“I Land Sound ties together beautiful nature, music, art, beautiful people and all the best that Estonian summer has to offer.” This is how the I Land Sound team describes the festival, which takes place on the lovely island of Saaremaa, on Illiku islet in Orissaare. The festival is four days long and includes, apart from music, wonderful programming for the body and mind and also art and performance.
It was my first year visiting I Land Sound in 2025. Though I wished to go for many years, I wasn’t successful in getting there. For many years, I was afraid of going, actually. I thought that I wouldn’t fit in with the festivalgoers, as I thought they were all fancy and snobby or rough, like the Love Parade kind. But boy was I wrong. One should embrace this festival with open arms, as you won’t experience any of that there. The people are all cool, chill, and mind their own festival business. Even when visiting alone, you can enjoy your company fully or make new friends. It’s all up to you.
Since it is a music festival, one has to talk about music. Over the course of four days, forty-five different DJs and music groups performed on seven different stages on the festival grounds. Quite an ensemble, I must say. Though music is what brings people to I Land Sound, it kind of melts into something normal around you, like the air and the sea. So it is a nice, relaxing compote of nature, sounds, and people. You are defined by the size of your soul, as the ILS team also marks on their website.
I chose to participate in a group yoga class with an inspiring teacher, whose directions were clear and the whole experience—under a cover protected by the midday sun, laying down with forty other people—was amazing. I felt the cool sea breeze and was very mindful about everything around me.
A wonderful addition to the whole music programming are various workshops, lectures, services, and also food, which can be enjoyed in the festival area. There’s plenty to choose from if you want to relax, need information, or want to educate yourself on something. I chose to participate in a group yoga class with an inspiring teacher, whose directions were clear and the whole experience—under a cover protected by the midday sun, laying down with forty other people—was amazing. I felt the cool sea breeze and was very mindful about everything around me. I personally think that the extensive programme in addition to music makes ILS definitely more than just a music festival. It sure is a festival of experiences, as they call it!
As an avid nature lover and environmentalist, I was so pleased to see that the ILS family had put a lot of muscle and thought into informing festivalgoers about the importance of nature, and not only that. Their wish was to bring nature as close to people and also guide people to respect nature to the fullest. The family of I Land Sound festival respects nature and the beauty of Illiku and it’s their task to introduce their way of thinking to festivalgoers as well. The festival notes, “Every year we try to come up with new ways to leave as small [an] environmental footprint as possible, taking further steps in key areas like waste management, food, transportation and the use of energy. Raising environmental awareness is really important for us, therefore we are keen on sharing the things we do and learn about in the process.”
Noteworthy is the fact that in October 2020, the ILS team helped Saaremaa to become one of the Top 100 Green Destinations. It’s a competition organized by Green Destinations, an international organization that develops sustainable tourism. I Land Green and their thorough waste management plan was chosen as part of the TOP 100 Good Practices collection. They also received the first “A Greener Festival: Highly Commended 2023” certification in the Baltics!
Fotogalerii
Photos by Kerly Ilves
ILS shared some very thoughtful tips on how to be more environmentally friendly:
-Be smart and use reusable dishes, cutlery, and cups.
-Whatever you bring to the island, please take it back home with you.
-Clean water and Mulieres’ natural dish soap is provided at the camping site.
-Bring your own refillable water bottle—you can fill it for free.
-If you bring your own food, then plan wisely, making sure you eat all of it.
-Think about what you will bring to the festival, so there will be as little trash as possible.
-Please collect your trash by type: food waste, packages, bottles, mixed waste, and so on.
-Cigarette butts/filters belong to Kops.
-Use Aesti natural products that are available in shower areas around the festival for showering.
-Please don’t waste water.
-Find a nature-friendly way to decorate yourself. Please don’t use plastic stones, pearls, or glitter.
-Share a ride or come by bus, if possible.
-Keep things tidy, respect other guests, and be friends with nature.
When a festival is taking place in such a nice, picturesque natural spot, one, in case they care, has to make nature their first priority, because when nature is happy, then the people are happy, and everyone can enjoy it to the fullest.
From an environmental point of view, they have a wonderful project, which was well-received by the visitors. The ILS family knows that cigarette butts are an increasing source of pollution in nature and they continue to contribute to improve the situation. In 2019, they used old window frames and soup jars to make collection points for cigarette butts for the festival, which, to their surprise, became quite popular. Since they had a well-functioning prototype, the organizing team had an idea to develop it even further to make these collection points more durable. They kept the soup jars, but the new and improved collection points for cigarette butts were finished in May 2021. Take a look at the gallery to see what the cigarette butt collector looks like in 2025.
When a festival is taking place in such a nice, picturesque natural spot, one, in case they care, has to make nature their first priority, because when nature is happy, then the people are happy, and everyone can enjoy it to the fullest. I Land Sound has managed to create a truly memorable, warm, safe, powerful, and caring festival. It’s hard to express how much it means to be one with nature, other people, music, and the sea air, so the best option is to book yourself the plane tickets and get the festival tickets, so that you’d be able to experience all the beauty I Land Sound has to offer.
Would I want to go back to the festival next year? Definitely! I want to go back for the whole duration of the festival hopefully, and I would love to see more female DJs and perhaps even give an art and show workshop myself. (On that note, can I please volunteer for room and board? If you don’t ask, you will never find out, right?). Dear reader, let me know if you are considering going as well!
