1. A
s I have been in the past
many years; an active
spectator and participant in
the community of electronic
music; and recently it's critic and
committee member; I have been
witness to it's growth and
decline, the wax and wane of
good times and bad, the times I
thought dancing all night would
save the world, and times when
certain official bodies were
trying to save the world from our
dancing... This summer, I'm
letting go. This summer, I'm just
dancing.
The two festivals this summer
so far have become intangible
creatures that seem to move
without the explicit consent of
its organizers and no longer
needs their constant supervision.
This year's Detroit Electronic
Music Festival performances
were once again a variety en
masse and phenomenal as a
whole; the Reese Project was an
unrequited smooth concoction of
new jazz and funk, Ayro as
always amazed me with the
multitudes of layered noise,
sounds and improvisational organ
synth music one man could
create, and of course the
perennial favourite Stacey
Pullen, for lack of better words,
tore it up Sunday night. But it
isn't the music itself which
grabbed me this year, but the
attitude. For those not in the
know, let me tell you that the
genre known to the masses as
'techno' was created in Detroit.
Derek May, Juan Atkins, Kevin
Saunderson and the boys have
artistic license and merit over it
(in my opinion anyway), I find
myself now inspired by the fact
that it's something they want to
share, in their home town, to as
many people that want to listen,
and for free.
During an impromptu press
conference in a nicely lounged
out sheltered area right behind
the main stage, the question was
raised by one of the press corps
about a genre predominantly
enjoyed by white people being
created by African Americans.
While few in the room actually
agreed with that particular line
of questioning, it did segue into a
more important string of
thought; it could have been
possible to imagine from the
outset the immense popularity of
the genre, but now years later,
what control do the 'godfathers'
of techno still command?
Saunderson put it most raw and
honest when he admitted that he
never really saw a black and
white thing. The proof, he
testified, is "watching people
dance... all over the world, with
their eyes closed".
So at what point does one
relinquish control of a thing?
Though I would agree with
needing to re-establish Detroit as
ground zero for techno, and
wholefully support it, the subter-
raneous reasons seem to ring
mush more poetically; that only
given four months to do so, and
despite the controversy, Derek,
Juan, Kevin and the boys,
alongside with Transmat Records
managed to pull off the world's
largest celebration of electronic
music... simply because they felt
compelled to.
Where Movement is in ways
the living description of how
music becomes idea, then it is
the OM Summer Solstice Festival
that releases control of the idea.
What started six years ago by a
Toronto based collective as a
celebration of the summer
solstice in the wooded northern
areas of Ontario has now come to
the edge of phenomenon.
Whereas the purpose in Detroit is
to serve the music, at OM it is
the inverse happens; the music
serves the idea. Ranging from
the ambient soundscape stylings
of Michael Moon and the poetic
trip hop of LAL, to the Asian dub
sounds of State of Bengal,
Telefunk Soundsystem and
Intergalactic Faerie Funk, to the
psychedelic trance that only the
Black Light Activists can
bring, the experience of
the festival is something
that perhaps is shared
after the fact, but only as
memories. The
experience of that night
is an indescribable thing
that perhaps we keep for
ourselves.
The tailored music
coupled with the
workshops, lectures and
key note speakers, plus
the theme camps
offering all sorts of
services, from swimming
pools to sensual healing
and balancing, it is more
than a party but a congregation
of a large number of minds from
our generation. Open minds. In
the years past, OM has enjoyed
the company of open-minded
dreamers, seekers and spiritual
wanderers from across the
country, and as a result, grown
in size and popularity. What
appears to me is that the idea
of OM so badly wants to hold on
to its 'grass roots' status that it
may in fact suffocate its
progressive nature. The reality
of the work of the Sumkidz (the
collective who organizes the
festival, as well as other events
in and around the Toronto area)
is that is seems to inspire, from
young university students to
entire towns to even young
progressive designers. The
people who have worked
tirelessly at birthing this thing,
this 'OM' should wean it, let it
touch the lives of more. Let it
embody that ancient Sanskrit
syllable, and maybe then OM will
occur not just once a year, but
365 times.
Maybe in twenty years we'd all
get back together and celebrate
it with a free festival in a major
urban center...
It seems two of the three
summer festivals which make
this damn heat bearable are
quite at odds with each other;
where one needs a more human-
istic approach, the other should
adopt a more phenomenological
repose; where music leads in
one, it follows in the other; but
share the most important
common cosmic thread, the
ability to inspire.
And the third festival? The
World Electronic Music Festival.
For ten years running, it has
witnessed the birth of the rave
era in our country, contributed
considerably to it's success and
has kept it on life support for
a few years. The incredible
variety of just dance music from
all over the world coupled with
the uncontrollable urge to party,
two sleepless nights and twenty
thousand others make for sure
that even if you can't enjoy
yourself, you're gonna dance...
Like the Sheep Man from the
annals of the Murikami mythos
preaches; "Yougottadance."...
but I guess we can discuss that
next issue...
e-music: letting gophotos and article by francis wong
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