In Ecuador, high in the Andes mountains, 52 International and National bands and intrepid festival goers made the spectacular 1.4 km descent into the misty 4000 year old dormant crater of the Pululahua volcano for a unique event in rock'n'roll history: A 4 day international music festival in a sacred, mystical and inaccessible geobotanical reserve.

At 3000 meters above sea level, oxygen starved rock fans adventured high along the baron Andean Mountain roads into the clouds reaching the summit of the Pululahua volcano. Clouds had descended into the crater, barely a sound could be heard from below, the steep zigzagging 1.4 km path led fans into a fertile oasis of wildlife and vegetation in the geobotanical reserve, a 30 minute walk through paramo grass, palms and laurel to the sound of humming birds, tanagers, churn owls and the company of wolves, armadillos and gazelles. The mist cleared, light rain fell, rock music hummed in the distance as the indigenous houses and the two giant concert stages came into view and the incredible idea of rock in a volcanic paradise became a reality. Pululahua 1999. Rock From The Volcano. Quito. Ecuador.

For the festival organiser Ricardo Perotti, it was dream come true. Originally planned for October 1998, the festival had to be cancelled when the nearby active Pinichincha volcano went onto red alert and according to Perotti, the Ecuadorian government, the police and the environmental group managing the reserve put up a number of barriers, attempting to prevent the festival from taking place. Up until the last minute, uncertainty loomed, the head of police finally giving the go ahead just 9 hours before the festival was due to begin.

Security was high with the army, national police, municipal police, civil defence and 15 horsed police present, not to mention the obligatory 30 under cover agents in the crowd. Fans were searched at the summit for drugs and strict limits on alcohol were imposed, but adventurous fans found the local magic mushrooms in the small valley and joints circulated under the noses of the surprisingly restrained police.

The turn out over the 4 days was disappointingly low, having planned for 15000 people, the biggest day attracted just 2000 people, Abulón from Las Víctimas del Dr. Cerebro could not understand why so few people attended, when the setting and the music was so phenomenal. The reasons: bad weather, the date, a traditional carnival weekend when most people leave for the coast and the price, $6 a day, thought to be too much for many people.

But on February 13th 1999, the weather, the police and the small crowd didn't stop the volcano from rocking as 100 decibels of sound, delicately engineered to respect the ecological balances of the protected zone sent Mexican indie-fusion into the enclosed 3383 hectare nature reserve.

Las Víctimas del Dr. Cerebro (Victims of Dr. Brain), blew the crowd away on the first night with an explosive show. Devils, skeletons, monsters and pyromania invaded as an indie-fusion of heavy metal, funk and reggae thrashed into the gloomy, mist swelled night. Recently signed by EMI and promoting their third album Boutique 2000, Las Victimas are continuing the wave of Mexican Rock bands creating alternative, punk, thrash and ska, started in the late 1980's and spearheaded by Maldita Vecindad, Caifanes and Café Tacuba. Abulón the front man talked of his lyrics, which deal with the everyday experiences of Mexico's youth, a generation largely ignored by society. He was flattered to be able to sing in a place of such great harmony between nature and art, praising the organisers for the brilliance of the idea and the quality of the production.

Quito band Sal y Mileto opened the first day with a powerful rock fusion show. Bassist Franko Aguirre talked of the importance of the festival for Ecuadorian rock. "Being a musician in the 3rd world is a militia battle, the poverty and the expense of recording in South America means that it is a miracle that bands are succeeding." Sal y Mileto formed 5 years ago when Singer Paul Segovia got together with the writer Peki

Andino in a project to fuse poetry and music, mixing social and political conscience with original rock. Releasing their first album this year, their success is a testament to the power of their song writing skills.

British band Vague hit the enthusiastic crowd with their own brand of Britpop. "Fantastic and inspirational," declared drummer Geoff Southall, when the clouds came down, he expected dinosaurs to come running out of the trees, "the feeling was that anything could happen." He found the Latin crowd totally different to the British, describing them as more excited, appreciative and open. Influenced by three continents of music, Geoff, British, Monti, Ecuadorian, Nick Lowther and Rob Bryon, Australian, their collective work incorporates diverse influences from the last 50 years, bringing rock, ethnic, electronic, soundtrack and Latin music together.

Inspired by the Bay of Dogs incident in Cuba, where the US payed off the local military to start a coup, the funky and subtle Peace and Love poetically covers a confused gringo's arrival in South America. The mellowcholic Sleepwalking talks of going to a new city, looking for enlightenment and disappointingly realising that you could have found it where you were; disillusionment with a commercialised world where there is no room for spirit.

Dogma Sinica from Columbia lifted the small crowd on the second day with powerful songs from their latest album Cultura Del Ruido (Culture of Noise). Designed to raise the level of Columbian rock, exploring new areas and ambiences. Singer, Javier Reyes says. "It's about aggressive people attracting aggression in a negative atmosphere of mental noise, where aggression becomes a lifestyle. By putting noise into the music, we try and show the complexity of the feeling that it creates." By introducing an authentic and darker sound to their hard rock and incorporating new elements, samplers, loops and noise, they have catapulted themselves to fame in Columbia. Javier praising the festival objective of uniting the different Latin American rock movements declared enthusiastically. "It's magic, I've been filled with energy all day in this wonderful place of power."

The people dropped their fried bananas and KFC as Spanish rockers Girasoules (Souls Flowers) brought their own special brand of philosophic rock to Pululahua. Promoting their third album Mundo Feliz

(Happy World), produced by Joe Davorniak in London. The popular soft acoustic rock is a move away from the style of the previous albums which explored Latin rhythms. Inspired by Aldous Huxley's 'Brave New World', a social critique runs through the conceptual and melodic album. Playing for the second time in Latin America, Kike Tarraso, singer, disappointed at the size of the crowd found the festival superb. "Playing in a crater was the experience of a life time."

The atmosphere intensified on the third day with eagerly awaited Mexican band, La Dosis (The Dose), igniting the soaked crowd with an intense dose of analogue, drum and bass, electronic soul funk and ultramodern, conceptual lyrics. Philosophising about the danger of the thoughtless mainstream 'peddle bike' society, where no one thinks or examines the nature of their own existence. Invited by Sony and promoting their 5th album Hydro, singer, Sara Valenzuela found the crater to be a weird experience but a great idea.

The frenzy of Chilean reggae-rock band, Chancho en Piedra, (Stone Pork), injected adrenaline into the frosty night, practically unknown in Ecuador, witty lyrics, catchy funk and strong vocals captured the crowd.

Argentinean Babasónicos shook the crater with a blend of rock, funk and hip-hop, enrapturing the crowd to mosh in a mad, trancey and intense set. Tripping on a combination of oxygen for altitude sickness and volcanic mushrooms, front man, Adrian Dargelos described the feeling as. "Great, tripping in the clouds, throwing the vibe." Taking their name from the Hindu prophet Sai Baba and an allegory to the Supersonic ones, the seven members of the band started playing together in 1991, and are currently promoting their fourth album Babasonica, an addiction to simplicity. Keyboardist, Uma-T explains. "All the personalities of the band are different and spontaneous, we are against formula music which destroys creativity. Our experimental and un-pure music creates absolute trance, an altered state of mind. It is tacky, trippy and psycho with a lot of flow. We try to be as tacky as possible, mocking cheesy, greasy, macho Miami style Latin playboys." By playing on Latin American taboos such as sex and spirituality, they are trying to break the antique conservative Hispanic heritage and make way for a new future in the new millennium. Their uncool approach is making them an up and coming and very happening band, icons of the youth culture.

People arrived in a huge rush to hear the Columbian super group Aterciopelados (The Velvets), transforming the soaked crater into a tropical valley with their own brand of Electro-pop-rock. Andrea Echeverri, the quirky and vocally inventive rockera worked the crowd into a frenzy with Baracunatana, No Necesito (I Do Not Need) and Cosita Seria (Serious Small Thing), from their successful album La Pipa De La Paz (Peace Pipe), Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Latin Rock Album in 1997.

Rebellious Bogota society girl, Echeverri, 32, hailed by critics as Latin America's best rock singer and Hector Buitrago ex-bassist from the legendary hardcore band, La Pestilencia (The Pestilence), came together in 1990. Their debut album Con El Corazón En La Mano (With a Heart in the Hand), released in 1993 made them one of the most popular bands in Columbia. The second album El Dorado brought them international recognition, recording an unplugged session with MTV Latin America and touring with Argentinean bands Soda Stereo to the US and Spain with Héroes del Silencio. Their third album La Pipa de la Paz recorded in London with Phil Manzanera turned silver in Columbia in 1997 and after touring Latin America, they joined the boisterous Argentinean Fabulosos Cadillacs for the Rockinvasion tour of the US. Their latest 1998 contemporary pop-rock album Caribe Atomico (Atomic Caribbean) develops a new and interesting sound with influences from Massive Attack, Bjork and Salsa music.

Echeverri, as a lover of ecology adored the idea of playing in a volcano and felt a magnetic sensation in the crater. When asked about the idea of singing in English, she pledged. "Singing in Spanish is a statement, we are proud of being Latin American, the US fucks with Latin America and we will never sing in English just to sell."

Crazy, extrovert and flowery Argentinean singer-songwriter Fabiana Cantilo playing songs from her latest paranoid album De Qué Se Ríen? (What Are You Laughing At?), excitedly talked of her love for animals, the ecology and of the dreamlike sensation of playing an open-air concert in such spectacular surroundings. Born in Buenos Aires, she began playing theatrical-rock 25 years ago before starting a long musical relationship with the Argentinean rock pioneer Charly Garcia, playing in a number of different bands during her career, she has released four solo albums in a modern pop-rock style with a Latin twist. "In spite of the rain and the jungle," She says jokingly, "Latin America is a child being born." Composing in English and translating to Spanish, her poetic lyrics are wary of big brother and the destructive force of property builders destroying nature. Romantically adding. "Love can save us; it is not as easy as it could be, but hey, I'm still fighting."

A sensation of the event was the appearance of the highly respected Argentinean multi instrumentalist Pedro Aznar, 48, former bassist with Charly Garcia's Seru-Girán and with the Pat Metheny Group. Playing in a quartet, Pedro found the views breathtaking and felt amazed and honoured to play in front of a freezing but enthusiastic crowd. Spanning decades of musical development and acknowledging many styles and genres, Aznar is considered to be musical intellectual. As a child he began studying classical guitar old using the Klavarskribo notation system, he went on to study jazz piano and is particularly renowned for his technical mastery of the famous fretless bass.

Mega Chilean band, 'La Ley', headlining on the fourth day with a hypnotic and futuristic light show and set. Piercing white lights shining from the bands space helmets transported the public to the trance like transcendental world of Electro-acoustic rock. Reputed for their cinemographic stage shows; the band formed in the late 80's and are ending a 12-month tour. Heavily influenced by Japanese band 'Sakamoto', singer Alberto Cuevas, talks of the social message in the lyrics, concern for the extreme rich poor divides, sympathy for the rebels in the jungle and criticism of the glamorisation of war.

Young, hip, Chilean funk band Los Tetas (Masculine Tits) closed the festival, gaving the crowd the send off they needed for the arduous hike out of the crater; rapping, scratching and throwing funky basslines into the night. "We went from playing gigs at parties to being famous very quickly," explains singer and scratcher, TeaTime, downing a cold cupper and pulling a handful of Twinnings out of his pocket. "We've got a contract with EMI, but we are going to split and do something on an independent label like Master F."

Artists huddled back stage during Los Tetas awaiting news of the landslide that temporarily blocked the narrow road out of the crater. Adding drama to the overall experience of the event, as the public climbed out of the crater, jeeps and trucks transported the artists back to Quito along the spectacular but increasingly trecherous mountain roads.

Considering the socio-political background to the event, this festival marked a watershed in Ecuador rock'n'roll history and judging from the enthusiasm of the crowd, the foreign press and the artists, playing for free and united in admiration for Ricardo Perotti, Pululahua 1999 hopefully marked the beginning of a great festival culture in Ecuador.