Kalistani Major History

[Doc]

GanJam 5513 fires on all cylinders
Total Attendance tops 95,000 over 4 days
Sulari, Duchy of Suldanor
March 31, 5513


Her Imperial Majesty, Empress Nicolette II Ananto, as a fan, meets La Reina backstage at GanJam 5513

GanJam 5513 will go down in history as the Most International program to date. Not only were Kalistani headliners is full spectacle, but the show also featured an extensive collaboration with Aldegar's music establishment, and well received participation from Gaduridos, Hutori, and other nations. This year's art exhibition was also one of the most extensive visual arts displays ever held at the Festival, and featured art work in more than half a dozen media.

ODEN-K was the primary sponsor but this year ODEN-H was Co-Host. The Show also featured institutional support through round the clock coverage on M7 and both Radio 1 and Radio 7. Both Kalistani and Hutorian royalty was on hand for the entire program--GanJam 5513 was the first to feature an Imperial Pavillion. Early in the show, GanJam 5513 was nicknamed in the Press as the "Imperial Jam" and that name was quickly snatched up by both the domestic and international press. In all, the show was among the most diverse and most widely celebrated festivals in the long storied history of the GanJam. Final crowd totals top out at 95,736 tickets sold for the first three days, between day passes and Festival tickets, with the 4th day holding tradition as a free concert. More than 1800 tickets were sold to Aldegarian visitors, by far the largest international contingent at the festival.

GanJam featured 4 full nights of music, including the Dusk Til Dawn Night 2. The program allowed as many various styles to be on demonstration as possible. During Day 1, the show was opened with Reggae and Funk music. At 6:25 pm, the MC and primary festival organizer, Allison Monroe took to the stage to welcome the crowd of more than 65,000 to the GanJam, and to announce the arrival in the stadium of both Her Imperial Majesty Empress Nicolette II Ananto with His Highness the Prince Consort Bjorn, and Her Majesty, Queen Victoria II and Prince Consort Henri of Hutori. After both royals were situated in the Imperial Box with a perfect view of the stage, the Dancehall Reggae Artist Max Templeton. The Night featured Aldegarian Blues performer Meysam Keramati, who thrilled the crowd with a set of blues and reggae fusion tracks, including the breakout single "No Hopes in the Land of Dreams."

Night 1 Headliner Mimms Fatone starts his set by passing out Joints to the crowd

The crowd enthusiastically took to the Aldegarian contribution to the show. "We listen to so much really loud music here in Kalistan," said Brad Furst, a 24 year old attendee. "But you'd be really surprised at the music from the rest of the world that is played on Radio 7. I primarily listen to that, and we've been getting a lot more Aldegarian tunes up here lately. It was good to hear from one of my own favs!" The night's closing musician, Marcus Martin Maxwell (Mimms) Fatone brought the house down by starting off his set by throwing thousands of pre-rolled cannabis cigarettes out into the crowd, claiming he was not going to play until everyone within 50 feet of the stage had "sparked up they spliff..." Following a 3 minute delay while he waited, Mimms launched into his set, which consisted of hardcore dancehall and Reggae en Egelian (REE). He was confidently backed up by the Vrassan Reggae Symphony Orchestra, and was joined at one point by Dana Ska punks Checkerboard Mods to perform their recent number 1 single "Fi Unity". The Night's music lasted until about 4 am local.

Night 1 in the books, the program moved during Night 2 to RF, Psychedlica, Electronica and Jazz. The Aldegarians once again were out in force focusing mostly on Aldegarian Jazz, which tends to feature more strings and woodwind instruments than Kalistani Jazz (which focuses primarily on electronic synthesizers, and explores in terms of genre rather than virtuosity on instruments), with the bandleader Sirvan Mashayekhi opening the night. His band played an extended jam of 15 minutes and then finished with Aldegarian reinterpretations of classic Kalistani and Aldegarian pop and rock tunes. Later in the night, Zahra Najafi returned to Aldegarian Jazz and debuted an original, "Zohra" during their set. The crowd really mellowed out to the Aldegarian Jazz, and ODEN-K reports that hashish sales were up by 52% during the Aldegarian sets. The Aldegarians were followed by Kaliburg RF duo Infrared, who treated the crowd to experimental sequencer programming and songs about alienation under industrialization.

The most anticipated sets of the concert came later in the night, however, as Hutorian Electronic Pop artist Baroness took the stage. The Highly stylized and choreographed performance featured at least 7 costume changes, and leaned very heavily into sexuality and alien motifs, marking it as a fierce return to RF in the Kalistani Music Scene. Baroness' set lasted more than 35 minutes and was capped by a performance of what can only be described as a science fiction pro drag queen epic saga/progressive Electro-Pop opus called "Right Track". By the end of the hard pop set, the crowd was at a fever pitch, and demanded an encore from Baroness.

[Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udajoddAWLY]

Still in a very skimpy bikini and covered in highly reflective glitter, Baroness returned to the stage with a harp, and as the spotlight light narrowed, she began playing a very light motif on the instrument. The crowd was quiet as she started singing a song about people who don't leave her alone while she is trying to have fun at the club. As soon as the beat dropped and the song switched into a full RF banger about techno terror and the annoyance of instant access via cellphone, the crowd lost their minds. The roar of approval for the performance was like a shockwave from the stadium. But it was topped when recently crowned Kalistani Pop queen La Reina took the stage to join Baroness with a rapped verse backed by a dubstep breakdown, and then the two finished the World Premier of "My Cell Phone" together. According to Baroness, this is the first time this song has ever been heard outside the studio, making it a world premier jam.

Kalistan's La Reina and Hutori's Baroness, out of costume partying during the late night DJ sets on L Night

As both ladies finished the duet, bowing and waving, Baroness handed her mic to La Reina who immediately broke into her her Number 1 single "Crazy Right Now." She then played a full set featuring not only songs from her current album No Sleep til Sulari including "Another Chick on your Arm" but also new ones including the heavy bass RF anthem to PDAs and amateur cinematography called "Hit you back". La Reina's bass was still blasting when 2 AM rolled around and as the crowd gave her a face melting ovation, she announced from the stage: "Oh, we ain't done yet. You've heard the Baroness. You've Heard the Queen. And Now, please join me in welcoming The Goddess!"

[Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa14VNsdSYM]
Megapipe at GanJam

With this announcement, the stage went completely dark for 10 second. The restless crowd was still yelling for La Reina, when a single spotlight lit from the rig above the stage and shone down on Kalistani Music Legend and FOMAT Winner Megapipe, who, despite another deafening roar from the crowd when they realized who was on stage, started her set a capella. She began with a stripped down rendition of her hit "Lovefix". After her first verse, which was accompanied by a soft viola, the lights came up to reveal a stunningly dressed singer arrayed in a massive white gown with feathers and sequins, and then the entire backing band kicked in. Following that song, she immediately stripped out of the gown into a dress made of mirrors that shot beams of light across the entire stadium, turning herself into a human disco ball, and launched into a new track called "Only Woman in the World."

FOMAT Reigning Champion Megapipe returns to Kalistani Music at GanJam 5513

Megapipe finally left the stage at around 3am, and then the GanJam turned into a rave, with three DJ sets, including a set from Miguel Blanco from Gaduri, who spun electronic cumbia house mixes for about 90 minutes. Most of the field was filled with drugged ravers who brought out the glow paint and danced until the sun appeared over the rim of the stadium around 8 am. "Oh my god, I am so exhausted," said party goer Sandy Townes. "The Baroness-La Reina-Megapipe sets... back to back to back, and then the EDM and RF DJs? I'm sorry I can't even right now. Too many drugs, I gotta get back to the Hotel..."

Compared to the megawattage of the performers on Night 2, Night 3, which focused heavily on Hip Hop and Funk was relatively subdued. "We had to give people a day to recover," said Concert Organizer Allison Monroe. "After a night of heavy intoxication with chemicals like LSD and MDMA, bringing folks down with some more mellow substances. We sold a lot of marijuana and hashish, but we also sold a LOT of booze tonight. Beer, wine and Hutorian Whiskey were on tap this evening. We sold enough beer to fill the hull of a cargo ship--there are 73,000 people here and 2/3rds of them bought at least one beer."

The intoxication of much of the crowd did not dim the enthusiasm for the music on Night 3 however. Opening the Night, from Gaduridos, was the Cumbia band Sonida de Sonora, including the single "Go From Me." The band got the crowd pumped up. Cumbia and other music from Gaduridos is a fan favorite in Kalistan, and there was strong support for the band during their 40 minute, 7 song set. "Esta es la primera vez que estamos en Kalistán," said Lead singer Luz Guttierez. "Tocar frente a una multitud de este tamaño ha sido una experiencia verdaderamente memorable y la recordaré para siempre." Following their set, Sonida de Sonora was asked by reps from LTD who offered them the opportunity to tour Kalistan and record in Sulari. The band responded that they were flattered, and would get their manager to give LTD a call.

The Gaduris were followed by boom bap impresario RON, from Yoshimi, who did a 42 minute set including his single "Jackie Q." Also featured during the evening were Funk band Altaliens who played primarily space funk and female MC Allie, who flew into Sulari from Eshar where she is on tour, to play the GanJam and arrived by helicopter.

Vrassan MC Allie hit the stage at 9 pm, and played for 37 minutes.

Also featured on Night 3 were Aldegarian musicians Moein Tajik & Roya Hayat who brought a full set of rap and R&B to the Jam, including the single "Moonlight" from their forthcoming LP and then later in the evening, Aldegarian Pop sensation Bahar Loolaii came on stage to perform, singing a total of 6 songs including the dream pop banger "Fierce". "Adding the Aldegarians in on Night 3 really expanded the offerings of the Kalistani bands," said Monroe. "We were lucky to have them joining the concert, because while Kalistani Hip Hop tends to edge toward the harder edge, the international bands featured the softer, more romantic aspects of the genre, and really highlighted the R&B aspects which are so often blended in with the more popular Hip Hop acts, most of whom wouldn't tend to accept invitations from ODEN. I enjoy and appreciate what the foreigners brought into the festival and next time we hold a Jam, I hope more nations take us up on the invitation to be a part of it."

The Night's Headliner was Son of Yeshua, a huge Addisjah Hip Hop artist and poet who, unlike his name suggests, is not very religious. "I mostly sing about sex, drugs, and shooting people," said Son of Yeshua from the stage, "so if yall thought this was gonna be like church, then get the f--k up outta here!" Son then broke into a full hardcore hip hop set which included the single "Mafioso", Son of Yeshua's biggest selling single to date, from 5511. Son of Yeshua rapped over a live band for 50 minutes, making the set the longest (non DJ) set of the entire concert. Night 3 ended in a hangover at around 2am.

The Final Night of the Concert was opened by Aldegarian Alternative artist Leyli Fallah, who brought a downtempo bedroom sound to the Stage, singing in Aldegarian. "There was something interesting about Fallah's performance," said concertgoer Walt Martino. "I started taking acid that afternoon to be ready for the evening, but there were some psychadelic, music concret aspects to it, which, like you thought it was gonna be this straight forward thing, but when I listened to it, I could swear I could hear these weird spectral horns. It was quite strange. I was fully into it, and I am a huge fan now. It's wild."

Other rock and alternative Acts that played the first half of the evening were the Luxon based progressive metal band Motorish, two tone ska band Mike and the Disasters from Dana, and Alt Folk songstress Mindi Kalani, from Vrassa City. the last Aldegarian band Dreamy Poets, brought dream alternative to the concert, and demonstrated, on a few songs, the genre known as shoegaze. Their song Niā could be considered Alternative Pop, but it involves way more electronic elements, as well as a non-standard song structure that places it firmly into the Alternative category.

Show closers Rogue Meteor Cult, from Sulari, play a grand finale of GanJam 5513 underneath a sky filled with fireworks

Night 4 was Headlined by the Rogue Meteor Cult from Sulari. This Noise Alternative Band was recommended by Mondo Phillips from the band Hypoderma, who were asked but couldn't play due to Phillips' most recent attempts to quit using drugs. "When we were asked to play," said singer and guitarist Kiera Jameson, "we were like 'Man who has ever heard of us?' But that chick from ODEN (Organizer Allison Monroe) was all like 'Oh, let me name off some of your songs, I like this song, and I really dig what you did with the bass tone on that song, and when you play this other song backwards was it really the Devil, like why is that sound in there...' And I though wow, maybe like one person has heard of us. And then it turns out that there's this whole thing, where we're selling records all over the place and didn't even know about it! We fired our manager that day." Rogue Meteor Cult does indeed have a nationwide following: their record has sat in the number 2 spot now for two weeks, being blocked by a Remix LP of "No Sleep Til Sulari" which has been at number one since it knocked the original out of the top spot in late February. The band played their last two songs underneath a massive fireworks display organized by ODEN to celebrate the conclusion of the 5513 GanJam, which ended right around 2:15 am local time on the morning of March 31.

The Art Pavilions on the Grounds of the Sulari Stadium were chock full of psychedelic and drug inspired art. Most of the Art came from visual artists, photographers, painters, cinematographers and collage artists around the Empire. One Pavillion also featured performance art, while another featured short and medium featured documentaries. A small film festival was also held during the day, where a jury, including Her Imperial Majesty viewed and judged 8 short films. The winner was by Neveras City film maker Don Hardwick, whose film titled "Canoe" details a canoe ride through the site of the Lhasa Narrows as the Narrows Dam, now nearing completion, was just beginning to be built in 5506. "The White Water will disappear when the Dam is completed" said Hardwick in narration. "I know it will help so many to have a resevior here, but for me, the natural state of this river is beautiful, and progress involves sacrifice."

Here are some highlights of the Visual Arts Pavilions which were visited by 63,000 visitors over 4 days.

"The Hole" by Miley Velasco, an optical illusion simulating depth on a 2D surface

"Heavens and Terra" by Bib Zimmerman, Muralist in Pavillion 1

On the Burden of Being Upright" by Terrance Winthrop and Emily Montana, Performance Art

"La Empreza" by Marian Richards, Pastels and photocollage

"Over all, GanJam raised ₭5,765,962 in ticket sales and another ₭48,358,750," said Allison Monroe. "Much of that went to the artists themselves. But we profited well in excess of ₭3 million from the concert. It was such a treat to have all of the acts we had, and to welcome all of the artists and visitors from other nations. This was definitely a successful concert event." When asked if there will be a follow up concert next year, Monroe said "No, I think that Kalistan needs to start thinking about FOMAT next. But Ideally we'd like to see one sooner than this one is from the last one."