Chris Gravett

 

I've been back from Sunset Celebration 2012 for a couple of days. Everything's dried out and now mud free!! I was really looking forward to shooting Sunrise Festival this year as it was a hightlight last year and a source of some varied and succesful images. Sunset Celebration is a fairly small festival, about 20,000 I think. It rightfully claims to be the greenest of all festivals and definately provides the best toilets, in terms of cleanliness and lack of odour, of any festival I have visited. The location is between Frome and Bruton in Somerset so very close to Worthy Farm Pilton where Glastonbury is held. In fact this year it was held on Glastonbury weekend to take in the summer solstice as this year there is no Glastonbury. Hence the poor weather! Sunrise is more than just a music festival, check out the Sunrise website

There will be no avoiding Sunrise 2012 being remembered for the mud. Not just for one or two days but throughout. My first photo was not a set up. This car attempted to leave on the Saturday morning but soon became so entrenched even a four wheel drive jeep could not pull it free. Look at that registration!

For many folk the mud was a source of fun - especially in a rare sunny moment..

....but for others it was all a bit of a chore...

Well I won't dwell any further on rain and mud other than to compliment the organisers and volunteers as throughout they worked tirelesssly in what were at times some extreme conditions.

My main reason for returning to shoot at Sunrise was the presence of Chai Wallahs  . They have a bunch of amazing artists and they also have a big tent so was in the dry.

Joe Driscoll appeared a couple of times, excellent as always (it's a photo of  Joe's foot on my homepage). Joe introduced Sekou Kouyate on the Thursday evening and they played together. Joe and Sekou have been collaborating since they met at a French music Nuits Metis in Marseille.

Sekou also played at the Local Posse set on Friday and with Afri Quoi the same evening.

Sekou Kouyate

One of my highlights this year was Sonny Green who also joined Joe and Sekou on Thursday and played a big part in the Local Posse set on Friday. I believe it was Sonny's first appearance at Chai Wallahs. Doubt it won't be the last!

Sonny Green

Sonny comes from Dalston although in his lyrics it sounds as though he's originally from Southend. His words are brilliant, he's passionate about his message. His poetry over hip hop gets his message across. Sonny Green.

As I'm writing about lyrics and messages it's a great lead in to Dizraeli and the Small Gods. Awesome!

Dizraeli

And of course one of Dizraeli's Small Gods is the Godess female beatbox world champion Belle Ehresmann, known as Bellatrix.

Bellatrix

Belle beatboxes, plays bass and double bass in multiple groups and on a variety of musical collborations. What a talent. I'll be shooting Belle again with her all girl group The Boxettes  at Rhythms of the World (ROTW) at Hitchin Priory on 14th July. Tickets are on sales now ROTW  

There was a brilliant line up at Chai Wallahs throughout the festival right from Breezy Lee who started the show off on Thursday through to Sunday night.

Breezy Lee

The crowd enjoyed the vibes in Chai Wallahs, from girls having fun..

....to this three year old 

and some seasoned party goers pulling faces through the rain across the way

On Saturday morning in the media tent I met a young Australian photographer, based in London, Pat Webb. Pat had just arrived at what I assume was his first UK festival as he was somewhat unprepared for the mud. His new grey trainers looked a sorry state. Pat was far from downhearted, he was working for Ghetto Funk  whose DJs were running Beyond the Stars. Check out Pat's website Loredesign. Pat invited me along to the Ghetto Funk session. Below are a few of my images from Ghetto Funk's Saturday night.

Entry to the tent is through a Dr Who Tardis and along this tunnel..

finally arriving though a veil into the tent/club

once inside there are plenty of party people...

who are of course shy and reserved

great tunes, fun folk and an all night party

Well that's the first few of my Sunrise Celebration photos. More will appear here on my website, flickr and across the festival and artists websites shortly.