This weekend, Ears To The House is still looking into the fallout from Fajara Dance Festival – the Gambian event that was due to start on November 21st, but never even started. For example, we’ve received accounts of people going out there and being unable to check into the Faraja Hotel – and others arriving in rooms that are clearly unfinished.

Yesterday, we published a rare Saturday article covering the latest – including a curious defence from Fajara Dance Festival themselves, and an even more baffling defence by headline name Boddhi Satva. Judging by the reactions on social media, it looks like the response has been far too little, far too late.

Since then, we have spoken to two DJs – who both asked to remain anonymous – and they confirmed they had to take early flights back to their home countries at their own personal expense. They also told us they’ve received no contact at all from the event promoter – and at the time of publication, we can say exactly the same thing.

But one dance music press outlet that has yet to cover the fallout from the festival that never happened is Resident Advisor – and this is where things get a little awkward for the site. Because just a few weeks ago, they included Fajara Dance Festival in a list of top ten festivals for November 2023.

A fact that Fajara themselves trumpeted keenly on their Instagram page…

Now, we make many criticisms of Resident Advisor on this site – but we certainly can’t blame them for all of this. To the best of our knowledge, no one at the site – not even their £75k a year editors – is blessed with the ability to see into the future with a crystal ball.

Nonetheless, this is rather unfortunate…