If you loved UK garage then the pinnacle of clubbing is Ayia Napa way back in the early millennium. With underground garage promoters struggling to cement themselves amongst Ibiza's clubbing elite, many were looking for an alternative and Aiya Napa welcomed the crazed garage heads. Sure Ibiza was bigger, older and more established, but ‘Napa’ offered something all together more unique.
At the forefront of the UK garage explosion in Napa was of course the DJ’s and MC’s. Competition between club nights caused some of the biggest names in UK garage to be crammed into one square mile of resort. Ayia Napa thus offered a clubbing utopia for urban enthusiasts, holiday makers could listen to their favourite "garage bangers" 7 days a week across different pool parties, beach bars whilst surrounded by sand covered beaches. It was a far cry from garage's raw urban origins and offered a exotic alternative to the mundanity of the urban London clubbing scene, Thus people flooded to Ayia Napa looking for a taste of what many people were calling ‘The Napa experience’.
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The exposure didn't go without it's problems though, a 2001 Channel 4 documentary on the island created a huge influx of thrill-seekers out to get a classic fix of sex and sun. This kind of mainstream attention was viewed with animosity by those who sought to nurture the growing UK garage scene and not kill their musical hideaway in its infancy.
Often the first stop, Club Abyss, was one of Napa's biggest and most luxurious clubs. Fittingly, Radio 1's very own Dreem Teem had a Thursday night residency here, as well as playing here on the Saturday night of Radio 1's Ayia Napa weekend, on the final date of The notorious Dreem Teem tour of 2001.
You can still find garage music in Ayia Napa with the likes of DJ EZ, DJ Luck and MC Neat still flying the flag for UK garages spiritual second home, but much more watered down and nothing like the early 2000's. Slowly Ayia Napa became much less about the music. Heavily criticised for its links to violence, UK garage was used as a scapegoat for many of these problems happening within the resort. In its infancy underground garage was something people would not to tarnish, but slowly respect for the scene was lost and Garage became a victim of its own success. Perhaps what's missing is a fresh young crop of individuals keen to make a name for themselves in the scene. Sadly, its hard to imagine this every being recreated.
- The Independent
July 2000
Joe Rowntreee
