Swingamajig Festival Digbeth, 30th April, 2017
In the dark corners of Digbeth, amongst the graffiti and the grit, lay passageways that become transformed worlds during festival season. The dreary, unsuspecting landscape is transformed by a blast of colours and noise, lively people in bombastic costumes who create an alternative universe for just a short few hours. For those desiring the escapism of festival life but do not want to travel far from home, Swingamajig Festival is the festival for you.
Swingamajig Festival is a cacophony of sound and color, of vintage costumes and extravagant wears. It would seem that what makes Swingamajig so unique within the deluge of festivals is the way in which Swingamajig reorients the visual and the sonic. The visual reorientation strikes you once you immediately walk in. The once cold and grey alleys of Digbeth are transformed with streamers and tents giving the feel of an old vintage circus. As bright streamers sway in the gentle breeze glitter, sequins, and color pop from the vendors and festival goers. In a rainbow of colours and light, each turn brings about a new and fanciful array of life. Immediately the creation of a new setting transports attendees into a different dimension.
This dimension is further solidified by the other visual stimulant, that of all the wonderful clothes. Swingamajig Festival is unique in that it pairs quality music with vintage shopping! Gorging on luxurious furs, sequined shirts, and satiny vintage shirts individuals can adorn their bodies in appropriate attire. Along with the clothes vendors also sell intricate crafts, pieces of genuine art, so that you can take the festival aurora home with you when you leave. If you where not prepared for the fanciful experience, you certainly will be once you partake in a little vintage rummaging. It again creates this atmosphere of mystery and old, like a tattered circus travelling into town for the night.
Visually then Swingamajig is stunning. The area and the aesthetics are completely reinvented so that life is far from normality. Yet a mere visual stimulation does not complete a festival, no there also must be music. And Swingamajig has exceptional music at each and every stage! The music tended to be geared towards a more swing style, and yet everything from big bands to DJs to hip hop where present. Just as Swingamajig is a feast for the eyes so is it a feast for the ears. The energy at each show is unparalleled, with crowds slammed into tents dancing fervently from day to night. It is one of the reasons why so many artists love coming to play at Swingamajig. Talent Lola Lamour said her and her band specifically planned for this festival, “This years gig was in the diary a long while as, when we couldn’t do last year, we made sure we got it in there for this year!” It is a sentiment shared by many other artists. Sharna Mae, whose band put on one of the best performances of the day, said the band loves playing the festival.
The music is unique and distinctive, and the festival attendees love it. Electro swing, the usual sound heard around the festival, is not necessarily the mainstream juggernaut found in most festivals and yet the attendees love it. Talent Captain Flatcap reflects on the experience saying, “ Most festivals we play are the polar opposite of main stream festivals, and are full of people more open to unusual kinds of music, or have heard of us/ know our music, and are a lot more energetic compared to gigs at venues. Swingamajig is obviously full of people who understand and like Electro Swing and it’s related genres, and the crowd at our set needed very little encouragement to get the party started, it was awesome!” The music is incredible, the clothes and area are fanciful, it is the perfect mixture for escapism.
Often we think of festivals and we think of needing to travel to far away lands. It sounds pleasant, enjoyable in fact, but when reality hits and you’re carrying a weekends worth of clothes and food and alcohol and the occasional busted tent through mud piled grass, the allure of festival life dies a bit.
Swingamajig is a local festival that offers all the brilliance of festival culture, without the hassle. The combination of visuals and sonic masterpieces truly create a different world in which you can immerse and be transported. Offering something for everyone, Swingamajig Festival is an event that should be on all our summer calendars for years to come.