. Embracing rock, blues, country, reggae, jazz, alternative, indie and world music the line up really does have something for everyone.

10. Iceland Airwaves: Reykjavík, Iceland. Third weekend in October.
 
Since the first show in 1999, (held in an aeroplane hangar), Iceland Airwaves has become something of an industry showcase. Many relative unknowns performing at the festival have gone on to achieve international fame. For the duration of the festival, cutting-edge music and all-night parties invade record shops, galleries, bars and clubs across downtown Reykjavík.

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Fascinating events-Japanese Mud festival

Fascinating events-Japanese Mud festival

Japanese mud festival

Hundreds of Japanese grown-men wrestle each other in the mud water of Mimusubi shrine in Yotsukaido, a settlement near Tokyo. Every year on February 25 these men take part in this strange yet fun looking rite, believed to bring good harvest for the whole year and good health for babies.

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MiTo “Musical September”: International Music Festival

Néo international e-magazine (www.neoenews.com) is dedicating its August edition to “art and music”, with particular focus on MiTo, International Music Festival which is taking place in Italy, in Milan and Turin, from the 3rd to the 24th of September 2010. It is a unique festival which is hosting some of the most prestigious artists of the best of world music.
Milan is offering more than 70 locations to creates the largest musical stage in Europe: concert halls, churches, squares, courtyards, museums, parks and universities, all of which will be taken over by a musical wave, ancient and contemporary, avant-garde and traditional alike.
Néo has chosen a selection of dates not to be missed, such as the Gewandhaus Orchestra from **Lipsia** at La Scala, directed by Riccardo Chailly, and the Festival of Josquin Des Près, described as the “Michelangelo of music”.
Among the many big names at MITO, there will be Lang Lang, who is performing at Palasharp in front of 8,000 people; Billy Cobham, the king of jazz; Maurizio Pollini, Cecilia Bartoli and Salvatore Accardo.
There is also great space for experimentation, such as at “Play your phone! Avant-gardism at Il Politecnico” where, in co-operation with Standford University, the expressive innovations offered by technology will be put into music.
One big date is “Focus on Turkey”, following the traditions, current affairs and cinema of a country which naturally joins together Europe, Asia and Africa: the ceremony of the whirling dervishes at the Theatro della Luna, the Byzantine Choir at St Alexander’s Church, the cinematographic collection “Crossing the Bridge”, dedicated to the creators of the effervescent modern Turkish cinema.
Alongside the official programme, there is also a circuit of alternative events similar to those at the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fête de la Musique or Fuori Salone in Milan: parks, train and Metro stations, universities and cloisters will all host improvised events at the “MiToFringe”.
To read the complete programme, visit: www.turismo.milano.it

Finally, still in Milan, do not miss “Live-Mi”, an initiative to promote original underground music. It’s a pioneering project taking inspiration from Liverpoolsoundcityfestival which will see collaboration between the Community of Milan, ATM and Red Ronnie, a character always attentive towards young and upcoming international artists. Live-Mi therefore proposes a circuit of “unconventional” musical offerings, seeing as the performances are mainly taking place in the Metro, and in particular, the Duomo station, a place which has truly become a reference point for live music and social gatherings.

Ideas, interviews, music and videos available at: www.turismo.milano.it. Feel shivers, emotion and the sensation of being at the very umbilical cord of music for young artists the world over.
For more information: www.turismo.milano.it
For further articles and to sign up to néo: www.neoenews.com

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Buenos Aires Tango World Championships 2010

The 12th Buenos Aires Tango Festival and the 8th Tango Dance World Championship came to a close this August. The annual competition featured 400 couples from 23 countries. This year Chizuko Kuwamoto of Japan and Diego Ortega of Spain took the grand prize. Here is a collection of pictures from the competition.















[via BBC]

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Comic Con Festival in Baltimore 2010

The Baltimore Comic Con show is considered to be the younger brother of San Diego Comic Convention. It was founded on in 2000 by Marc Nathan, the owner of Cards, Comics, and Collectibles of Reistertown, MD. The first Comic Con lasted only one day and was held at the Sheraton Hotel in the Baltimore. This has now become a 2-day affair and the venue shifted to the Baltimore Convention Center in downtown Baltimore.

Annually various comic publishers, writers, charitable organizations and companies producing genre-related items including comic book back-issues, limited edition collectible items such as Toon Tumblers and clothing, videos/DVDs, etc gather at Baltimore. More than 100 contestants for best costumes expressed their love to comics and individuality. These pictures are from 2010 convention.

Photos: UPI / Greg Whitesell

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