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Jul 31, 2017
- Tisno, a small town straddling the Croatian mainland and the island of Murter, will host seven festivals this summer. Events like these are common up and down the Croatian coast and yet there's little competition between them. Each has their own musical ethos and their own audience. Nowhere is this more evident than at SuncéBeat,
the week-long event run by the team behind iconic UK festival Southport Soul Weekender. Like Southport, SuncéBeat is synonymous with soulful house, garage, disco and soul, all genres that attract an international audience. Though the majority of attendees were British, I met people from all over, including Belgium, Israel, Brazil and South Africa.
By day, festivalgoers lounged around on the beach, swam in the warm waters, drank cocktails and took in the varied sounds of the Beach Stage, which built to a solid house tempo once the sun had set. Others embarked on boat parties or saved themselves for nearby afterhours spot Barbarella's, one of Europe's best open-air clubs. This year it looked resplendent even in darkness thanks to a huge glitterball hanging above.
Barbarella's opening session on Wednesday was an all-female affair featuring Hong Kong resident Helen Ting, whose deep and Afro-heavy sets were a highlight throughout the week. Props to SuncéBeat for booking so many female DJs, though lumping them all together on the first night based on gender rather than musical styles felt a little heavy-handed.
Early on Thursday, Natasha Kitty Kat got the sun-baked Beach Stage going with a disco set that included C.J. & Co.'s "We Got Our Own Thing." Later, at the Olive Grove, the festival continued its support for South African house. The live drums of Black Motion proved popular, especially when they dropped &Me's new cut "Avalon," while Jazzuelle's more electronic-leaning set was solid without any of the theatrics. The day climaxed with a typically energetic set by Dennis Ferrer at Barbarella's.
Due to Greg Gauthier's excellent headline performance at the Beach Stage, I arrived late to Barbarella's on Friday night. Josh Milan, the songwriting genius behind New York garage dons Blaze, was in the booth. His strongest talents lie away from the decks, but what his set lacked in technical ability he more than made up for with his superb selections.
Compared to other Croatian festivals, SuncéBeat is unique in drawing a large black and mostly older audience (the youngest people were in their late 20s). Many of the older lot have been following the brand since Southport Weekender, and one of that event's most cherished sessions, Connoissuers Soul, was revisited on Saturday afternoon's boat party. Unadulterated joy ensued as Philadelphia International favourites mixed with rarer gems. Barbarella's was billed as an all-disco affair that night, but Danny Krivit and Louie Vega are masters of knowing what to play and when, and so they dropped house for large sections, much to the appreciation of the crowd.
Detroit Swindle smashed it at Barbarella's on Sunday, prompting Detroit veteran Delano Smith to head in a deep and driving direction for what was one of the sets of the weekend. This climaxed with a finale from marquee booking Kerri Chandler, who played live keys over his and Arnold Jarvis's "Inspiration."
A huge storm closed the site for 90 minutes on Monday, but the fine weather returned for Amp Fiddler's wonderful solo live set, his strong backing tracks making up for the absence of his band members. Detroit Swindle's boat party with Ge-ology, Jamie 3:26 and Marcellus Pittman was surely one of the best, with Lil' Louis's "French Kiss" raising the roof.
Legs began to tire on Tuesday, but when Paul Trouble Anderson, Terry Jones and Spen joined Ronnie Herel for the beachside finale they couldn't be prised from the decks until the first signs of daylight on Wednesday.
All that was left was the closing sea voyage, which, to everyone's surprise, Kerri Chandler pulled up to midway through in a speedboat. The onboard DJ, Rich Medina, handed him a mic into which Chandler sang the vocals to his own house classic "Rain." This was the last of many memorable moments at SuncéBeat 2017, a festival that brings a special kind of soul to the Croatian coast.
Photo credit /
Colin W
Early on Thursday, Natasha Kitty Kat got the sun-baked Beach Stage going with a disco set that included C.J. & Co.'s "We Got Our Own Thing." Later, at the Olive Grove, the festival continued its support for South African house. The live drums of Black Motion proved popular, especially when they dropped &Me's new cut "Avalon," while Jazzuelle's more electronic-leaning set was solid without any of the theatrics. The day climaxed with a typically energetic set by Dennis Ferrer at Barbarella's. Due to Greg Gauthier's excellent headline performance at the Beach Stage, I arrived late to Barbarella's on Friday night. Josh Milan, the songwriting genius behind New York garage dons Blaze, was in the booth. His strongest talents lie away from the decks, but what his set lacked in technical ability he more than made up for with his superb selections.
Compared to other Croatian festivals, SuncéBeat is unique in drawing a large black and mostly older audience (the youngest people were in their late 20s). Many of the older lot have been following the brand since Southport Weekender, and one of that event's most cherished sessions, Connoissuers Soul, was revisited on Saturday afternoon's boat party. Unadulterated joy ensued as Philadelphia International favourites mixed with rarer gems. Barbarella's was billed as an all-disco affair that night, but Danny Krivit and Louie Vega are masters of knowing what to play and when, and so they dropped house for large sections, much to the appreciation of the crowd. Detroit Swindle smashed it at Barbarella's on Sunday, prompting Detroit veteran Delano Smith to head in a deep and driving direction for what was one of the sets of the weekend. This climaxed with a finale from marquee booking Kerri Chandler, who played live keys over his and Arnold Jarvis's "Inspiration."
A huge storm closed the site for 90 minutes on Monday, but the fine weather returned for Amp Fiddler's wonderful solo live set, his strong backing tracks making up for the absence of his band members. Detroit Swindle's boat party with Ge-ology, Jamie 3:26 and Marcellus Pittman was surely one of the best, with Lil' Louis's "French Kiss" raising the roof. Legs began to tire on Tuesday, but when Paul Trouble Anderson, Terry Jones and Spen joined Ronnie Herel for the beachside finale they couldn't be prised from the decks until the first signs of daylight on Wednesday. All that was left was the closing sea voyage, which, to everyone's surprise, Kerri Chandler pulled up to midway through in a speedboat. The onboard DJ, Rich Medina, handed him a mic into which Chandler sang the vocals to his own house classic "Rain." This was the last of many memorable moments at SuncéBeat 2017, a festival that brings a special kind of soul to the Croatian coast. Photo credit / Colin W