rave

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Rave , from English for “rush, rave about, romp, fantasize”, is a term for dance events with electronic music that was created during the acid house movement from the Second Summer of Love in 1989 . At these parties, the conceptual focus was placed on ecstatic dance for the first time . The main focus is on the DJs . A similar concept already existed in the form of discos , but what was new was that these were carried out in the form of “one-off events” in specially prepared locations such as concert halls , warehouses , empty houses and the like.

history

In 1981, the Roland company launched the TB-303 analog synthesizer . This bass synthesizer was originally intended for guitarists and bands who were looking for support for their projects, but turned out to be quite useless until resourceful US DJs creatively misused it for their own recordings. A very large part of the dance music of that time was recorded with this device and the TR-808 drum computer, also from Roland , which resulted in a characteristic sound. It was still analog technology, digital recordings were only just beginning. This sound image was also referred to as "rave" by the record companies in connection with various musical styles. As a result, the founding of many small sub-labels and the purchase of bankrupt punk labels as well as the rapid development of these musical styles led to the contrast and subversion of the term, which was finally no longer in use. So if you still want to hear “Rave” today, you can look around the MTV charts between 1988 and 1992.

For the time being, electronic sound was barely divided into styles or categories. There was usually a large dance floor and the two or a few DJs played their way through various facets of electronic music within a party. With the commercial success and the increase in visitor numbers, this concept was changed in favor of better marketing in the listing of as many well-known producers and DJs as possible. The playing time of the respective DJ was limited to less than an hour. This concept had great success and was increasingly implemented at larger and larger events. The result was an enormous pressure to succeed for the DJs. These had to "work" in this short time, which consequently had an enormous influence on the choice of music. The hits were often repeated every hour. This also changed the music. A particularly suitable music developed for this.

The diversification of techno into different styles with sometimes extremely different speeds led to a new form of raves with many different floors in the mid / late 1990s . PLUR ("Peace Love Unity Respect") developed as the motto of the rave culture .

Rave as a name for a genre of music

At first, from the beginning of 1988, people spoke of “rave” as the name of music that was played at dance events, namely raves, and that was usually a further development of disco music due to the emergence of computerization . As a genuinely European term, it was first marketed with the title “Good Life” by Inner City, whereby the characteristic smileys (modern since the 1970s) were made known to a wider public again. In the USA, and there especially in Detroit, this style of music was called "house". The US DJs also played in Berlin and there techno developed very quickly in the milieu of the Berlin school of electronic music, which was then further developed in label centers such as Frankfurt (acid techno, trance) and from there in spread across Europe. The term then gradually disappeared again; many existing discos played “house” with and without singing, from MTV charts to club house, the latter being played by well-known DJs. In the course of this, the DJ became more and more a recognized artist who created his own works. From the very beginning, techno was a matter of newly founded and often short-lived clubs, as well as party labels that bought into existing locations or rented new ones. Due to the unclear legal situation, there were also some illegal raves. Typically all kinds of electronic music have been played at raves since 1992. From 1990 to 1992, Madchester , a British indie rock-dance crossbreed, was briefly referred to as "rave music". The most important representatives here were the Happy Mondays. From 1993 the term “rave” was only used for the previous electronic dance music or for events.

From 1993 to 1996 "Rave Music" then referred to a particularly fast techno style. The speed was similar to the gabber . The often distorted, hard bass drum was often accompanied by fast breakbeat samples in the rave . Because of the catchy, trance-like melodies and synthriffs, this music was also referred to in the scene as idiot or fair techno (e.g. Marusha - Raveland , Dune - Can't Stop Raving ). A subform that emphasizes breakbeats even more is breakbeat hardcore . The meaning of the word rave has changed over the years and today mainly refers to the event. There is no rave as a certain genre of music. When rave music is mentioned, one usually refers to old records and classics from the early days of techno. In general, one can say that what makes typical rave music is a certain experimentation and abstraction, with great attention to danceability.

music

Musically, you can find different styles of electronic music depending on the rave. Whether it is a harder style ( hardcore techno , hardstyle , Schranz , Detroit techno ), moderate techno , house ( tech house , deep house , minimal house ) or breakbeat / drum and bass / dubstep or rather soft, melodic styles ( trance , ambient , goa , hands up and chill-out music) can usually only be recognized by the names of the DJs in the so-called “line-up” and sometimes also by the naming and design of the flyers.

Rave tourism

In addition to the already well known trips to Ibiza or rave cruise ships are especially spiritually -themed trips to India ( Goa ), Tomorrowland in Belgium , Thailand ( Full Moon Party on the island of Koh Pha-ngan ) or cherry blossom in Japan announced. In addition, several cities in Europe such as Amsterdam , London and Berlin with their numerous techno clubs are considered to be subculturally significant centers of rave tourism.

Big and famous raves

One of the first big raves is the Castlemorton Common Festival , initiated by Spiral Tribe in England in 1992, with 30,000 visitors, for which 23 of the organizers had to answer in court. For later unregistered or illegal events within the alternative freetekno scene, however, the term “ teknival ” has become more established.

The Technoparades are among the best-known and now legally taking place raves in Germany . The largest and probably best-known event in this context was the Love Parade . After the city of Berlin no longer approved this event as a demonstration, the organizers were forced to change the venue. Until 2010, the Love Parade took place in metropolises in the Ruhr area , but was no longer continued due to the accident on July 24, 2010 in Duisburg on the site of the former freight yard Duisburg Gbf . Other major techno parades in German-speaking countries were the Union Move , Generation Move , Reincarnation and Vision Parade , as well as the Street Parade and the Lake Parade in Switzerland , which is still taking place .

Other notable events in German-speaking countries are Nature One , which has been taking place since 1995 in the former Pydna nuclear missile launching base in the Hunsrück near Kastellaun , the largest German festival for electronic music, and the SonneMondSterne -Festival in Saalburg / Thuringia . Other annual events are Mayday in Dortmund and Time Warp in Mannheim with its offshoots in northern and eastern Germany, their Love'n'Light rave, the Love Family Park and the Austrian Rave on Snow.

organization

With a few exceptions, larger raves are spread over several halls and rooms, which are referred to as floors in the jargon of party visitors . A slightly different style of music is played in each hall . In particular, the music played in the chill-out rooms is usually extremely avant-garde. In addition to the line-up and the DJ line-up, the PA used, as well as the lighting and decoration, play an important role in the success of a rave . Since raves start relatively late (rarely before midnight), the party regularly continues until the early hours of the morning.

Web links

Commons : Rave  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Mark Manson: World's best nightlife cities. In: CNN . October 2, 2014, accessed September 20, 2016 .
  2. ^ Hugh Morris: The best party cities in the world. In: The Daily Telegraph . September 16, 2015, accessed September 20, 2016 .
  3. ^ Laura Gavin: Best places to party: 10 of the best clubbing cities in Europe. In: Skyscanner . February 22, 2016. Retrieved September 20, 2016 .
  4. Listings (top 20 regions). In: Resident Advisor . Retrieved September 20, 2016 .