We are celebrating the 40th anniversary of THE GROOVE by offering THE REAL HISTORY OF DISCO!
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The objective of this show is to provide you with a guide that attempts to chronicle the development of the Disco medium and music spanning over the last 80 years.
As we don't pretend to know absolutely everything about Disco, this guide gives you information and recordings that will at least encourage a better understanding of the rich cultural and musical heritage of the medium. This is part.5 concentrating on developments in the 21st Century. The final episode.
| By the early years of the 21th Century HIP HOP has become the dominant musical and cultural force throughout North America. In dozens of cities throughout the United States, HIP HOP is the only music to be heard on radio stations. If there is anything else, it's often Pop music mixed with HIP HOP. HIP HOP is the norm, almost as if it has always been there and always will be there. For tens of millions that is exactly the case. They literally grew up listening to HIP HOP.
That domination was spreading to various markets around the world with HIP HOP superstars like Detroit's EMINEM virtually becoming international ambassadors of American HIP HOP with songs like "Loose Yourself" from 2002: |
| LOOSE YOURSELF EMINEM - 12" - SHADY |
| The phenomenal impact of HIP HOP through the planet was just beginning in 2002 and there was already the spawning of countless local variations in dozens of different languages. Some of those variations would have international impacts like the British Genre called GRIME. Often known for mixing HIP HOP with UK GARAGE; a style of HOUSE MUSIC we previously mentioned, and RAGA-JUNGLE, GRIME has influenced future movements in HIP HOP like TRAP MUSIC. Here is an early example of GRIME from 2002: YOUNGSTAR with "The Formula": |
| THE FORMULA YOUNGSTAR - 12" - DDJS |
| SKANK BENGA - 12" - BIG APPLE |
| We mixed into the first 12" single by BENGA; one of the early innovators of a new GENRE OF DISCO that is called DUBSTEP. This is called "Skank" and when BENGA recorded this he was 15 years old! It was one of the beginning tracks of a music that would continue to dominate much of the discotheque music industry right up to today.
The DETROIT TECHNO institution was the UNDERGROUND RESISTANCE that kept releasing incredible TECHNO and Detroit ELECTRO records throughout the 1990's and right up to today. They would release on 7" single an accapella version of their wildly influential "Transition" in 2003 that has continued to provide strength and reflection for millions: |
| TRANSITION (ACCAPELLA) UNDERGROUND RESISTANCE - 7" - UNDERGROUND RESISTANCE |
| One last crazy remake for the REAL HISTORY OF DISCO. Back in the 1970's we featured one of KRAFTWERK's early discotheque hits "Trans Europa Express". Now KRAFTWERK has continued to be an incredible source of amazing records with countless artists doing cover versions of their hits. Here we have a remake that would have never been imagined back in the 1970's! It is by OMFO. That stands for "Our Man From Odessa" the alias of German Popov, a major figure of a new GENRE often referred to as BALKAN BEATS. It is one of hundreds of different GENRES OF DISCO popping up throughout Europe, Asia and Africa. The BALKAN BEATS usually combine GYPSY MUSIC and other Balkan influences with HIPHOP or HOUSE MUSIC structures. This now from 2004 is "Trans Balkan Express" |
| TRANS BALKAN EXPRESS OMFO - TRANS BALKAN EXPRESS (CD) - ESSAY RECORDINGS |
| PUT YOUR HANDS UP 4 DETROIT FEDDE LA GRAND - 12" - DATA |
| After "Trans Balkan Express" was FEDDE LA GRAND from The Netherlands with his single "Put Your Hands Up 4 Detroit": one of the most commercially successful examples of early ELECTRO, or ELECTRO HOUSE; depending on the sources. This new ELECTRO sound on the 21st Century quickly became all the rage first in Europe, then throughout the Americas. Wild arrangements and remixes from labels like France's KITSUNE MUSIC became popular for artists like GUNS N' BOMBS. Here is their song "Nothing Is Getting Us Anywhere" from 2006: |
| NOTHING IS GETTING US ANYWHERE GUNS N' BOMBS - 10" - KITSUNE MUSIC |
| This new ELECTRO sound became so extremely popular in France that many sources in the music industry and music press there started using the word to describe any new disco music of any style. The Canadian born MYLENE FARMER had released an incredible variety of FRENCH DISCO records in France for years. Suddenly she was referred to as an ELECTRO artist! New GENRES OF DISCO would end up being called ELECTRO SWING, ELECTRO TANGO, the list continues! ELECTRO TANGO was widely experimented by artists in Argentina and Brazil. The whole movement, although, was dominated by the Paris based GOTAN PROJECT.
Beautifully sung in Spanish, "Diferente" by GOTAN PROJECT is one of the most exceptional disco recordings of the 21st century. This tango based standard disco composition features brilliant orchestral arrangements reminiscent of some ALEC R. COSTANDINOS recordings. For those who still search for orchestration in EURODISCO influenced music, "Diferente" is the singular surprise unleashing hidden potentials in a music industry overladden with sparse electronic structural treatments and a cronic lack of nonsample vocals; singers really singing tangible songs. It is patient, mysterious and romantic. |
| DIFERENTE GOTAN PROJECT - 10" - ¡Ya Basta! |
| ARE YOU A RECORDING ARTIST, PRODUCER OR DJ? DON'T BE ALARMED IF WE ARE NOT PLAYING YOUR SONG OR MENTIONING YOU! THIS IS A GUIDE SPANNING 80 YEARS AND IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO INCLUDE EVERYBODY AND EVERYTHING THAT HAS HAPPENED. MOST OF THE TIME WE ARE PROVIDING SAMPLES OF MUSIC AND SOME NOTABLE RECORDINGS. EVERY RECORD WAS IMPORTANT IN IT'S OWN WAY WHETHER IT WAS INCLUDED IN THIS GUIDE OR NOT. |
| FAIRYLAND FRANCESCO ZETA - 12" - ACTIVA |
| That was Italy's FRANCESCO ZETA with "Fairyland" an excellent example of a GENRE that is really a combination of two other GENRES - those being GABBER or HARDCORE and the other HARD TRANCE. HARD TRANCE grew to become wildly popular in the late 1990's and early 21st Century. Although it still is continuing today, many devotees to that category of TRANCE have gone to artists like FRANCESCO ZETA and their HARDSTYLE! HARDSTYLE is still a growing international GENRE with special HARDSTYLE festivals being held in various parts of the world.
A Washington D.C. deejay called DAVE NADA accidentally came up with a new GENRE in 2009 called MOOMBAHTON. With elements of ELECTRO, HOUSE MUSIC and REGGATON, MOOMBAHTON would quickly grab its own audience throughout the Americas and in Europe. This is an early MOOMBAHTON hit by an artist called MUNCHI: |
| LA BRASILENA TA MONTAO MUNCHI - MOOMBAHTON PROMO - SELEGNA |
| BARBRA STREISAND DUCK SAUCE - 12" - ALL AROUND THE WORLD |
| Also from 2010 was the hit "Barbra Streisand" by DUCK SAUCE who is the Canadian deejay and producer A-TRACK or Alain Macklovitch and New York's Armand Van Helden. It was often referred to by many sources as an example of a new GENRE called NUDISCO or NU-DISCO. NUDISCO was actually part of a movement that started in Denmark and Sweden in the late 1990's. It is music that sounds incredibly similar to EURODISCO, BRITISH DISCO or AMERICAN DISCO from the 1970's and early 1980's. It is recorded and produced often by people who were really too young to actually know those older GENRES. Sometimes they do cover-versions of older DISCO songs, yet most often they just do their own original material. Another example that was often referred to as NUDISCO was the Italian megahit "This Is What You Are" by MARIO BIONDI & THE HIGH FIVE QUINTET: |
| THIS IS WHAT YOU ARE MARIO BIONDI & THE HIGH FIVE QUINTET - 12" - EXPANSION |
| Another GENRE we mentioned before was ELECTRO SWING. Most popular in Italy and Eastern Europe, ELECTRO SWING has often been dismissed as another example of the many hundreds of remix projects that cropped up in the 21st Century offering new versions of older Rock and Jazz recordings. Many ELECTRO SWING artists compose original songs that are combinations of SWING music and contemporary DISCO variations like CLUB DES BELUGAS. This is their song "Dat Thang": |
| DAT THANG CLUB DES BELUGAS - FORWARD (CD) - CHINCHIN |
| TELENOVELA TIRAERA (HOW I GOT FIRED AT THE BURGER KING & KFC) MUNCHI featuring CONCON - MOOMBAHTON IS DEAD - SELEGNA |
| WATCH OUT FOR THIS (BUMAYE) MAJOR LAZER (featuring BUSY SIGNAL, THE FLEXICAN & FS GREEN) - FREE THE UNIVERSE (2LP) - MAD DECENT |
| A NOSSA MUSICA KELLY KEY - NO CONTROLE (CD) - DECK |
| LEAVE WITH US MARSHALL APPLEWHITE - HOW TO KILL 001 (EP) - HOW TO KILL |
| EL PERDON (Remix) NICKY JAM featuring ENRIQUE IGLESIAS Iglesias - FENIX (CD) - LA INDUSTRIA INC. |
| BAD AND BOUJEE MIGOS - CULTURE (2LP) - QUALITY CONTROL MUSIC |
| HOLLA HOLLA THE SOULJAZZ ORCHESTRA - UNDER BURNING SKIES (LP) - STRUT 
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| OPEN & CLOSE MR. EAZI (featuring DIPLO) - LIFE IS EAZI, Vol. 2 - LAGOS TO LONDON- UNIVERSAL MUSIC - 2.32 - UNIVERSAL MUSIC |
| MAKEBA JAIN - ZANAKA (2LP) - SONY MUSIC |
| NICE FOR WHAT DRAKE - SCORPION (2LP)
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| After almost 80 years of musical and technological innovation in the Discotheque industry throughout the world there are now so many GENRES OF DISCO and variations of which that no one human being can keep up with it all. The internet has also so completely changed the rule book that any chronology we have offered in this guide is practically obscured. Any deejay can now mix a variety of different GENRES and styles from different periods together at will! Some significant GENRES like INDUSTRIAL MUSIC, RAI and CUMBIA were not included also. We encourage your investigation of them also! Ultimately we have only, in the last 22 hours provided you with a guide that outlines the music. We hope that it inspires you to investigate and experience more DISCO MUSIC of any or all of the examples we have presented. Dare we say - this was just the tip of the ice burg! |
| THESE ARE THE TOP FIVE GENRES OF DISCO IN THE WORLD:
1. HIPHOP 2. SOUKOUSS 3. REGGAE 4. TECHNO 5. HOUSE MUSIC |
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Hardstyle! coool!!
1:41 PM, July 20th, 2019