Sun City, Strobes & Skanking
How young Brits brought Garage, Grime and club culture to Ayia Napa.
An otherwise sleepy fishing city on the island of Cyprus would become the go to party destination for British youth taking their first trips from home in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Ayia Napa would redefine the summer holiday and pioneer the now global sound of UK Garage and Grime.
Text by Yeliz Zaifoglu | Cover photo by Gemma Booth | 11.07.23
FOUNDATIONS OF THE PACKAGE HOLIDAY
From 1841 to now, the British summer holiday has evolved in many ways, while always staying true to its music loving roots and money saving foundations. Since the beginning of the package holiday live music has been a central selling point.
On July 5th 1841 England’s most successful travel agent Thomas Cook created the forerunner of what we know today as the shiny package holiday. For one shilling per person, an average take home of one full day's work at the time, you received travel, a ham sandwich, cup of tea and a brass band performance on your one-day rail excursion from Leicester to Loughborough.
Following its success, Cook expanded his repertoire and organised group tours to Scotland, Ireland and mainland Europe with new offerings to the USA and Canada. Mass tourism went mainstream thanks to higher income, holiday entitlement and increased access to cheap flights in the 1900s. Cook’s now global business took advantage of these changes and by 1994 out of 27 million holidays taken by Brits 56% of them were package holidays.
The catalyst for what we know as your first reckless friend only holiday came from a simple business decision. Thomas Cook bought out a smaller package holiday company Club 18-30 in 1998 who sold holidays specifically for young people looking for party destinations on a minimal budget. Popular destinations included Greece, Spain and of course, Cyprus. No more parents and families, young people flocked to cheaper bars ready to feel freedom and anything new.
Before the planes of stumbling teens began landing Ayia Napa had more tranquil beginnings. During the 1400s Venetian rule of Cyprus, a hunter and his dog found an icon of Virgin Mary in a cave surrounded by forest. As a result, the town was named ‘Holy Forest’ translating to what we know as Ayia Napa. A monastery was built on the site in hope it would attract tourists seeking solace in faith and religion. In its infancy, Ayia Napa was far from a party destination - fast forward to 1985 that was not the case.
Gemma Booth
RISE OF UKG
Originating in New York clubs such as Paradise Garage, UK Garage’s (UKG) beginnings saw American DJs spinning eclectic mixes to refresh the ravers. New Jersey’s DJ Todd ‘the God’ Edward refined the Garage sound with chopped vocal samples and synth driven mixes, giving the new generation of dance lovers the energetic but smooth 130 bpm music they desired.
The sound teased its way into the UK through the underground of London and Manchester, dropping at raves from Tottenham Power House to Elephant & Castle Sunday. Always keen to innovate, Pioneers like DJ EZ raised the tempos and added jungle beats, resulting in an early form of speed garage. Whilst growing in popularity through 90s Pirate Radio, the sound usually resided in smaller rooms of underground clubs as party goers were hesitant to stray from its big and more familiar brother Jungle.
UKG played around with the safety a 4/4 beat provided, sucking in dancers thanks to its simple 2-Step rhythm. The song commonly known to have birthed Garage’s rise, Kelly G’s Bump-n-Go remix of Tina Moore’s “Never Gonna Let You Go” (1997), went to number 7 in the UK charts and revitalised crossover Garage, then teenager Craig David listened closely.
Reigniting MC culture, Garage created the DNA from which Grime would be born.
Clubs welcomed a combined space where celebs and ravers danced shoulder to shoulder and the baggy careless rave attire was swapped in for champagne bottles. Nike tanks, Moschino t-shirts, baggy trousers and halter neck dresses dominated the dance floor.
With UKG leaking into the mainstream back in the UK it was only a matter of time before the sun drenched islands picked up Garage as their resident sound. Whilst Ibiza was more known to be the spot for House music, Ayia Napa’s charm eventually won over the now financially independent teens from the UK. The influence of late 90s youth culture mixed with rising presence of UKG and Cyprus’ Mediterranean waters led to an explosion of DJs and MCs taking their riddums to the streets and beaches of Ayia Napa; with the help of raring mopeds and many lost flip phones.
The city transformed into a home for the subculture between 1999 and 2002 with many major players contributing to the dance culture and the island’s tourism revenue. Although the main contributor is up for debate, people like businessman and club owner George Melas, DJ S and KISS FM DJ Nick Power set the foundations for the rave to flourish. In 1985, George Melas and his brothers opened the first nightclub Black & White near famous Nissi Beach paving the way for other clubs in the Square to open. The spirit of Garage had arrived before the speakers. It wasn’t until DJ S came to the city for his honeymoon in 1998, following romantic walks with 2am sets, that UKG truly began to boom.
The scene grew and new nights such as Pure Silk, Twice as Nice, Pizazz Club, Castle Club and Insomnia embraced the Garage heads, creating a communal space where the subculture felt celebrated and appreciated. These spaces gave warm welcome to now icons The Specialists (and Little Charlie), DJ Quincy, Skepta, MC Neat, Marcus Nasty and more to generate endless rave hype. Away from the targeted restrictions being laid out by the UK government there was somewhere to let loose and be together.
So Solid Crew’s trip in 1999 was a hallmark moment for the city’s growing reputation as a hotspot for Brits abroad. With Megamans’s addition of Melas’ son AM Sniper, the South London group became the unofficial mayors of Ayia Napa; using their status, mopeds and music to bolster the island’s reputation as the new hottest party destination. By 1999 the island became a playground and who’s who of the Garage world, introducing new global audiences to the genre, leaving behind the squats and basements for beaches and villas.
The influx of tourism to the island brought a new found wealth that was reinvested to elevate the infrastructure, accommodating more partygoers every summer. 5 star hotels, paved roads and more bars, clubs, restaurants and holiday activities delighted the community and allowed the party to truly go all night long.
"Away from the targeted restrictions being laid out by the UK government there was somewhere to let loose and be together."
Gemma Booth
RISE AND DEMISE OF GRIME
It is only right to mention the weight that So Solid Crew’s ’21 Seconds’ in 2001 had on Grime, the hit record took the Garage crew out of a then run down Battersea and into global chart dominance.
Garage laid the foundations of Grime, setting a precedent for a tuned in underground generation to hear MCs talk fast, heavy and with real bravado. The rise of Grime in the 2000s is equally tied to Pirate Radio and the impact of stations such as Rinse FM and Delight FM. Representing the new working class voice Grime took inspiration from not only Garage but Dancehall, Jungle and Hip Hop. Slowly, Grime laced itself through garage beats and brought darker, ominous sounds with anti-establishment lyrics into the mixes; changing the soundscape and even dance culture as two steps turned into gun fingers. Dizzee Rascal, Skepta and the Roll Deep Crew joined the Garage lovers in Ayia Napa by the early 2000s and turned their irreverent mischief into heavy diss tracks and more partying for intoxicated summer loving Brits.
By 2002, the city started gaining a violent reputation as significant incidents like Dizzee Rascal’s stabbing became a scarily commonplace practice. In the midst of club hopping, various UK based gangs broke into fights on a nightly basis and a competitive nature began to brew amongst DJs, MCs, club owners and promoters. The routine acts of nightly violence within the community led to the demise of Ayia Napa’s status as the Mecca of UKG. The Cypriot government intervened in an attempt to rebrand the city from Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents to a family resort, anti partying policies were set in place across the island. After June 2002, the mayor at the time began to enforce restrictions that cracked the whip on any and all party related promotions and acts: banning flyering, pub crawls, changing bar and club licensing hours, on the spot fines and patrolling anti-drug squads that often led to the imprisonment of holidaying brits abroad. These limitations ultimately led to a decline in British tourism to the party city but the love of Garage and Grime lives on with residents like DJ Spoony still occupying iconic spaces like Twice as Nice as of 2019.
The legendary party history may have been impacted by changing laws but Ayia Napa’s notoriety continues as it is one of the most iconic places to spend your first wild holiday; a foundation that refuses to crumble.
Do you really like it? Is it, is it wicked? We're lovin' it, lovin' it, lovin' it. We're lovin' it like that. Uhh! Ayia Napa. Ayia Napa. Ayia Napa.
