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For my last days in Slovenia I chose to join the very famous and highly spoken of Soca Reggae Riversplash festival in Tolmin. <br />I went with three friends, two tents, four sleepingbags, one sleepingmap and lot's of energy. We hitch hiked from Ljubljana in couples, and my hitch hiking partner and I came on some travel, including a small detour to Lotarec, a stop and confusion in Idrija, ending in a coffee and finally a ride with two guys who where desperate for some jointpaper.

Real Slovene Reggae

Anna Sofie Andersen
2006-03-16 20:08:25

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For my last days in Slovenia I chose to join the very famous and highly spoken of Soca Reggae Riversplash festival in Tolmin.
I went with three friends, two tents, four sleepingbags, one sleepingmap and lot's of energy. We hitch hiked from Ljubljana in couples, and my hitch hiking partner and I came on some travel, including a small detour to Lotarec, a stop and confusion in Idrija, ending in a coffee and finally a ride with two guys who where desperate for some jointpaper.

When I finally arrived the tents where already put up and I could as soon as I saw our little camp surely notice the greater problem. One of the tents looked as if it was bought in a jokeshop. Still laughing about the tent we decided to sleep four people in the other two-mans tent and keep all our bagpacks in what we from then on would refer to as the luggage-tent. Unfortunatly that night it was raining heavily and the thunder seemed just next to our tent. It would have been wonderful to listen to if not the concern for the other tent. A concern which the next day seemed rightful. The luggage was dripping

At the Soca Reggae Riversplash in Tolminof water and the tent was a swimmingpool.
Even though I come from Denmark and has the believe that a festival ain't a real festival without a mudbath, I believed this to be a little too much for me. We were like drowned mice! The next couple of days the wheather changed a bit and our luggage-tent seemed to be stronger than we had first thought! So the rest of the festival went by without any more concern for our bagpacks.

Seperated toilets, Slovene mentality and camping feelings!

The festival itself was rather funny to experience. I have never before been at a festival where there are signs on the toilets making them out to be men or women, and the most amazing fact was that the Slovenes actually kept that rule. All the toilets with a man figured infront could be free and still there would stand a line of girls waiting for the occupied toilets with a woman figured infront. Most of the festival seemed more like quiet camping though with an extreme high rate of joints circulating. Nothing extraordinary was happening, no funny stories to tell later. It was like the festival feeling never really came. Maybe because of
At the Soca Reggae Riversplash in Tolminthe first nights heavy rain or maybe because Slovenes just don't know what to do at a festival. I will leave that question to be further disgused!

But what about the music!

The bands playing will be my last saying about the Soca Reggae Riversplash. There where some really great bands and that comes from a girl who doesn't know much more than the name Bob Marley, when it comes to the reggae-genre. I saw Israel Vibration, a fantastic jamaican band so old that they had to use walking sticks, but still so energetic, that they made the crowd cry for more. I also experienced a french guy saying merci to you, you, you, you...for half an hour to the ap 20 people present! And a Bosnian Rastafari band calling themself Dubioza Kolektiv I believe. They where great. And according to a friend of mine on their way up! many more bands played, some good some bad, but all in all great to experience!

This was my minifestival in Tolmin! And I'm sure shall often recall it on other festivals when the pissing up fenches and over shitted toilets gets to much