One of this summer’s biggest and most anticipated festivals is nearly upon us with the return of Imera & Niks Carnaval, taking place on Milyon Beach (Kilyos) Friday 9 through Sunday 11 September. Organized by Well Works Entertainment, the festival’s theme centers on “where the light and dark meet”, incorporating a wide depth of mythologies (particularly Greek and Indian) and focusing on balance and harmony, cultivated in various forms in this year’s festival program. Echoing this ethos, the festival’s scope brings together a diverse array of unique concepts and designs, multiple stages and genres, international and local renowned talents, art exhibitions and dance performances, visual shows, and much more.
Following on the success of their beloved 2019 edition which featured headliners Astrix and Captain Hook, this year’s preparations reflect a daunting and massive step forward in the Imera & Niks journey, firmly cementing them among the pantheon of Turkey’s elite festivals. It also showcases a thoughtful approach in bringing both international stars alongside many esteemed artists from Turkey or with Turkish roots. The scope of genres ensures there’s something for fans of all ages and musical preferences, while the carefully curated four stages based on the elements of air, earth, water, and fire lend themselves to undertaking an adventure of musical discovery and exploration.
This year’s extensive line-up is expected to garner over 45,000 attendees for a collective memorable experience worthy of fans arriving from around the world. The fire stage is set to burn up the night with performances from some of electronic’s finest and most popular performers including Meduza, CamelPhat, Sam Paganini, Max Cooper, Argy, Space Motion, and Solee. On the earth stage, the festival grounds itself with some iconic performers and veterans of psychedelic, soul, rock, and beyond in Foals, Selda Bağcan, Zola Blood, Baba Zula, Friendly Fires, Island Man, Hey! Douglas, Soft Analog, and others. The water stages quenches the thirst for renowned psytrance and visual shows, with Astrix, Blastoyz, Daniel Portal, Junam, Off Limits, Gorovich, and Indigo Spirit. While finally, the air stage sets us soaring with chill and ethnic house in the form of seasoned talents Zigan Aldi, Santi & Tuğçe, Derun, Mert Demir, Depart, and Anatolian Sessions. Many, many more artists are slotted to take part in this year’s proceedings, with the above just the tip of the iceberg. Each stage will embody its element, with entrancing visual shows and dance performances to capture hearts and minds.
Tickets for this year’s festival are available as individual dates or a combined ticket for the entirety of the festival. Camping accommodation, as well as plenty of hotels nearby, ensure that fans can easily make the most out of the weekend’s many offerings. With early bird tickets going quickly, we encourage everyone to act fast to save some money and ensure their place, while lending their support to what’s organizationally surely an ambitious project to take on. Tickets are available now via Passo, alongside a breakdown of each day’s performances. For regular updates and happenings regarding this year’s festival, be sure to keep up with the official Instagram page for Imera & Niks Carnaval.
From the organizer:
The battle of darkness and light has been a part of the oral and written history of humanity since ancient times. In the stories human beings wrote to make sense of life, darkness represented “the evil” and light represented “the good”.
However, in Indian and Greek mythologies; where darkness and light bring the universe into balance, one cannot exist without the other. As Le Guin said, “Darkness is the left hand of light, and light is the right hand of darkness.” The phrase sums up this belief very well.
The perfect balance of these two hands has surrounded us since the beginning of existence and has harmoniously harboured the souls of all creatures and elements.
Imera & Niks Carnaval’s name is based on two goddesses in Greek Myth. Niks, who represents chaos and darkness, is mother of Imera who is the goddess of the light.
In Imera & Niks Carnaval, the participants are celebrating the harmony and balance that these two goddesses bring to the universe and it invites them to listen to the rhythm of the four elements with its unique concepts, designs, stages and artist performances.
Taking its power and origin from four elements, Imera & Niks Carnaval was first to bring the concept of carnival to Turkey by holding its first event in Istanbul in 2019, providing more than 4000 visitors at one stage a unique carnival experience in the likes of Coachella, Tomorrowland, and Burning Man. This year, with four stages and a massive line-up of talent, over 40,000 visitors are expected to take part.
Imera & Niks Carnaval is an unforgettable event that will make its participants feel the rhythm of four elements with four different stages this year and invites them to an unforgettable experience.
This year, Imera & Niks Carnaval will have four different stages. Each of the stages designed as Air, Water, Fire and Earth, will host a different type of music. Imera & Niks Carnaval, which will take the participants to the peaks of ethnic house, techno, psychedelic rock and psytrance; aims to provide a real carnival experience with dance and light shows accompanied by the most famous artists and DJs in their fields and in the world.
Air is the first element that creates nature, which is alive and powerful. This element, which has white, ice blue and gray tones in its color palette, will be symbolized by the “eagle” and will be presented to the participants with air shows, acrobatics and dance shows. Chill and ethnic house music genres that will take place in Air Stage, will make you experience the power, vitality and feeling of freedom of the air element.
Water element is wise, changeable and healing. The second stage of the event, Water Stage is inspired by the wisdom of the water element and it will blend and rediscover its changing nature and healing power with the spirit of psytrance music, accompanied by
acrobatic dances and world-famous DJ performances. The stage will be constructed in shades of blue, purple and turquoise and will be symbolized by the “dolphin” throughout the carnival.
The fire that Prometheus stole from the the gods and presented to humanity at the risk of being punished, represents enlightenment and conveying knowledge to humanity, both physically and symbolically. Fire Stage will be one of the main stages of the
carnival and will invite the participants to a unique journey with world-famous techno DJs. The fire element will be represented with orange, yellow and red visuals in the carnival and in the event area; the performances of the fire dancers will be emphasized with the “phoenix” figure.
Earth element; besides being solid and stable, it is fertile, productive and creative. The element earth, which has been described as “Mother Earth” in most cultures throughout history, is one of the main scenes in Imera & Niks Carnaval. Earth Scene; brings together psychedelic rock music with the fertility of the soil, going deep into the soul of music. The Earth Stage, which will be created with the colors green, yellow and brown, will be represented by the figure of an “elephant” accompanied by magnificent dance shows and performances.
An art exhibition will be created for art lovers at Imera & Niks Carnaval, where world-famous names will take place in the stages. In the art exhibition at the Carnival, artists and students from the relevant departments of universities will be able to exhibit the works of art they have produced and bring these works together with participants.
Foals
Foals, which took place at the top of world-famous festivals such as Coachella, Glastonbury, Mad Cool, Sziget and Roskilde; is a British indie rock band. Foals, who had never performed in Turkey before, will take place for the first time at Imera & Niks Carnaval and meet with a large audience waiting for them with excitement.
Meduza
With 15.2M monthly listeners on Spotify, Meduza is one of the groups with the most streams in electronic music in Turkey. The techno trio Meduza, who left Adele and Drake behind and settled 12th among the 20 most listened albums of 2021; performed at festivals such as Exit and Tomorrowland, and has not yet performed in Turkey.
Camelphat
Camelphat, which has performed at world-famous festivals such as Tomorrowland, Glastonbury, Ultra; is a world-known DJ duo that makes music in the techno genre. The duo, which ranked 32nd among 100 names on the DJ Mag 2021 list, also climbed to the first place in the Beatport Top10 list with their song Lose Your Head.
Astrix
Having performed as a headliner in festivals such as OZORA, GOA, and Psychedelic Experience, Astrix is shown as the most successful name of the psytrance music genre and has a large audience in Turkey.
Argy
ARGY has been on its way to the top of the world in dance music in recent years, with its broad perspective from techno to indie dance, from cosmic electronica to house.
Max Cooper
Max Cooper, who is an electronic and techno music producer; combines his music with 4D sound, hyperform and 360 degree spatial installations, will bring his audience a memorable visual stage show.
Blastoyz
Blastoyz who has entered the DJ Mag 2021 DJ list and has previously performed at major festivals such as Tomorrowland; is a famous trance music DJ.
Zola Blood
Zola Blood, a four-membered British indie rock and funk band, impresses their audience easily with their music and stage.
Selda Bağcan
Selda Bagcan, who has audience from all over the world; has taken the stage both in Turkey and in world-famous festivals such as Burning Man and Glastonbury since the 1970s. Selda Bağcan produces indie rock music and is frequently mentioned around the world.
Friendly Fires
Friendly Fires, an indie rock band founded in England, took the stage at Coachella 2020.
Santi and Tuğçe
Santi and Tuğçe has 55 thousand monthly audience. They meet their audience with their electronic music that has emotional melodies, colorful instrumentation combinations and dreamlike harmonies.
Zigan Aldi
Zigan Aldi, who has a huge fan base both in Turkey and around the world with the Turkish melodies he uses in his pieces and sets, is a DJ and producer who has proven himself in the Berlin music scene.
Baba Zula
Baba Zula defines their music as ‘Spaceway oriental music’; wears colorful costumes during the concert; meets the audience with a theatrical and ceremonial stage energy.
Additional performers at this year’s festival include Space Motion, Solee, Derun, Hey! Douglas, Island Man, Mert Demir, Dan Portal, Gorovich, Off Limits, Depart, Soft Analog, Anatolian Sessions, Junam, Indigo Spirit, and more!
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For more information, be sure to check out the official page for Imera & Niks Carnaval, as well as keep up with their official Instagram page. Tickets are currently available via Passo.
Demirci, Kilyos Cd. No:11, 34450 Sarıyer, Istanbul
