The Half Moon Party is an outdoor dance music

Dance music

Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...

 (rave

Rave

Rave, rave dance, and rave party are parties that originated mostly from acid house parties, which featured fast-paced electronic music and light shows. At these parties people dance and socialize to dance music played by disc jockeys and occasionally live performers...

) event on the island of Ko Pha Ngan

Ko Pha Ngan

Ko Pha Ngan is an island in the Gulf of Thailand in South East Thailand. It is famous for its full moon party at Haad Rin Beach and as a backpackers destination. Ko Pha Ngan has two sister islands: the larger Ko Samui to the south and the smaller Ko Tao to the north.* Area: about 168 km²*...

, Thailand

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

 held at the intervals between full moon

Full moon

Full moon lunar phase that occurs when the Moon is on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun. More precisely, a full moon occurs when the geocentric apparent longitudes of the Sun and Moon differ by 180 degrees; the Moon is then in opposition with the Sun.Lunar eclipses can only occur at...

 and new moon

New moon

In astronomical terminology, the new moon is the lunar phase that occurs when the Moon, in its monthly orbital motion around Earth, lies between Earth and the Sun, and is therefore in conjunction with the Sun as seen from Earth...

, i.e. approximately twice a month.

The Half Moon Party complements the bigger Full Moon Party

Full Moon Party

The Full Moon Party is an all-night beach party that originated in Haad Rin on the island of Ko Pha Ngan, Thailand on the night before or after every full moon....

 events in the itinerary of hedonistic and just plain curious visitors to the island. Unlike the FMP, a charge is made for admission, although this is genuinely to enhance the security of the event as much as make profit. It is also smaller than the FMP, attracting up to 3000 partiers and employing only one main arena.

The promoters mainly employ local DJs

Disc jockey

A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...

 using CD

Compact Disc

The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...

 decks rather than vinyl

Gramophone record

A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...

. Various guest DJs play unannounced sets but the event is not the place to see big name stars. The focus is on the music and atmosphere, which suits most of the clientele. While the Full Moon Party attracts a wide range of attendees - from the very young to the very old and the very hip to the very square - the Half Moon attracts a more specific set of serious partiers.

The event has been held at several venues including on the beach at Ban Tai on the southern coast, and in the surrounding jungle. It is currently held in a venue designed specifically for the event in Ban Tai on the road to Thong Nai Pan. Category:Dance festivals