Rave before Rave … Anjuna Beach, Goa, India … hippies got soul.
Anjuna beach Goa, half-way down the west coast of India.
Oh, about 1975, 1976 …
Anjuna Beach, Goa, on the western coast of India, with golden sands
and palm trees had been a destination from way back when
for travelling hippies at Xmas time when the cold snow fell in
Europe.
With its sun, beach and beauty, easy living & all. Talked about
and written about in underground papers and travel notes.
And hitch-hiking and the Magic Bus could get you there,
overland from Istanbul, Turkey, all the way to Delhi,
then Bombay & a then a boat ride.
Full moon parties, with local folks offering chai & fruit round about
the sand edges.
At one end of the beach, kind of sheltered by a rising rock-face
and set back just a little ways from the sea was a natural rock-ledge.
Ideal for setting up a sound system, there may have been a small
wooden stage too, my memory is unsure on that, though I do
recall three hippie chicks sitting on the edge of something in their
colorful finery and watching the show on the beach before them,
one smiled at me.
As night came local women would bring their hurricane lamps,
chai making fixings and all and set up on blankets at the village
edge of the beach. The men were either fishing or asleep I guess,
I do believe they would go out in their boats and fish at night
come to think about it.
The moon was full, the stars were shining, the waves lapped
the shore. Yes, truly, it was just like that.
And small fires would be lit, and chillums smoked and joints
shared and the music would play.
And despite the spacey, trippy, flowy, gowny, long hair
vibe of it all, the music was dance.
Now this is the thing … this is the thing … we would hear
and dance to …
‘Hit the Road Jack’ from Big Youth …
Stevie Wonders’ ‘Higher Ground’ … ‘Mistra Know it All’
& ‘As’ … “Till day turns into night …” check it, its lovely …
‘Doin It’ from Herbie Hancock … funky jazz …
And ‘Gypsy Man’, apt to be sure, and ‘Slippin’ into Darkness’ from War …
Isley Brothers ‘Live it up’ and ‘Fight the Power’ … ‘Hard Work’ from John Handy …
such a lovely tune … ‘Stars come out at night’ from Steely Dan … and yes,
the Ohio Players too …
You get the picture, or at least I hope you do. To be funking around to such
sounds on a beach in India in the mid-late seventies with a head full of prime
Afghani ot Kashmir hashish with the calls of Bom Shiva Shankar resounding
through the night.
Others sleeping under blankets, just gone already.
And the moon was full and the waves
broke gently on the beach.
Dancing by the gentle sea,
movers at the front,
by the stage.
The Rajneeshis were around at this time too.
Maroon gowns, necklace portraits, imposing in ways,
cool in others, self-contained at times, a group among
themselves.
But a party it was … and funky get-down sounds that
you maybe would not have figured all things considered
as …
Under an full moon
hundreds of hippies
Wide awake …
….
Reading: A Season In Heaven, true tales from the road to kathmandu.
David Tomory, Lonely Planet publications.
Travellers’ Tales, India … James O’Reilly & Larry Habegger,
Travellers’ Tales Inc.
Rave before Rave … Anjuna Beach, Goa, mid-70’s.