ÁGUAS DE MOURA / SETÚBAL / 1990s

Magic Forest

The place community memory turned into myth—and what the sources actually let us say about it.

HERDADE DO ZAMBUJAL14–16 AUG 1997GOOD MOOD + MONOGATARIDOSSIER PT-LOC-001

What is documented

Boom places the festival’s seed inside the “magic forest” of Herdade do Zambujal in Águas de Moura, Setúbal. It describes Good Mood as a pioneer in introducing Goa trance and psytrance sounds to Portugal in the early 1990s.[01]

Paula Guerra’s research dates trance’s arrival in Portugal to the early 1990s, the first parties and raves to 1994, and the gradual move from urban warehouses to isolated outdoor locations. It identifies Boom in 1997 as a central stimulus.[02]

The 1997 flyer

A public reproduction of the first flyer gives 14–16 August 1997, three days outdoors, and credits Good Mood Productions and Monogatari Productions. Its announced line-up includes Digitalis, Jaïa, ManMadeMan and international DJs.[03]

The flyer is not decoration. It is a document: date, promoters, artists, contact details, language, price, directions and the international network condensed into paper.

What remains unresolved

Directions, hand-drawn maps, technical crews, sound systems, credited photographs, contracts, licences, tapes, complete lists and the people doing invisible work are still missing. We will not fill those gaps by association. They stay open for documentation.

Direct answers

Where was the Magic Forest?

At Herdade do Zambujal in Águas de Moura, Setúbal district.

When was the first Boom?

14–16 August 1997, according to the surviving flyer reproduced by Trancentral.

Who organised it?

The flyer credits Good Mood Productions and Monogatari Productions; Boom identifies Good Mood as the pioneering organisation behind the festival.

DROP 001 / NUMBERED EDITION / SIGNAL FIRST

The first drop is sealed.

A numbered run of objects made for the people who were there — and the ones who wish they had been. What is inside stays classified until the list opens. Signal subscribers get first access, before anyone else, and the run never comes back.

EDITION
Numbered, closes when it is gone
RUN
Small, hand-finished
ORIGIN
Portugal ↔ Aotearoa
STATUS

No spam. One transmission when it opens. Leave with one click.