By Rajan Narayan

THE sun may have stopped shining. But Sunburn has become very aggressive. Sunburn is confident that the government of Goa will grant permission to hold their Electronic Dance Music (EDM) festival between December 28-30, 2024. Sunburn is also very confident that it will be given permission to hold the EDM somewhere in South Goa.
Sunburn released an advertisement in a section of the media. The advertisement appealed to Goans to support the festival of music (meaning trance noise and drugs). Very cleverly the advertisement also appealed to the greed of Goans. It called for partners for food and beverages to be vendored during the three-day lifestyle festival. Sunburn owners have also called for entertainers, sound recording artistes and light contractors to join them.
The bitter truth is that all that Sunburn offers is a lot of opportunities to Goans and especially its corrupt politicians. Sunburn 2023 enjoyed the patronage of Siolim MLA Delilah Lobo and Calangute MLA Michael Lobo. Delilah and Michael graced Sunburn with their presence. Delilah ensured that all young people from the constituency got complimentary tickets for Sunburn.
Sunburn organizer Shailendra Mehta believes everyone can be bought and he is right because year after year through the thick and thin of protests by Goans Sunburn has always got permission at the very last moment.
Unlike in north Goa where locals did not object too much there has been a fierce surge of protests in south Goa. Almost every panchayat has passed resolutions against Sunburn in south Goa. Even the panchayat in Quitol which reportedly may be the venue for this year end’s Sunburn.
Significantly, not a single south Goa MLA with the exception of AAP representative Capt Venzy Veigas have made any statements against Sunburn. Nobody from the ruling party BJP or the Opposition Congress has objected to Sunburn. The sole voice of decency is south Goa Benaulim MLA Capt Venzy Viegas. Capt Venzy Veigas has made it clear that south Goa does not want Sunburn. Interestingly, both Churchill Alemao and Mickky Pacheco are silent on Sunburn. It is widely suspected that Churchill and Mickky may have committed support to Sunburn.
If the local MLAs do not come out strongly the panchayat resolutions may be of no use. Except for the “Time of India” even local media has stopped reporting protests against Sunburn. Which is understandable because Sunburn is a mega advertiser. Both in the run up to the event and on the days of the event Sunburn releases huge advertisements. Unconfirmed reports claims that Sunburn bribes newspaper owners. We know that the owner of OHeraldo Raul Fernandes will do anything for money.
The chief minister of Goa sounds as if he is in favour of Sunburn for the revenue it will bring. Dr Pramod Sawant has not reacted to the wave of protests against Sunburn in south Goa. The only statement he has made is that Sunburn has approached him but the government has not yet taken a decision. We wonder if the CM has any choice in granting or not granting the Sunburn bosses permission to do whatever they wish? Clearly, electronic dance music head in India, Shailendra Singh of Percept Ltd has top-level contacts and fans in New Delhi. Narendra Modi’s attitude to EDMs and Western entertainment has become obvious. Reportedly Modi had a meeting with the legendary singer Scooby Valdez and realized the potential of getting popular rockstars and music stars to perform in India.
The Union government sees all kinds of entertainment as milch cows for income and profits. We understand tht there is tremendous pressure on Pramod Sawant to grant Sunburn whatever permission he seeks. Sunburn may have picked its venue this year in south Goa also is playing along that it is still to be decided. In any case Sunburn has started inviting enquiries for purchase of ticket on the international websites. It has started contacting suppliers of sound equipment for putting up the mega EDM show year end.
The reason why Sunburn is disliked abroad too is because no Western country will tolerate its amount of trance noise pollution. For that matter we wonder if any other state in India would permit such a three-day festival of EDM noise pollution affecting people’s health. The issue is not only highly priced tickets but the patronage of drugs and associated social evils. Michael Lobo has gone out of his way claiming that there are no drugs sold at in the venue of Sunburn, whatever happens, happens outside the venue. He admitted that visitors often brought in their own drug supplies to get high on.
Goa has a reputation for being a live music state. During the Christmas-New Year season some of the best bands in India and abroad perform in Goa. However, to the best of our knowledge EDM is considered very down market music even in the Western countries. But then maybe Western-origin trash is prestigious and high class by certain section of Indian polity. A case of what may be poison abroad to shun being crème de la crème gourmet entertainment for our bold and beautiful and rich and powerful who pull the strings of power, profit and control in India today.