Hong Kong’s music festival with a sustainable focus is back with a new venue, bigger lineup, more stages and zero waste. Here, co-founder Florian Melinette talks alternative music, gong baths and solar-powered stages.
This October, Hong Kong welcomes back Shi Fu Miz, an all-things green music festival, for the third time. Born out of a collaboration between Hong Kong’s creative agency Fu Fu Creative and French events agency La Mamie, co-founder Florian Melinette describes the event as striving to broaden its city’s horizons via “curiosity, conviviality, music eclecticism and ecological awareness” since its inception in 2015. Hive Life sat down Florian to hear what Hong Kong’s festival-goers can expect from this year’s eco-conscious music festival.
Described by Florian as an “art project”, Shi Fu Miz strives to bring something new to Hong Kong. Apart from the obvious titan that is Clockenflap, music festivals are somewhat an untouched cultural space in the city – especially those with a conscience. And it’s this that Shi Fu Miz seeks to address. As Florian explains, “In Europe, there are already festivals such as Dekmantel in the Netherlands or Dimensions in Croatia, and even more in France and the UK. They have pretty underground music, creative art and a sustainability to them that’s important if you are organising an event in nature – we need to respect it.”
Striving to bring a similar atmosphere to Hong Kong, Florian explains, “we want to create something different in the form of a weekend festival centred on the environment and set in the middle of a paradise venue.” Located on Sai Yuen Farm, an eco-friendly farm living on the shore of Cheung Chau, Shi Fu Miz certainly offers something miles away from the sloped hills and packed bars of Central’s Lan Kwai Fong on a Saturday night.
In terms of music, the event promises a spectrum. “The music revolves around groove and soul. In the morning it will be jazz, soul and world music, followed with funk in the afternoon. At night, we will finish off with some deep house and techno.” Aimed at those who are keen to enjoy a line up outside the mainstream, they can expect names ranging from Glenn Underground to Ben UFO and Kodäma.
Against this soundtrack, the weekend boasts a whole host of creative activities. “The festival really has a DIY approach. We invite the public to not only be a spectator, but also an active part of the weekend,” explains Florian. Visitors are told to expect the unexpected – they could find themselves in the “chill area” playing Jenga and hula-hooping, in a football tournament, doing yoga or even in the midst of a gong bath meditation session. He furthers, “We need more entertainment to make our city alive…not just another party in Lan Kwai Fong.
However, enjoyment at no cost to the environment is what Shi Fu Miz is really about. With eco-talks from zero-waste heroes such as Hannah Chung, workshops on permaculture and a marketplace full of sustainable brands – the activities are as much about entertainment as they are about environmental awareness. Moreover, they truly practise what they preach with a strict no-plastic ban, using only repurposed decor, locating themselves on the green farm of Sai Yuen and even having an entire stage powered entirely by a combination of solar energy and energy coming from bike movements.
As part of the immersive experience in nature, it is also the first festival in Hong Kong to offer traditional festival camping, with teepees and safari tents available to sleep in adorned with all the trimmings to offer a Coachella-style glamping experience.
With an event planned for 2019 and hints at bringing their underground eco-festival to other locations across Asia, Florian assures us that the ultimate goal is for Shi Fu Miz festival goers to leave the weekend with a smile. So, pack your bags and enter the weekend as a pollution riddled, nine-to-five ball of stress and leave on Sunday with tales of a great weekend, a fresh perspective, a more proficient downward facing dog and perhaps a reusable cup or two.
When: Saturday, 27 October 2018 | Sunday, 28 October 2018
Where: Cheung Chau, Hong Kong
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