Goa trance

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_This article or section may contain original research http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:No_original_research or unverified claims http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability._ Please improve the article http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Goa_trance&action=edit by adding references http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:References. See the talk page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Goa_trance for details. ~(September 2007)~ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Question_book-new.svg

_This article needs additional citations http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources for verification http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability._ Please help improve this article http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Goa_trance&action=edit by adding reliable references http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reliable_sources. Unsourced material may be challenged http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Fact and removed. ~(March 2007)~ Goa Trance Stylistic origins

_ Subgenres http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Goa_trance_music_

Contents

1 History http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/#History
2 The sound of Goa Trance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/#The_sound_of_Goa_Trance
3 Goa Trance parties http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/#Goa_Trance_parties
4 Goa Trance in popular culture http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/#Goa_Trance_in_popular_culture
5 Notable artists http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/#Notable_artists
6 See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/#See_also
7 References http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/#References
8 External links http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/#External_links

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/#External_links

[ edit http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Goa_trance&action=edit&section=1] History

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The music has its roots in the popularity of the Goa state in India http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India in the late 1960s and early 1970s as a hippie http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippie mecca, and although musical developments were incorporating elements of industrial music and EBM with the spiritual culture in India throughout the 1980s, the actual Goa Trance style did not officially appear until the early 1990s. As the hippie tourist influx tapered off in the 1970s and 1980s, a core group remained in Goa, concentrating on developments in music along with other pursuits such as yoga http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga and recreational drug use http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recreational_drug_use. The music that would eventually be known as Goa Trance did not evolve from one single genre, but was inspired mainly by Industrial music http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_music/ EBM http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_body_music like Front Line Assembly http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Front_Line_Assembly and A Split-Second http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Split-Second, acid house http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid_house, techno http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Techno ( The KLF http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_KLF's "/What time is love?"/ in particular), and psychedelic rock http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychedelic_music like Ozric Tentacles http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozric_Tentacles, Steve Hillage http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Hillage and Ash Ra Tempel http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ash_Ra_Tempel. In addition to those, oriental http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Orient tribal/ethnic music http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_music also became a source of inspiration. A very early example (1974) of the relation between psy-rock and the music that would eventually be known as Goa Trance is The Cosmic Jokers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cosmic_Jokers (a collaboration between Ash Ra Tempel and Klaus Schulze http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klaus_Schulze) highly experimental and psychedelic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychedelic album "/Galactic Supermarket/", which features occasional 4/4 rhythms intertwined with elements from psy-rock, analog synthesizers and occasionally tribal-esque drum http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drum patterns.

The introduction of techno http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Techno_music and its techniques to Goa led to what eventually became the Goa Trance style; early pioneers included DJs Fred Disko, Laurent, Goa Gil http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goa_Gil, and Amsterdam Joey. Many "parties" (generally similar to raves http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rave but with a more mystic flavour, at least in early 1990s) in Goa revolve entirely around this genre of music. In other countries, Goa is also often played at raves, festivals and parties in conjunction with other styles of trance and techno.

Today, Goa Trance has a significant following in Israel http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel, brought to that country by former soldiers returning from recreational "post-army trips" to Goa in the early 1990s. A great deal of Goa Trance (or now, more accurately, psytrance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psytrance) is now produced in Israel, but its production and consumption is a global phenomenon. New "hot-spots" today include Brazil http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil, Japan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan and South Africa http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa.

One particular underground genre that branched off from Psy Trance is called suomisaundi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suomisaundi (/Finnish sound/), which originated in Finland http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finland. One of its trademark features is reference to early\mid-1990s classic Goa Trance music, and this genre is often exhibited in Finland's forest party scene. At these parties, mostly Goa Trance and Suomi-style psytrance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psytrance can be heard.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psytrance

[ edit http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Goa_trance&action=edit&section=2] The sound of Goa Trance

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_This section does not cite http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources any references or sources http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability._ Please help improve this article http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Goa_trance&action=edit by adding citations to reliable sources http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reliable_sources. Unverifiable http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability material may be challenged and removed. ~(June 2008)~ Goa Trance is essentially "dance-trance" music (it was referred to as "Trance Dance" in its formative years), the original goal being to assist the dancers in experiencing a collective state of bodily transcendence, similar to that of ancient shamanic dancing rituals, through hypnotic, pulsing melodies and rhythms. As such it has an energetic beat http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beat_(music), almost always in common time http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_time (4/4) meaning 4 quarter note http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarter_note pulses per bar. Time is marked with kicks ( bass drum http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bass_drum beats) on each quarter-note pulse, a snare or clap on the second and fourth pulse of the bar, with an open hi-hat http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hi-hat sound every second eighth note http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eighth_note. This is essentially a disco http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disco (or even polka http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polka) drum pattern and is common throughout house music and its derivatives (of which Goa Trance is one). A typical track will generally build up to a much more energetic movement in the second half then taper off fairly quickly toward the end. The BPM http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beats_per_minute typically lies in the 130 - 150 range, although some tracks may have BPMs as low as 110 or as high as 160. Generally 8-12 minutes long, Goa Trance tracks tend to focus on steadily building energy throughout, using changes in percussion patterns and more intricate and layered synth parts as the music progresses in order to build a hypnotic and intense feel.

The kick drum often is a low, thick sound with a large amount of sub-bass frequencies, and is thought to be the origin of the term /doof/, a label for dance music and Goa Trance in particular. The music very often incorporates many audio effects that are often created through experimentation with synthesisers. A well-known sound that originated with Goa Trance and became much more prevalent through its successor, psytrance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psytrance, is the organic "squelchy" sound (usually a saw-wave which is run through a resonant high-pass filter).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirituality

[ edit http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Goa_trance&action=edit&section=3] Goa Trance parties

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The parties around the New Year tend to be the most chaotic with bus loads of people coming in from all places such as Mumbai http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumbai, Delhi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delhi, Bangalore http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangalore, Hyderabad http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyderabad and the world over. Travelers, beggars and sadhus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadhu from all over India http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India pass by to join in.

Goa parties have a definitive visual aspect - the use of "fluoro" ( fluorescent http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorescent paint) is common on clothing and on decorations such as tapestries. The graphics on these decorations are usually associated with topics such as aliens http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraterrestrial_life, Hinduism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism, other religious (especially eastern) images, mushrooms http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mushrooms (and other psychedelic art), shamanism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamanism and technology http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology. Shrines in front of the DJ stands featuring religious items are also common decorations.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology

[ edit http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Goa_trance&action=edit&section=4] Goa Trance in popular culture

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_This section needs additional citations http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources for verification http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability._ Please help improve this article http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Goa_trance&action=edit by adding reliable references http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reliable_sources. Unsourced material may be challenged http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Fact and removed. ~(June 2008)~ For a short period in the mid-1990s Goa Trance enjoyed significant commercial success with support from DJs such as Paul Oakenfold http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Oakenfold, who later went on to assist in developing a much more mainstream style of trance outside Goa. Only a few artists came close to being Goa Trance "stars", enjoying worldwide fame. Among the most notable are, / Infected Mushroom http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infected_Mushroom/, / Eat Static http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eat_Static/, / Astral Projection http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astral_Projection_(group)/, / Man With No Name http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Freeland/, / Hallucinogen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallucinogen_(musician)/, / Cosmosis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmosis_(band)/ and / Doof http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doof_(musician)/. Goa Trance band / Juno Reactor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juno_Reactor/ had their music featured in many Hollywood movies http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_movie like Mortal Kombat http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortal_Kombat_(movie), The Matrix http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Matrix, and even Once Upon a Time in Mexico http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Once_Upon_a_Time_in_Mexico. Kox Box from Denmark have Goa Trance tracks on the sound track of the movie Pusher http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pusher most notably the track: Fuel On, which was also featured on the compilation: Distance To Goa 4. More recently, the Gran Tourismo 4: Kicks Soundtrack was comprised entirely of Goa/Psychedelic trance artists, and ESPN has featured ~30 second clips of Goa during the scoring recaps for both college and professional games.

Among the first compilations or albums where Goa Trance could be heard, as opposed to "normal" trance music http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trance_music, are Dragonfly Records http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragonfly_Records "/Project II Trance/" and its successor "/Order Odonata/". Many of these artists are still producing psychedelic electronic music, often called "classic" psy within the scene.

Simon Reynolds http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Reynolds comments that "For all its cult of the mystic Orient, Goa Trance is sonically whiter-than-white. All the creativity is in the top level (melody and filigree) with not a lot going on in the rhythm section. The Goa Trance scene is a sort of deodorized, upmarket version of crusty techno, without the ragged-trousered poverty chic". (1999:176) [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/#cite_note-0 While this kind of opinion is not uncommon, some veterans of the Goa scene will tell you that the music is catered to serve as jumping off point for expanding human consciousness, as mentioned in the film /"Liquid Crystal Vision"/.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/#cite_note-0

[ edit http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Goa_trance&action=edit&section=5] Notable artists