Electrified Cultures in the Heart of Transylvania

Between July 14th and July 17th, Banffy Castle in Bonțida, Cluj, hosted the fourth edition of the Electric Castle Festival. Over 30.000 people from across the world enjoyed the atmosphere and music, crossing cultures and conveyed a message of peace and unity to the world.

Music is a universal language. With music you can communicate across cultures and linguistic boundaries in ways impossible with verbal languages such as English, French, and German. Music has the power to evoke deep feelings at the core of the shared human experience. It not only crosses cultures, it also reaches deep into our evolutionary past.

Electric Castle is the first festival in Romania to move electronic music and live performances to the outdoor backdrop of a castle. It is also the only Romanian festival that offers an authentic experience and complete festival lineup, including a line-up with well-known musicians, a large camping area and various activities during the day, all staged in an extraordinary setting.

With a diverse line-up of 50 artists from all over the world representing a variety of musical styles, such as America (Skrillex, Dilated Peoples), Island (Sigur Ros), England (Bring me the Horizon,Bastille), Germany (Paul Kalkbrenner, Pan-Pot), Austria (Como &Krooked). The festival was attended by over 30 thousand ‘’electric people’’ who even danced through the rain that overtook Banffy Castle. 

The event also spreads the message of world peace, solidarity, and ecotourism. Elliphant, one of the artists performing on Sunday night, maintained a permanent dialogue with the audience, hoping to convey a message of peace to the whole world following recent events in France and Sweden. He stated that music is what unites people and helps create an atmosphere of harmony and good humor.

Around 30 young people from 5 different countries arrived on bicycle after traveling over 250 km to spend three magnificent days at the Electric Castle. London, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Chisinau and Bucharest are just some of the cities from which people began their cycle ride to the Electric Castle Festival. All have chosen this means of transport in the hope of promoting cycling as a environmentally friendly mode of transport, an excellent opportunity to visit new places and a way of making friends.

In the past couple of years, rain has become somewhat of a trademark for the festival, and this year didn’t disappoint. The most eagerly anticipated act - the concert of American artist, Skrillex, on Saturday evening -brought the worst rain tens of thousands of people have ever seen. The apocalyptic flood simply added to the fun of the Skrillex show. There were lasers, fireworks, confetti, smoke cannons and vibrant music, yet the flashes of lightening from the stormy sky were particularly spectacular, and were greeted with cheers and applause by the audience.

Absolute freedom, dancing in the rain and mud – this is the lasting memory of this year’s Electric Castle Festival in Bontida, Cluj. It rained every night, yet this didn’t prevent the young audience from having fun. They overcame cultural, national and linguistic barriers, instead communicating in a universal language – Music.