Anthony D'Andrea Phd
Goa is a main tourist destination in India. But it also is an
important global center for the counterculture, now in the
digital stage of techno "trance parties". There is much to say
about contemporary Goa, counterculture and globalization. But
how did the Goa scene actually start?
In the late 1960s, a handful of beatniks and hippies were
traveling overland from Western Europe toward Southern Asia on
bikes, beetles and "magic buses". They entered India, and almost
incidentally reached Goa, a former Portuguese enclave on the
west coast of India.
By the Arabian Sea, they gathered on the secluded beaches of
Anjuna and Vagator. These were modest fishermen villages with no
urban infrastructure, let alone tourist facilities. Precarious
roads led to the place, linking the state capital Panaji, to
Mapusa town, and then to Anjuna. As more Westerners spread out
across Southern Asia, the New Year’s Eve in Goa worked as the
meeting-point for the countercultural diaspora.
The "first hippie" of that movement is now 84 years old. Eight
Finger Eddie, an American expat of Armenian ancestry, still
lives in Goa. His friends have set up a website, compiling his
autobiographical memories in text and podcast format. I find the
podcast "Anjuna 26 Feb 2007" to be particularly very insightful,
as Eddie summarizes his life trajectory in color and detail (-
with typical background noises of northern Goa).
This is the pre-history of Goa trance counterculture. Forget any
big DJ and hearsay stories, and listen carefully to Eddie's
firsthand account. It will take you to a fantastic world of
travel and self-exploration.
'Tarot' Ray Selby
I was living and
breathing on Eight Finger Eddie's porch in 1971-1974 and have some amazing
memories of the time. I was in my early 20s when I crossed the
Baga river, with my rucksack held
high above my head, for the first
time, early in 1971 to find out what the
Anjuna pioneer scene was like. I had heard all about it (&
Eddie's porch), whilst living in Calangute, in late 1970.
I was also present when a Frenchman (I think his name was Jean-Phillipe)
asked what we all thought about the idea of having a little flea
market in Anjuna. When he got a positive result, he went off to
put some scribbled notices in chai-shops down the beach. Was
that an idea that took off? :-)
The Stoned Pig was entirely my idea and I only gave it up
because of the lack of funding, after my first child was born,
in 1975. A second
season of The Pig, in 1976, was crippling me financially and I
just had to stop.
After that I was the first one ever to make souvenir Goa
T-shirts, from 1976-1978. Following that, the family got into
the health-food business for many years. We were famous for our
cheese products, in particular.
BTW I did publish another short-lived magazine called Goahead in
1980-1981 and I turned my sketch maps of Anjuna (made to help me
with my motorbike deliveries of health-foods)