Want to escape city life for the day? Want to step away from reality and into a world of creativity and good vibes? That’s the aim of the latest edition of Karma Klique, Karma Krachao 4, a daytime music festival on Nov 16th at a nature reserve in the heart of Bangkok where the endless urban hustle feels a distant world away. The event is being held at Hiddenwoods in Bang Krachao, a sort of island nestled in a crescent curve of the Chao Phraya river, where steps and elevated paths made of glossy wood and metallic grates wind through green foliage and looping branches over lapping water.
With festival season descending on Thailand, Karma Klique helps ease you into the marathon of events that lay ahead—and provides an alternative to the massive, distance events that attract vast international throngs. This is a local affair; a community-minded event here at home with intimate crowds, chill vibes, and wide-open space. The outdoor dancefloor features plentiful shade, there are nooks and crannies all over to explore and retreat to, there’s an air conditioning room to capture your breathe, and there’s even a pool to lounge about in, all while the cool river breeze sweeps through the whole place. (The second day is held at Brownstone on Nov 17th, a chill-out event in collaboration with Liminal Dreams, meant for guests to decompress and hang out with the friends that they met the day before.)
“It’s good to get out of the city. We’re nature people, so this feels closer to what we’re happiest with,” explains Sunju Hargun, one of the festival’s original organizers. “We have a really solid crowd that started as a little family, so we’re not into over-selling tickets. We don’t want our parties too packed, instead we aim for the perfect amount of people.”
The music is varied but leans towards the house side of things with a mix of local and regional acts. “It’s not about the genre, it’s about the aura and feeling of the music. Our programing has always been done in a way that people don’t know what to expect, but we’ve really earned the trust from our crowds over the years,” Sunju says. “We want to do something different, something that stands out and creates a memory. We want to create something special.”
Karma Klique launched in 2016 with a boat party. They had been throwing house parties with an informal group of friends and realized they could throw something more official. With Wonderfruit also beginning just a couple years earlier, they saw there was an audience for this type of thing, so they took the risk. It was certainly a learning experience, that first party eight years ago with 100 people collected on a boat for six hours: “We didn’t know what we were getting into,” laughs Taychin Dunnvatanachit, another of Karma’s original organizers. “The speakers busted within twenty minutes and we had some random guy with a captain’s cap to fix it. We ran out of alcohol and had to stop the boat at a pier to get beer from 7-11. We learned through experience and making mistakes.” The events kept growing in size and they earned their organizational chops over the years, throwing different themed events all over the country, topping out at 600 people on their final Karma Kruise before the pandemic paused life as we knew it. They’ve even thrown jungle raves and castle parties. (Karma’s other currently active members are Johan Vandebeek and Travis Meredith.)
Karma Krachao 4 builds on that legacy, carving out an alternative to late-night clubbing and commercial festivals, a low-key but large event with years of experience to back it up. They’ve installed speakers throughout the venue, with quiet areas as well, so guests can let their ears rest as needed. “There’s a lot of space, you can engage with it however you like,” Taychin says, noting that the capacity is 300 people. “We put our audience first to make sure they’re comfortable and relaxed.” They’ve chartered boats to ferry guests back and forth every few minutes until the party ends. And they say they’ve timed the event, which runs from 1PM to midnight, to give people time to rest. “You can go to another club after, but once you’ve partied a whole day, you might want a break. The next day you can chill and hang with friends at Brownstone,” Sunju says, adding that it gives the staff time to rest as well. While there’s no real peak time, they say that sunset is sure to be the best moment at Krachao, when the crowd fully fleshes out and the atmosphere truly takes hold.
One familiar sight at the Karma parties has been the stage design built out of silver recycled yoga balls, constructed in a way that resembles a spaceship made of disco balls, built by Hutsama Juntaratana. They’ll be there again this year, but it will be the last time. They’re decommissioning them and, with the help of Un Apisara, upcycling them into chairs that you can buy as a permanent keepsake for your home. There will be models in the AC room where you can try them out if you’d like to pre-order one or two.
The Karma parties have been happening more sporadically in recent years as the team and crowd moves on to new interests and stages of their lives. “I’m very grateful for every year that we’re able to do this,” Taychin says. But there’s no plans to stop any time soon. “Throwing the events less frequently makes them more special,” Sunju adds. “If you overdo it, you lose that special feeling. People are like, ‘Oh, these guys again.’ This way people stay excited.” If you’ve never been to a Karma Klique event before, they recommend going into it with the expectations of a house party: “It won’t be wild crazy, it’s much more intimate than you would expect for a big event like this.”
