08 Mar 2017
Harambe is a giant gorilla that quick became our Mascot. He was found on the side of the road by some friends one night, and later donated to Culture Jam. We later heard he used to belong outside a shop, so we figured someone stole him late at night then left him on another side walk where our friends found him. When we found this out (a few years into our relationship) we did considered returning, but honestly, he’d seen too much. He was a new gorilla now. You can hear the originals honours crying out loud
‘Oh sweet Harambe what have they done to you!’
Harambe’s first festival was the second Town, and each day things got more ridiculous, this guy seriously knows how to party. First he was on the back of a ute but naked in the middle of the Town Square, then suddenly he was suddenly covered in elaborate Shibari (Japanese Bondage). Things really escalated when on the last day of the festival during Sunmonx’s set (Opiuo’s side act) when we got a rigger to hoist him up in his bondage ropes and swing over the main-stage. He was always up for new experiences and genuinely believed we should challenge ourselves.
Over the next years he became a regular part of our narrative, appearing everywhere from in a cyberpunk cage at The World Beyond, to on the roof at Stacks On wearing Hawaiian getup, to starting up his own Zoo at the third Town.
At the fourth Town he played a Jungle set on the Friday night while a real DJ ghosted him from off-stage. Sure there were the sex scandals and the fact that he never slept, but his giant heart never stopped shining.
His Zoo was such a hit, we were hired to take it to a city event called Petting Zoo. But their crowd was not like our crowd and later in the night he was stolen when our workers were having a quick break. They headed into the dance floor to find him and literally found a paramedic standing over his ruins with a torch, looking truly shocked. Just like the real Harambe he had died at the zoo. You could not make this up.
We hosted a funeral for him at Stacks On festival, where sweet words were spoken of what he meant to us. He will forever live in our hearts. RIP big guy! While we don’t want to speculate, we hope the rumours of your resurrection at a future Town are true! <3
