Updated 2 months ago
d. March 17, 2018
Ozora Festival Founder
In Memoriam: Daniel Zimanyi – producer of O.Z.O.R.A. Festival, owner of the festival grounds
O.Z.O.R.A was born under the 1999 total eclipse sun sign when Solipse organizers discovered the ideal location deep in the Hungarian countryside, a magical valley surrounded by forests and cornfields.
The landowner, Daniel Zimanyi, had been living there with his family since he purchased the land in 1993, to build his dream farm, where forest animals lived unharmed and his sheep freely grazed the grove-dotted grassy hills.
The nomadic shepherd trade was handed down to Daniel by his father, and he had roamed the pastures, herding sheep with him since his childhood. The old rusty Robur van they used to live in stands in a meadow today, recycled into art, one of the many treasures Daniel collected in his special nature sanctuary.
The 1999 Solipse festival brought thousands of people from all over the world to Daniel’s backyard. It also planted the seeds of a new kind of inspiration. Five years later when members of the Solipse team looked Daniel up again with the idea of organizing a second festival, the visionary farmer was ready to do it himself, partnering with them as artistic directors.
Daniel devoted the next fourteen years to creating and beautifying the festival grounds around his family farmhouse, stage by stage, new locations, bridges, towers, stairways… Everything he imagined and built for the festival a permanent structure, from recycled and natural materials found on site, using traditional Hungarian techniques, ancient craftsmanship. All expressions of his boundless imagination, quirkiness, and his deep respect for arts and nature. A wondrous village of long-lasting artistic installations, folktale architecture, coming to life each summer to be sweethomeozora to one of the largest tribal psychedelic music and cultural gatherings in the world today.
This is the legacy Daniel Zimanyi leaves behind, an alternate reality where our gratitude and love keeps the Ozorian Spirit alive.
/Revolve magazin/
