No I wouldn't say its 100%. I mean I still like techno : ) But as a music that is African in its roots theres not many African decendants listening to it. Go to a techno night and look around. It's clear to see.
As an example, my group of friends at the time 87 was made up of some White, Afro-Carribean, Mixed Race/Heritage, Indian, a Brazilian, a typical inner city bunch from Chapeltown Leeds. We used party to Rare Groove, Funk, Reggae, Hip Hop. There many other such possees from other part of Leeds eg Woodhouse. Then came this early house out of Chicago playing in a couple of mid week clubs, we didn't even know how to dance to it !!. What is Jackin' The Warehouse, a club with then a wide music policy started to incoorparate these new sounds and it simply blew up. But these inner city possees moved away from the very scene they developed. But why ??? Here's my take.. Well it became cheese, overcommercial, uncool, piano house and divas, songs like 'Id rather Jack than Fleetwood Mac'. Yea there there was still good house and techno to be found but people just dissassociated with it and quickly moved on, comments like 'that's what white people dance to' 'drug music'. I cant help thinking if some of the original artists had photos of themselves on album sleeves how much different things might have been. (See Hip Hop) Must get back to work... Rav -----Original Message----- From: Ken Odeluga [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 23 September 2004 14:05 To: Mann, Ravinder; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: 313@hyperreal.org Subject: RE: (313) bit more Hacienda info for Stewart >Up Periscope..... > >Records I recall being played in Leeds at that time .. > >Corina - T Coy >Too Far Gone - Adonis >The Dance - DM >Like This - Chip E >We Rocking Down the House - >House Nation - House Master >Voodoo Ray - AGCG >Pacific State - 808 >Lets get Brutal - >Ma Foom Bay - Cultural Vibe >Take Some Time Out - Classic Classic Arnold Jarvis Track. >Cant Get Enough - Lizz Torres >Rock to the Beat - Master Reese ? >and of Course B I G F U N !! > >This is before the 'Summer Of Love'. > >Then came acid and piano house and the media and the inner city kids moved >on to the hip hop and RnB scenes. I feel its remained pretty >much the same >since. It's a shame....as these scenes could and should imo co exist in >Clubland. > >Hate to bring up the race thing as it's a can of worms but as white >people got into house the black crowd moved out. This is simply an >observation, but that's way it was. > >Rav > >....Down Periscope It certainly looks that way. Of course, it's not 100% that way however, evidently. On the whole however, what you've observed is the age old problem of prejuidice, percieved or actual - this can play itself out in ways which are obvious enough. Sometimes it really is there, sometimes it isn't. Not everyone's as enlightened as they ought to be, not everyone can tell the difference. And that works both ways too! Also, most people are conservative in deed if not in mind, they stick with what they know and surface appearances are everything, as is going along with the crowd. The ironic thing is, of course, the African-American roots of a lot of this music, including so-called hard techno! So you have a situation in which people of colour in the UK and Europe are rejecting a music in which people of colour in the US, played a large part (and still do). And this applied even when the music was relatively new and therefore still more easily traceable to those roots. k
