Goa, India: the mecca of all-night psy-trance raves on the beach and exotic/remote parties, might  soon be threatened as a desired dance destination. People from all over the world make the pilgrimage to this coastal paradise in southwestern India, which is actually comprised of many different beaches along its 63 mile stretch, (you’ve definitely heard of AnjunaBeats, legendary trance record label. Well, Anjuna is the name of just one of the Goa beaches ). It is even home to Sunburn Festival, which has since expanded to a few other cities in India, as well.

These tourists come in search of what I would like to refer to as “beach speakeasies”, or word-of-mouth, half-legal, clandestine raves on the beach, however there are also many dance clubs and bars.  According to an article posted today in the travel section of the Brisbane Times, this Bohemian utopia is now a “No-Goa”.  The article describes a ban on dance bars in Goa, which began restricting hours of operation of dance clubs and types of parties after the 2008 assault and murder of a 15-year-old girl who was a British tourist.  These restrictions also coincide with the election and regime of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who is placing a high emphasis and effort on cleaning up Goa and its reputation.

“Dance bars will not be allowed in Goa. There has been a lot of image-beating for the state due to the existence of drugs and prostitution on the beaches. We will clean it up,”

Parrikar strives to better protect tourists and make the beaches in Goa more family-oriented. In order to do so he has instructed police to patrol until midnight.  In the past, police would only keep watch during daylight hours, calling it a day at sunset.  In addition to the dangers for tourists, drug use is quite common and prostitution has sky-rocketed in recent years, other aspects of Goa Parrikar would like to “clean-up”.

In response to the noise and hours restrictions, many dance bars have implemented “silent discos”, as a way to work around new city policies, (picture the silent disco at Gathering of the Vibes except a million times cooler).  Seems like a good temporary solution, but what about long-term?  Will all of the parties become silent discos? How can you eliminate after-hours parties in a place where all parties are after-hours?