In the heart of the Judean Desert, underneath historic Masada Mountain and along the shores of the Dead Sea, enthusiastic young people have turned the lowest place on earth into a big party.
From Thursday sunset to Friday sunrise, world's leading electronic music artists highlighted the second edition of Dead Sea Rave -424 and excited the audience.
"W&W, Paul Oakenfold, Deep Dish, Dash Berlin... We love house music. We love trance music. It's the best festival ever in Israel. Let's GOOOO!!!"
The World Heritage Site of Masada was the refuge of the last survivors of the Jewish revolt, who chose death rather than slavery when the Roman besiegers broke through their defences in 73 A.D..
Avi Yossef, who heads the festival production, says the place makes the festival here special.
"You are in Masada, a place with a heroic story behind it, and a place which is actually the lowest point on earth. Nobody danced on the lowest point on earth yet. You can do festivals anywhere but not here. It's like the end of the world party in my opinion."
And after the 50-day-long conflict between Israel and Gaza this summer, the festival offered an opportunity to release. It also brought tourists from Europe and neighboring Arab countries.
"We are the only party here after the stressing summer that we had, and we did quite well I think. We have a nice party going on here. It's amazing to see all varieties of people. Tourists come here on purpose just because of the festival, because they've heard about it or been here last year. So this is quite a big thing now."
Singing and dancing, restless young men and women enjoyed themselves to their hearts' content in this joyful carnival.
"What are we doing here tonight? Party! We are celebrating the life. It's amazing. We love it, finally some good singers and good DJs here. Good music in our country and all the artists come here just for us. We are so excited. And they put it in such a great place in the middle of the desert, so it's just amazing. The view is amazing. It represents the best of our country, and it's good."
For CRI, I'm Yu Yang.
