Short Story:

Revel is a small family friendly music festival in Snaza'ist which is also known as Hedley, BC. Hedley is a small town in the Upper Similkameen Valley in the Southwest Interior of BC, Canada. Revel is the culmination of many years of dreaming and preparation by myself, Nora Dawn Tribe. 

The seeds of Revel were planted many years ago in my heart and my mind and after many years of not believing it was possible I finally decided to make it happen though I had no idea how.

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Long Story:

Some of you who know me may know that I am the mama of Revel - a small music festival that came to life two summers ago. I long dreamed of creating a festival but for many years I didn’t think it was possible because I never made enough money for such an endeavour and for a long time it didn’t seem possible that I ever would be able to. I’ve achieved quite a lot in this life so far and have overcome many challenges but this one blockage within me which was related to finances always seemed so stubbornly resistant to being dissolved. Then within the past 5.5 years a number of events happened which shook me to my core and through that a deep sense of conviction took hold that the time was now to bring my long standing dreams into reality even if I didn’t know how I would pull it off.

It all began with my first event which I now think of as the “Dog Party”. I call it this because quite literally the first night of the event there were more dogs than there were people. I was throwing this event with my neighbor’s daughter who wanted to throw a party for her friends but who didn’t have the first clue as to how to throw an event. I had a lot of experience being part of throwing events and working at events in my 24+ years of being a DJ and part of the sound system and dance culture of the west coast of BC so I volunteered to help her. I wound up doing everything to build the party - I built the stage, I built outhouses, I rented the generator, I brought the sound, I made visuals, I DJed and arranged for another friend to DJ. I basically did the bulk of everything and her job was to bring the people. When the first night came for our party none of her friends showed up -except for the one we paid to help us with the generator. He was the one who brought the dogs - 8 of them. I heard that her other friends were complaining about the $40 fee that we set to cover our costs. Needless to say the dog party was not a big moneymaker for me but I did learn that I was good at this, I loved doing it and I also gained some gear for if I ever wanted to throw an event in the future.

So I decided to keep going with it. The next year was the first edition of Revel. There were many obstacles and twists and turns that year but I persevered and the result was a special and magical event with a great heart centred energy. Those that were there were excited for Revel to continue.

Last year was the second year of Revel and it was a year of great challenges. Not only was I taking the biggest financial risk I had ever taken to create Revel, in the midst of it all my dad was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour which is known in the medical world to be untreatable. So as I was birthing this dream of my spirit, heart and mind I was watching my dad who had a brilliant engineer’s mind lose his capabilities one by one - his vocabulary, his ability to decipher words and symbols, his ability to read, speak, then walk. He passed away 6 months after his diagnosis and 3 weeks before Revel.

As this was all happening a long time dear friend of mine was also going through his death process. When I heard the news I wanted so deeply to drive out to see him, to hold his hand, tell him I love him and to say goodbye. I was however physically unable to do this because as he was dying so was my dad and I needed to be there with my dad.

Last year was a year of threes. I had three people dear to my heart pass away - the two mentioned above as well as my auntie who passed a few months after my dad did. I also had three weddings of three sisters that were important for me to be a part of. I also had three major appliances break down and need replacing last year which doesn’t seem that big of a deal compared to everything else but when you factor in how my freezer with hundreds of dollars worth of food in it conked out the same day as my dad fell and had to be taken to emergency you can see how this added another layer of challenge to an already challenging situation.

I spent so much time running around to so many places last year - from my home in the forest to my parent’s place in town, to Vancouver for work, to various places for all three weddings and to various places to do all of the errands I needed to do for Revel. I was in a state of nonstop action from January to October and by the time I arrived home in October I was in such a severe state of burnout that I needed 2 months of rest before the grief finally hit me. When it did it came on strong. Grief for my dad, grief for my auntie, grief for my friend and all of this fresh grief brought up older grief too. I was reminded of a woman who was like a mother to me for over 25 years and who passed away 2.5 years ago and also my dear brother who passed away 5.5 years ago.

I bring all of this up because it played a crucial role in instigating this action I have been taking to bring forth the vision I have been seeing in my mind’s eye for over 15 years. Through witnessing these loved ones suffer and die I realized in the deepest way how precious life is and how the time was now for me to act.

So I did. I didn’t know how the heck I was going to do it or what I was doing but I did it anyways.

There is another reason that I bring up these stories and that is because each one of these loved ones died from illness. There are so many people with serious health conditions in this world - and as such people being in ill states of health has become normalized. This has deepened my wish to be part of creating a healthier world for myself and the others around me. This has been a journey as I’ve realized in the last couple of years that my body was stuck in a state of fight or flight from all of the long years where I struggled to keep a roof over my head, where I didn’t have enough money for food or when I was living in my car. I found myself holding my breath constantly and realized that I hadn’t taken a proper breath in years so I started to move towards finding ways to remedy that. Gratefully I’ve now found some tools which are helping me release that trauma from my body and as I heal, unfold and unwind myself from fight or flight I will bring that good energy to Revel, to the art and music that I make and to all that I do.

I want this year’s Revel to be a soft place for people to land. So many of us have grief and trauma within our bodies. There is also so much stimulation and information overload in this world and many people are in varying degrees of burnout, adrenal fatigue or have damaged nervous systems. Information overload is one reason why I’ve decided to not have workshops at Revel. Perhaps in the future but right now I want to keep it simple. We also don’t need to have intense volumes of bass in your face to have a good party. Full, clear and deep sound that is loud but not intensely so has the capacity to nourish and heal. Another thing I have noticed at the various wellness festivals and ‘spiritual hippy fests’ that I’ve been to is that I never hear Drum and Bass at any of them. I think there is a misperception that Drum and Bass isn’t spiritual or healing and I can see why some people may see that if the only kind of DnB they’ve ever heard is the bass in your face abrasive kind. However I find that there is so much potential for DnB to be deeply healing - it can be a catalyst which energizes and activates and it can also be the storm that clears away unwanted debris in our souls. So Revel is a healing event where you can find relaxation and calm for your nervous systems, where you can engage in some serious fun and play and where you will hear some healing sounds in the form of DnB, Jungle and a whole range of beautiful, electric, fun and soulful sounds.

In order to help support Revel and to also showcase a small amount of the art that I make I have launched this campaign where there will be different things on offer such as a few of the light art pieces that I’ve made as well as tickets for Revel, stickers, smoothie cups and 4 different albums from a music label in Germany called Bathurst. Revel has never received government funding and has been fully bootstrapped by myself through my own income, credit cards, ticket sales and a few investments from friends so it felt right to open up another avenue for potential income to support this endeavour.

Revel and my visual art go hand in hand and will support each other. Even though I didn’t have much money in the past I remained committed to my vision which came to me around 15 years ago and has continued to grow in my mind’s eye ever since. Revel is a part of this vision. Whenever I had a little bit of money I would buy a new tool or new materials and through it all I continued to learn new skills. So now I’m in a place where I have the skills and tools I need to make it all happen. I’ve also recently registered the name Tribe Design to encompass this visual aspect of my art which includes light art and naturally dyed clothing which will all be present and for sale at Revel alongside other great vendors selling their wares. Tribe is my last name - the name given to me by my father and for a long time I didn’t want to use it to describe my art or my business because it is a name that is commonly used a lot for different companies. However it is my name so I’ve decided to claim it and honour my dad by using it and when I made this decision to use my name something clicked in place inside of me so I feel this name will stick.

Thank you for being here and for reading. Much love and respect ~ Noradawn