The Bali Spirit Festival is certainly a festival with a difference, and after their success in 2008 they are lining up an incredible programme for April/May 2009. Be part of a truly unique and giving experience that shares the best of Indonesia with the world.

The Bali Spirit Festival is an annual celebration of yoga, dance and music in Ubud showcasing a wealth of talented and respected creative masters from all over the world.

Located on the sprawling green lawns by a blessed river, 6 workshop pavilions and 2 main stages, Balispirit Festival offers you......

5 incredible days & nights of workshops & world music concerts

International Headliners

Tom Freund (USA)

"Tom Freund is indeed one of the great singer-songwriters. He constructs a unique world, defines it, and then burns it to the ground.
Truly unique and absolutely brilliant."
- ALL MUSIC GUIDE

Suzanne Teng & Mystic Journey (USA)

"Suzanne Teng plays music for the soul" (LA Times)
Best New Age/Ambient Artist – Los Angeles Music Awards 2007

Ganga Giri (Australia)

The ensemble mixes pumping, percussive Didgeridoo with fat tribal beats, funky dub bass lines and world percussion sounds to create a unique tribal-technological deep earth dance experience.

Rocky Dawuni - (Ghana)

Rocky Dawuni, is one of Africa’s most popular musicians whose live performances have often been called legendary and whose popularity spans the globe. He is currently blazing new paths with his CD ‘Book of Changes’, a progressive fusion of Reggae, Afro Beat, traditional African sounds and Hip Hop neo-griotism which has been dubbed “infectious” and “classic” by taskmasters

Larisa Stow and The Shakti Tribe (USA)

As winner of Los Angeles Music Awards’ Singer/Songwriter of the Year, Larisa Stow is known for her thought-provoking, soul-searching lyrics and haunting melodies. Most recently, her passion to integrate the sounds of popular music, world-based rhythms and melodies with the ancient form of Kirtan, devotional call and response music, has driven her to collaborate with Grammy award-winning producer and songwriter, Rick Hahn (Celine Dion). The magic of that union resulted in a compilation of engaging Kirtans that are a seamless blend of east meets west.

Saharadja (Bali - Indonesia)

Saharadja (Bali) was formed in Bali, in 2002 by Javanese Jazz trumpeter and vocalist Rio Sidik, and his wife, Australian-born classical violinist Sally Jo, to play together and share their different approach to music. Friends who joined them bring other backgrounds and musical colours, using a large variety of instruments including tabla, banjo, sitar, sarod, didjeridoo, darbuka, djembe, fretless bass and acoustic guitar to melt sound and lines.

Mia Palencia (Malaysia)

Mia Palencia (Malaysia) Singer songwriter, jazz crooner, voice actor, public speaker and occasionally a theatre personality, Mia Palencia is a woman of many talents. She kicked off her career as the other half of well-known local jazz act Double Take at the age of 14. Mia then joined Groove Unction, a Malaysian jazz band led by legendary jazz guitarist, Jose Thomas.

Samite (Uganda)

Samite (Uganda) Samite was born and raised in Uganda, where his grandfather first taught him to play traditional African flute. He learned to play the western flute at 12, setting him on his way to becoming one of East Africa’s most acclaimed flutists. In 1982, he was forced to flee to Nairobi, Kenya as a political refugee. There, he sang original and traditional songs in his mother tongue, Luganda, while playing on the kalimba (finger-piano), marimba (wooden xylophone), litungu (seven-stringed Kenyan instrument), and various flutes.

Khalife (Lebanon)

These words define the essence of Khalife—musician, singer, songwriter, composer, yogi, artist, teacher, soldier, messenger of love and peace. His mission is to raise the world’s vibration through music—to be the rose growing among the ruins, the smile through the tears, and the melody of peace overpowering the fury of the guns of war. He is transcendence through music, blending Indian, Middle-Eastern, flamenco and rock’ n’ roll to create his own vision of peace and unity through music.

I Wayan Dibia (Bali - Indonesia)

I Wayan Dibia (Bali – Indonesia) is one of Bali’s most noted artists and scholars, whose expertise includes dance performance, choreography, theater, music, and scholarship. He is a senior faculty member and former director of the National Institute of the Arts (ISI), in Denpasar, Bali, and the founder and director of GEOKS, a noted music and dance center in Bali dedicated to contemporary performing arts. In the traditional realm, his specialties include topeng (masked dance), barong (a form of ritual dance), and kecak (dance with vocal chant). A graduate of UCLA with a PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies, he has performed and taught in more than twenty countries.

Sibo Bangoura - (Guinea)

Born into a Griot family (musician family) in the Republic of Guinea, West Africa, Sibo Bangoura has played music from a young age. When growing up, Sibo rehearsed and performed with percussion groups, ballets and at ceremonies in Conakry, Guinea. Sibo also frequently taught foreign students travelling from all over the world to Conakry to study traditional Guinean rhythms and djembe. In 1999, Sibo made his first trip to Australia, Fiji and New Caledonia on tour with a performance group ‘Jala’ from Conakry.

 

Akiko Tokuoka (Japan)

Growing up in Japan, Akiko both studied and taught various forms of Hip-Hop dance including street jazz, soul, wacking, popping, and locking. Since her arrival in New York, Akiko was selected as a choreographer and main dancer for the House dance music production “Da Bump” and more recently, she performed with Akim Funk Buddha in “Urban Tea Ceremony” at La MaMa, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, and Blue Note. Akiko’s merging of her traditional Japanese heritage and modern hip hop expression defies the boundaries of what is culturally possible, placing her at the cutting edge of New York’s contemporary performance arts scene.

Ni Ketut Arini (Bali - Indonesia)

Ni Ketut Arini is one of Bali’s most revered teachers and performers and an expert in classical and modern Balinese dance. Ibu Arini is an artist whose unquestioned mastery of dance, passionate love of her art, and gentle spirit has made her a guiding light to thousands of dancers and other artists throughout Bali. She appears frequently on Balinese television in demonstrations and explanations of various dance styles as an articulate spokesperson for one of the world’s richest dance traditions. In addition to her ambitious touring schedule (she has taught and performed in more than 20 countries).

Akim Funk Buddha (USA)

Born in Syracuse, New York and raised in various parts of the world (including South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Zambia,) he is currently based in New York City as a performing artist and educator. He has performed at venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Blue Note, Joe’s Pub, and La MaMa Theater. As throat singer, multi-percussionist, and dancer, Akim has collaborated with Tony award-winning Bill T. Jones and toured the world with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance company. He worked as choreographer on the musical “Average Asian American”, which won the award for best choreography in New York’s Fringe Festival. His most current work, “Urban Tea Ceremony,” merges Eastern arts with urban expression. He is also currently teaching a holistic arts, music and dance program for children, including those with special needs.

Maria Darmaningsih (Indonesia)

Maria Darmaningsih (Indonesia) is of the most respected Javanese, Solo & Balinese dancers and prolific choreographers whose work has been seen throughout Australasia, Canada and the USA. Her work as Associate Dean at the National Performing Arts Institute (IKJ) continues nourish the growth and preservation of these rich dance forms.

With some of the world’s renown yoga teachers

 

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