Paul Oakenfold's Everest party: charity event or PR stunt?

Paul Oakenfold's Everest party: charity event or PR stunt?

DJ Paul Oakenfold has just played a gig at Everest Base Camp. Was this an innovative way to raise money for charity or a narcissistic PR stunt?

British DJ Paul Oakenfold, 53, made a name for himself on the British dance music scene in the 1990s. He has won two Grammys and is credited with sparking the Second Summer of Love in Ibiza in 1997, said to be the biggest revolution in British youth culture since the original Summer of Love in 1967.

On April 11 this year, he held a dance party at 5,380 m (17,600 ft) above sea level after completing the popular 10-day trek to Everest Base Camp in Nepal. Parts of the DJ set were streamed live on Facebook.

The event received extensive media coverage, with almost all outlets carrying the DJ's name and the headline or slogan "highest party in the world" or something similar.

Personally, I can't think of anything worse. I love the mountains and nature because they offer a way to escape the noise and hustle and bustle of modern life. The idea of ​​the wilderness and its nature being disturbed by a dance party seems stunningly inappropriate. The place for dance parties is surely the nightclubs of London and Ibiza or Dubai and Istanbul?

Maybe I'm just being a curmudgeon and starting to show my age. If Mr Oakenfold is doing this for a good cause, then a few hours of unrest in a remote region of the Himalayas is acceptable, right?

For a good cause?

According to media reports, Oakenfold's goal was to raise awareness of the effects of global warming and to raise funds to help survivors of the 2015 Nepal earthquake, which killed nearly 9,000 people and left thousands more homeless.

It remains unclear how this event achieves these goals. In a video on the BBC website, Oakenfold describes the event as “for a good cause”. Elsewhere he says: “I want to support reconstruction and bring light to the environment... I want to do my part.”

Other reports mention that the proceeds from his tour will go to Supporting Nepal's Children and Himalayan Trust UK and that his Denon brand DJ equipment will be donated to a local DJ school in Kathmandu. No details have been released yet about how much the Everest Party has raised or plans to raise for these charities.

Despite these completely magnanimous gestures, the cynic in me wonders whether Oakenfold's Everest party had more to do with promoting his latest project, SoundTrek, and its associated tour and album, than helping Nepal's underprivileged.

Brought coloring books and pens to give to the local children of Khunjung on behalf of #SoundTrek and one of our main charities @Nepalschildren pic.twitter.com/B0NZEbIT0v

— Paul Oakenfold (@pauloakenfold) April 4, 2017

I thought I might have missed something, so I looked at Paul Oakenfold's website. I couldn't find a single reference to the charities he supports. The only mention (which you really have to look for) is an embedded tweet (above) from his Twitter feed, which will no doubt be lost to time.

Even Soundtrek's Facebook page doesn't seem to mention fundraising or raising awareness. This is from their 'About' section:

"Soundtrek is a series of adventures to the world's most amazing locations to showcase musical cultures from around the world, starting with Mt. Everest."

Then: "Paul Oakenfold continues his pioneering role within [sic] the electronic dance scene, this time taking the musical medium to the far corners of the earth, starting with Everest!"

alt=“paul-oakenfold-everest-basecamp-soundtrek-3″>SoundtrekAdventuresUm, and the kids? Global warming?

An exercise in narcissism

Climbers on Everest have already been accused of narcissism. There is the image of the wealthy banker who buys the highest mountain on earth, or the extreme mountaineer who desperately wants to climb another peak. Such motivations are far from ideal, but at least these climbers are there to engage with nature—and not in some ambiguous pursuit of “showcasing musical cultures from around the world.”

I fear that Paul Oakenfold and SoundTrek are more concerned with headlines and hashtags than helping the children of Nepal. There are many other ways to raise money for these causes than flying halfway around the world, lugging musical equipment to the world's highest mountain ranges and playing dance music in a normally quiet part of the planet.

Oakenfold's quote in Outside magazine is quite telling:

"I've played all the major festivals and all the big stages and clubs, and don't get me wrong, they're great, but they're all starting to feel the same... Everest opens exciting new doors and that's what inspires me. It allows me to be challenged at this stage of my career and really think about my legacy."

Basically, he's a little bored and looking for something new? I find it hard to believe that reducing global warming was the motivation for his expedition. In fact, in the same article, he explains, "We had to have [our equipment] shipped, then driven, then put in a helicopter and transported by a team of Sherpas."

Hasn't Everest seen enough commerce and drama in recent years without being turned into Ibiza at altitude, even if it's "just" for a day? In any case, if Oakenfold wants to hike to Everest Base Camp - or anywhere else - and raise money for good causes along the way, then I actively support and encourage it.

Likewise, if he wanted to donate the proceeds from his recent performances to charity, I would fully support him and admire him for his generosity. But please, can you do this in a nightclub and not on a mountainside?

Personally, I think Simon Lowe, managing director of expedition company Jagged Globe, says it best:

“To be honest, I feel like throwing up – but then I go to the mountains for their beauty and tranquility rather than for narcissistic reasons.”

Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster is the true story of a 24-hour period on Everest that began with a storm and ended with the highest single-season death toll in the summit's history.

MISSION STATEMENT: DREAMSTIME

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