unVeiled » Culture
A Friendly Guide To The Katharsys Music Festival
By Amanda Zimmermann (⁂Zimmermann-A)
Published 26/04/2028, 09:32
Performance by Muwurder Monster, Gorična, 2015
Music has always been an integral part of culture. Thus, it is safe to say music festivals are a vital part of the cultural ecosystem, allowing one to explore a staggering variety of artists and genres in one location. From cultural milestones to small indie proposals, there's tens of thousands of festivals happening around the globe yearly.
It doesn't come as a surprise then, that after the fall of the veil in 2021, the wider world would learn about the vibrant anomalous music and festival scene. With what was once hidden now revealed, the world at large can enjoy the revelry. This article aims to be a guide to understand the largest festival of the anomalous world, the Katharsys festival, coming to Esterberg this July.
The rise of the Katharsys festival
As the organizers of the Katharsys festival proudly display on their website, this years' event will be its seventh celebration. To truly understand what this means, allow me to take you down memory lane and revisit the previous festivals.
This celebration of anomalous music was, originally, the brainchild of one Alejandro Johanssen, who at the time, was associated with an Are We Cool Yet? cell based out of Backdoor Soho, New York's hotspot for anart activity. He and a small group of anartists wanted to create a safe space for musicians to express themselves and show their creations. In 2009, this idea coalesced into a local music festival: the Katharsys. The festival aimed to "explore the limits of music as we know it", as written on the original posters.
On the 18th and 19th of July 2009, fifteen local artists and bands played for 7000 attendees on two small stages. The most lauded performances were those of NP rock band House of Spades and alternative rock band Futanari Titwhore Fiasco, which were lauded by the Critic as "triumphs of anart music." Johanssen and his collaborators considered the effort a resounding success.
Two years later in 2011, Johanssen decided to bring it back, starting the Katharsys legacy. That year, the aim was to cater to a bigger audience, putting aside the focus on the experimental side of anomalous music. A larger space within the Backdoor was rented, and according to the organizers, nearly 15 000 were in attendance.
2011 marked the first step into the big leagues, as sponsors started appearing. Allegedly, various paratech companies were interested in providing equipment in exchange for a cut of the profits. Ambrose Restaurants and Spicy Crust Pizzeria, for example, opened pop-up restaurants for the duration of the festivities. In terms of cultural impact, the Critic said the following in his blog: "the musical side of anart hasn't seen a boom so big since the Fair Disco genre was invented in the 1970s". At this point, Katharsys had gone viral on the social media platform Void, resulting in many international fans traveling from around the globe to witness the spectacle.
However, this newfound popularity led to some issues. Part of the team felt that Katharsys had lost its charm, causing some of them to move on from the project. Serena Behrakis, former second in command, stated the following in reference to Johanssen: "He has lost the focus on the art. Now it's all about the money". Regardless, Katharsys continued onwards.
The third festival, in 2013, was the first time that it was organized outside of the Backdoor. Their new modus operandi was based around moving the event to a different anomalous community each year. This time around, the venue was rented in Three Portlands. And they went big: 35 bands and singers from all corners of the veiled world performed in the event. Some, like the Noonday Oak Troupe came from very far away (Korea, in this case). Others were as local as it gets, like The Tattle Antlers, formed by Deer College Students just a week before the event. In total, there were an estimated 28 000 attendees.
The fourth festival was organized in 2015. The venue was in Gorična, which meant that there was a stronger presence from the European anomalous music scene. This event is considered by music enthusiasts as the "last good Katharsys before it all went to shit", as expressed by famed Backdoor journalist Lyre Lamarr Turing in his 2021 anart retrospective. And as we'll see, it's no wonder the public has this overwhelmingly good feeling about this edition. It kept the same number of attendees as the third edition, with 45 bands playing.
Nevertheless, there was some controversy surrounding this festival. During the celebrations, there was a spike of arrests of alleged paracriminals by the Foundation, GOC and the PANGEA network, including the containment of las Ilegalizadoras, a Spanish punk band whose cognitohazardous songs forced the audience into a violent frenzy. They were detained shortly after their show, sparking a wave of outrage among the anart community, some members of which completely disowned the festival, claiming in Void that it had become a "tool for Jailors and Bookburners to keep us controlled".
The fall of the Katharsys festival
The fifth Katharsys festival in 2017 is widely regarded as one of the worst disasters of the anart world. Records are spotty, but newly declassified information coming from Vanguard has revealed that Johanssen, desperate after the backlash from the previous edition, made a deal with the label "Fivefold Music" which supplied Katharsys with new extremely profitable contracts with musicians under the company's umbrella, including the rock band Weezer.
After the debut of that year's event in Eurtec, it was shut down by the Global Occult Coalition. Video recordings of the incident are scarce, but show large star-shaped spatial anomalies happening on-stage and the audience chanting rhythmically. No witnesses have been available to provide further context since then. This still remains as one of the most cryptic mysteries of the music world.
After these developments, Johanssen disappeared, leaving the Katharsys company without a leader. That's when Serena Behrakis returned to take care of business.
The sixth Katharsys festival was scheduled to happen in July 2021 in the Arrondissement Ésotérique of Paris. However, the Impasse made it impossible for most performers and customers to attend that year. Hastur's Nipples, a pop/death metal fusion band from Undervegas, Billy Selkie and the Phantom Quartet, a ghost jazz band from New Orleans, and Bjorn Leifsson, a time-displaced viking skald, all disappeared because of the effects of the Quiet Days. Acramal, one of Argentina’s top anomalous rappers, lost her ability to speak, while the Songbirds, a traveling band of sparrows, lost their sapience and The Squid-eaters, a prog rock band from Hy-Brasil, lost their corporeality. This, of course, lead to the outright cancellation of nearly all the events planned for the festival. The only concert that ended up happening in the context of the 2021 edition of Katharsys was a small representation of variations upon Chopin’s Funeral March in the catacombs of Paris.
Nobody believed that after two complete failures this cultural phenomenon would be able to come back from the dead. However, after nearly three years of radio silence, in November 2023, all social media accounts for the festival published a countdown. The seventh edition of Katharsys was coming.
What to expect for this edition?
Although fans are skeptical, Behrakis is determined to make it work. In an interview with unVeiled, she stated: "This is a return to form for Katharsys. We are going back to just focusing on the art of music instead of focusing on profit." But her words don't seem to match the reality of the matter, as this year's is shaping up to be the largest edition of this festival yet.
A field of four hectares has been rented in the outskirts of Esterberg, where four stages will be built. 60 artists will be performing between the 12th and the 14th of July.
The list of performers is very promising. As for the heavy hitters, we have Ludwig van Beethoven (revived in 2003) who has stated in an interview with Rolling Stone that he will use this opportunity to unveil Symphony no. 11, which has: "Lots of modern influences". Bander'honn, a hit band hailing from Druv'Tuul promises to bring the best subterranean Yeren rock using their living insectoid instruments. The Tattle Antlers, now an international sensation because of their memetically and thaumaturgically enhanced music, will return to their garage rock roots for the duration of the festivities. MachineGod will debut outside of Eurtec to perform in a rave that will last for an entire night. The Nälkä brawn metal singer Khöörl will delight listeners with the sound of their many amalgamated mouths. The metal band Shattered Deus is scheduled to be the closing act the last day of the festival. An impressive lineup to be sure, and that's not even counting the 50 other lesser known artists attending.
While most music enthusiasts can't wait to attend the first Katharsys festival after the fall of the veil, others are reasonably cautious because of the danger some anart has posed to the public in the past. But rest assured, dear reader, because Vanguard has agreed to supply some specialized personnel to check that everything goes as planned. Memeticists will perform check-ups on any performances that include memetic material released during the festival, cognitohazard response teams will be present to assist the afflicted, and pataphysicists will ensure no ascensions to a higher narrative level occur. Plus, Katharsys management has reached a deal with Goldbaker-Reinz Ltd., meaning that any and all attendees will be insured against any ill-effects and injuries that may happen on the grounds of the festival.
We encourage everyone who has a modicum of interest in the anart music scene to come listen to these bands this July, and visit Esterberg too, which, at that time of the year, is a lovely sight. This, of course, leaves us with only one thing left to say: I hope to see all of you there.
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