Southeast Asia electronic music festivals Wonderfruit and Epizode preview: from star DJs to yoga and sustainability

Good news for music lovers who might want a break from the approaching winter: two of Southeast Asia’s top electronic music festivals are hot on each other’s heels in December and January.

First there’s Wonderfruit, at The Fields at Siam Country Club near Pattaya in Thailand from December 12 to 16, followed by Epizode, at Sunset Sanato Beach Club on Phu Quoc island in Vietnam from December 27 to January 7.

Both events are about more than the music, with beautiful site architecture, plenty of art and even yoga classes. But while Wonderfruit pitches itself as a holistic experience that puts the emphasis squarely on sustainability, Epizode, now in its fourth year, is far more driven by the DJs.

This year’s line-up is as mind-bendingly large as ever, including but not limited to Detroit electronic music icons Carl Craig and Moodymann, Chilean-born producer and DJ Ricardo Villalobos, and British DJ Eats Everything. And while most festivals last a few days, Epizode lasts 11.

In truth Epizode’s history stretches back longer than the four years it’s been held in Vietnam – to 1992, the year that the original team behind Epizode launched KaZantip, a gigantic electronic festival in the Crimea that at its peak ran for a month (some ravers never left), but that met its match in the 2014 Russian annexation of the region.