By Sanne Rotmeijer
PHILIPSBURG/MARIGOT--From March 9 to 13, 2016, St. Maarten/St. Martin will host the first edition of the SXMusic Festival, a five-day electronic music event with internationally known DJ’s, (visual) artists and techno lovers from all over the world.
The festival will take place at various selected venues throughout the island. “Its accessibility, its vibe and its beaches: St. Maarten/St. Martin is built for a party!”
The Daily Herald sat down with Julian Arbia, the initiator and organizer of the SXMusic Festival in the restaurant of the Mercure Hotel in Nettle Bay. While he excuses himself for the bags under his eyes, he passionately speaks about the festival that he has been preparing now for 14 months. Julian Arbia is a club co-owner, DJ and entrepreneur from Montreal, Canada.
In 2004, when his parents decided to move to the island and run a hotel, he was introduced to St. Maarten/St. Martin for the first time. “Immediately the idea for a big electronic music event popped up,” he explains.
In 2006, he sent a promoter to explore the opportunities on the island. “Back then, however, the time wasn’t right. There were not enough locals to support the music. Techno lovers were not yet used to travel the world for their favourite festivals.”
Has anything changed in the past ten years? “Definitely,” says Arbia, “the international party scene has truly become global. Moreover, people who grew up with huge techno parties in the nineties are now in their thirties. Looking for intimacy, quality and an eco-friendly vibe, it is this particular target group the SXMusic Festival focuses on. The world is ready for it.”
So far, people from Japan, Australia, the US, Canada, France and the Netherlands, among other European countries, have bought a ticket for the festival. New York residents are at the top of the list. An important factor for the success of the festival, according to Arbia, is the direct flight connection between St. Maarten/St. Martin and big cities in North America and across Europe.
What about the locals? Are they ready for an electronic music festival?
“Today we hear electronic tunes in every pop song,” says Arbia. “Moreover, our line-up shows internationally known DJ’s that produce high quality handcraft sets during the festival. Everyone with an open mind to different music styles can appreciate this.”
Despite the international character of the festival, the organisers hope to attract people from the region as well.
In order to lower thresholds, Caribbean residents can buy their tickets with a discount: a 5-day pass for 180 euros instead of 250, a 1-day pass for 55 euros instead of 75. Although tickets remain quite expensive for the largest part of people living in the region, Arbia thinks that one-third of the expected 3000 visitors will be Caribbean residents.
In the meantime, Michael Killam, Arbia’s business partner from Montreal, has joined the conversation. Killam coordinates the organisation of the festival on the island.
“I am responsible for communicating with the venues, selecting the teams and taking care of the realisation of our ideas,” says Killam. Arbia adds: “Catering to 150 people is really different from hosting a festival crowd of thousands of people. A festival is a different beast.”
Working closely together with the party venues and local personnel, Arbia and Killam expect that the SXMusic Festival will contribute to the local economy. “The festival is designed to introduce the island to a new group of wealthy, young tourists. Our goal is to make St. Maarten/St. Martin stand out in the Caribbean!”
Among the selected SXMusic Festival locations are Palm Beach in Orient Bay, and Tantra, Le Shore Club, Zoo Rock and Kokomo on the Dutch side of the island. Between these venues a shuttle bus service will transport the festival visitors.
Arbia explains that he has always focused on organizing the festival on both sides of the island. “It is, after all, one island.”
In addition to St. Maarten/St. Martin’s accessibility, its bi-national character makes the island unique in the region. “St. Maarten/St. Martin could be more actively promoted as one island with the best of two countries and many different co-existing cultures. Look at cities like New York and Montreal: the best places in the world are melting pots.”
Despite Arbia’s focus on the island as a whole, he has primarily worked together with French authorities, such as the Saint Martin Tourist Office. Partly affected by the political instability on the Dutch side, but mainly, according to Arbia, because there was not enough time to contact every authority on the island.
“The first edition is always an adventure: it’s never perfect, but certainly the most important edition for the continuation of a festival,” the organiser explains. “This year we start with giving the people a taste of what we have to offer. We already have innovative ideas for the upcoming years.”
During the conversation, the entrepreneurs from Montreal appear as passionate entrepreneurs with ambitions for the future. “The SXMusic Festival is the first big electronic music festival in the Caribbean region. It’s truly unique, we don’t want to look like anything else. Things are fun when they are different.”
Being unique and different, the SXMusic Festival seems also somewhat exclusive and serving a wealthy niche. However, Arbia and Killam emphasize the positive impact of the festival on the local community: “By organising this event on St. Maarten/St. Martin we create new jobs and give the island’s tourism sector a boost. We want to make St. Maarten/St. Martin the hottest place in the Caribbean, contributing to the global electronic music scene and the island. Then we all win!”
For more information and purchasing Caribbean Residents tickets with discount check the website of SXMusic Festival via www.sxmusicfestival.com.
