De La Soul, Goldie & Maribou State to play new boutique festival in Koh Samui

The idyllic island of Koh Samui in the south of Thailand is finally getting its own boutique lifestyle festival, offering tourists and islanders a solid alternative to Full Moon parties.

On January 7 to 8 of 2017 the sun drenched shores of Big Buddha Beach will welcome Paradise Island Festival, a two-day music, arts and culture festival.

Along with the announcement of the festival itself came the first phase of the line-up, which will see the likes of De La Soul, Goldie (pictured), LTJ Bukem, Maribou State, Anchorsong and Mad Professor make an appearance over the weekend. More artists are expected to be announced and will run the gamut as far as genres go, and is said to include all kinds of feel-good music like, soul, funk, hip-hop, jazz, reggae, ska, world music and uplifting DJs.

The event is curated by UK events company Soundcrash, the same team behind Soundwave in Croatia, and will also showcase Thai culture with traditional music, art and performers including Thai performance art, traditional art, yoga classes, Thai massage, Thai cooking, workshops and more. This is of course alongside your regular island festival activities like boat parties, secret afterparties and scratch DJ comps.

Organizers have said: “Paradise Island is an eco-conscious and environmentally friendly alternative to the Full Moon parties" and has more focus on "art, music and responsible tourism”.

The festival says it intends to support eco-friendly, responsible tourism, nature conservations programs and reforestation schemes to protect and beautify the location.

Tickets go on sale on August 12 at 11am from Paradise Island’s website. You can check out the teaser video below and the full poster below that.

Know that January is high season in Thailand, meaning glorious weather but also peak season pricing so if you’ve been dreaming about that beach holiday to Thailand, get on it.

Secret island afterparties? Yes please!