TECHNO CLUB CULTURE IN GERMANY – week seven
Techno is considered to be a type of dance music that evolved in the late 1980s and 1990s out of German electro-pop and American house music, electro and synth-pop. While other forms of dance music relied on live instruments, such as disco and early R&B, techno is created using electronic instruments. Commonly used instruments included synthesizers like the Roland TB-303 and drum machines like the Roland TR-808. Techno music grew out of European electronic music from the 1970s and 1980s. Its influences included Germany’s Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream as well as Belgium’s C.J. Bolland, who used electronic synthesizers and included repetitive basslines and drumbeats. Characteristics of techno music include the use of early synthesizers and drum machines, with most techno producers using vintage synths, being the Roland TR-808 and TR-909 drum machines, the Roland TB-303 bassline generator, the Yamaha DX7 keyboard, and the Korg SQD1 sequencer. Another characteristic is repetitive and danceable beats, where the majority of techno music is in 4/4 time and played at a tempo ranging from 120 to 150 bpm. The third is compositional technique based on looping. Most techno songs loop a bassline and drumbeat, where synth pads, diatonic melodies, or samples may be added on top. Techno songs are often improvised in a live setting and vary from one performance to the next. Throughout the years, this genre has inspired future genres of electric music such as EDM and dubstep in addition to having subgenres within it, including minimal techno, ambient techno, hardcore techno, industrial techno, intelligent dance music (IDM), Detroit techno, trance, deep techno, and tech house.
After the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, young squatters, artists, gallery owners, and DJs from East and West Germany took over the city, filling empty buildings, factories and vacant lots with clubs, bars, galleries, and studios. The club and cultural scene became the driving force behind the city’s rejuvenation, pointing the way for a new generation of young creatives. While techno was not invented in Berlin, what was happening in the city during this period at events like Tekknozid and in clubs like Ufo, Tresor, and Planet were said to be seen as a kind of “big bang”, being “the inception of the last major youth culture movement in Europe to date”. Berlin’s club life opened up opportunities for many aspiring artists where they were able to showcase their work and it offered possibilities for collaboration and new perspectives and spaces for communication, interaction, and celebration “outside the confines of reason and everyday life”. It was not only big in Germany, but with cheap flights in Europe and new wave of clubs like Bar 25, Watergate, and Berghain and parties drew increasing numbers of techno fans to Berlin. Artists, party promoters, and record labels from around the world moved to Berlin, bringing new influences to the city’s sound. Berlin’s clubs became the meeting point for a “new emancipated generation”.
The exhibition project ‘No Photos on the Dance Floor! Berlin 1989 — Today’ in 2019 documented the history of Berlin’s club scene since the fall of the Wall and at the same time brought that history to life. The exhibition showcased photographs, videos, films, and documentary material involving the evolution of Berlin’s club culture over the past thirty years. The exhibition’s title refers to Berlin clubs’ famously strict policy of not allowing photos to be taken inside the premises. “The club scene in Berlin couldn’t have developed the way it has without its no-photo policy. Which, by the way, existed long before smartphones did,” Hoffmann, the co-curator of the project said. “But especially in the time of ‘pics or it didn’t happen!’ it’s important to have spaces where you can enjoy the moment without thinking about how to capture it and share it with the outside world.” While photography is a central part of nightlife in other cities, in Berlin, most clubs have strict rules against taking pictures. This is to allow dancers to lose themselves in the music without distraction from cameras as well as protects clubgoers’ freedom and privacy. There is a sense of community within these clubs due to the large number of people coming together and travelling daily to the “rave capital”, Berlin, to simply enjoy the same music with others of the same taste, where they can ‘escape from reality’ through techno music, in a place where they feel safe. And as Hoffmann says,
It’s the promise of a night that might lead you somewhere you never could’ve dreamed of. The promise of an environment where everyone is open-minded and curious and ready to lose themselves. That special feeling of being in the best place possible.”
Artists who took part in the exhibition have also stated their thoughts on the Berlin club scene:
The dance floor is able to generate this unique and mystical experience. The aesthetic and the emotions of the people who are part of this ‘ritual’ are very powerful and as a photographer, I am attracted to that.”
– Italian photographer Salvatore Di Gregorio
They are who they are and don’t try to hide it just because a camera is pointed at them.”
– German photographer Ben de Biel
However, as music evolved and more genres were introduced, techno became less popular. In addition, in comparison to in the 90s, it is now out of the media – from 1989 till 1997, there was a magazine solely on techno, called ‘Frontpage’.
[https://www.masterclass.com/articles/techno-music-guide]
[http://www.photography-in.berlin/co-berlin-no-photos-on-the-dance-floor-berlin-1989-today/]
[https://i-d.vice.com/en/article/pa7gy9/why-are-we-so-fascinated-with-berlins-techno-clubs]