After launching last autumn, not only is Akasha closing in on its one year anniversary, but has just seen its first summer on the island. One of the few venues to operate last winter, how did it cope competing with the big boys during the first proper Ibiza season in two years?
While there were obstacles to overcome, overall the club fought its own and provided an experience that the island had been missing - especially for those based in the north.
The intimate club's creative director, Igor Marijuan, has been instrumental in bringing the vision to life. Over 11 months, his booking policy has given Akasha an identity which feels both fresh, yet remains totally faithful to the legacy of Las Dalias.
After returning from his annual pilgrimage to Burning Man, we caught back up with Igor to discuss how summer had gone from the club's perspective.
Q&A
Hello Igor. Thank you for talking to us again. Looking back on summer, how did things go at Akasha?
"It went amazingly well. It was our first season so we needed to learn on the go. We had really great one-off events and also our weekly residencies with Namasté on Wednesdays and the new Nido on Sundays. Both delivered epic nights.
Our concept of more progressive, melodic sounds on Fridays and a bit deeper, organic House music on Saturdays went well. Some of our events suffered the up and down summer, because it was a pretty weird season in Ibiza.
There were too many things going on and people were more selective on their dance doses. In any case, we are super happy with the season and really looking forward to our Ibiza winter."
What were the stand-out moments from your perspective?
"Sven Väth's Catharsis was one of our best parties of the season. Equally, Namasté was full every Wednesday with a true Ibiza spirit, while our new Sunday project, Nido, started in the garden and brought this live-hybrid concept alongside DJ sets to Las Dalias. All were top parties."
"Residencies from Unders and Guy Mantzur, plus some of the label nights went really well too. It was great to have Sasha and Nick Warren as well, as their sound at Akasha is so unique. It's hard to single out specific events as we had a lot!"
As well as the success stories, you faced some challenges as well. What did you learn from this summer?
"Yes, we started these 'festival-sized' events for Thursdays with international brands like The Gardens Of Babylon and Holotropia on a monthly basis. They brought a lot more than just music.
Beside the great line-ups, you could find a complete conscience event, including exhibitions, conferences, acoustic concerts, performances and many, many more.
Those events just needed the time to become part of the Ibiza circuit. However, the way the season went made the continuity very difficult. What we learned, is that we want to keep on having these conscience events that crosses paths beyond music."
The two Sven Väth gigs were some of the best parties of of 2022. When did you first approach him and how quickly did it take to convince him to do it?
"Absolutely. It all was very smooth and effortless with his team. It's not the first time Sven throws a party in Ibiza, is it? (laughs) They know how to do things properly and our team was extremely motivated. We had a meeting at the end of the season and Sven only had positive words to say about our team. We couldn't be more proud of that.
He knew about Akasha because our sound system 'The Sound' is made by Martin, who was responsible for doing the audio set-up at all Cocoon's after parties in Ibiza."
"All it took was a couple of meetings and a few calls and suddenly we had Sven playing an amazing set of tunes, representing the whole story of Ibiza in music. Music for a mature crowd who understood the epicness of the party from the moment they arrived.
The energy those days and nights was wow!"
Yes, much has been said about the quality of sound at Akasha.
"It is something that needs to be experienced by everyone. It's like talking about a painting without seeing it.
Martin is a genius. He designed and built it. We call it the 'sound Ibiza TSI' soundsystem. It's pretty unique, completely changing the way music is played. It's almost like a production studio. Martin speaks passionately about this. He used Fibonacci's auric maths and sacred geometry principles to design the speakers. Can you believe that technology?"
Akasha's soundsystem and acoustics are an audiophile's dream
"This system, coupled with the acoustics of the venue itself, creates a completely unique environment.
On top of that, the DJ booth is placed in the centre of the space, which brings another aspect to the experience. The crowd is not only facing a single direction, so you can feel the eye contact of the crowd whilst playing, which is absolutely amazing."
Compared to island's super-clubs, you manage to keep your ticket prices low although you have a small capacity. Behind the bar, the price of drinks is reasonable by Ibiza standards, which is amazing. Arguably you could be charging more?
"Our general manager, Sena, is always pushing to deliver high quality on the food and beverages, service and customers experience. He believes that we should never forget where we are and if you want to run a venue open for Ibiza locals, especially in the north, we need to be fair and respectful with the prices."
"It was cheap, but even then sometimes it's still hard to convince the people to pay €20 at the door and €15 pre-sale. This income is vital to support the programming that we have. For winter we will review the prices to make them even more affordable."
You have Beat Hotel today (29 September) with a really cool programme with Jennifer Cardini, Fort Romeau, a live PA from Róisín Murphy and more. How did this collaboration come about?
"We have a Balearic music fan in our team. Our booking coordinator Shams knew them from Glastonbury brought us this connection with Beat Hotel and, really, Las Dalias is the perfect place for this event. Róisín visited us at the very beginning and she showed the love, so it was all about connecting dots."
We're very excited for it. Beyond that, how will the programme look from October? We assume Nido, Ethereal, Namasté will all continue? And Moments too?
"Yes! All of them. Nido is switching to daytime for the whole winter, starting and noon in the garden, with Akasha opening from 18:00 till 02:00. Other than the opening times, the vibe will remain unchanged."
Namasté is a Las Dalias staple
"Namasté will carry on all October with their unique family format, while Ethereal is preparing its Halloween event - stay tuned! And Moments will have another date on 14 October with Guy Mantzur and Jean Claude Ades."
Cool! Anything else we should know about?
"Nick Warren is back on Friday 7 October. Akasha's anniversary is set for 4 November. Also we are working on an 'appreciation for Behrouz' series of events spread all over the world.
Currently we are finalising and coordinating details with promoters friends of Behrouz to make it happen.
Nido will travel this winter with the same concept and we are currently studying destinations and preparing to fly!"
Amazing. Finally Igor, since you've just returned from Burning Man, please tell us a little about your experiences in the desert.
"I could spend hours and hours speaking about Burning Man. It is so important for me and my life. This was my sixth time there and I still find myself loving it more and more. This year I took two members of the Akasha team with me, so we could feel inspired, learn and apply to our work and our personal lives."
"We are laying foundations to do some Burning Man themed fundraiser events for camps next season. More info coming soon, I hope."
Akasha's September and October parties are on sale now exclusively via Ibiza Spotlight.
Amongst them are some scintillating dates, including Beat Hotel (29 September) Matthias Meyer (30 September), Nido winter opening (2 October) and Nick Warren (7 October).
Head below to our venue page to see an overview of what's coming up.
