A "catalyst" as far as I am informed. Is that which makes some kind of
reaction/transformation possible, which at least in chemistry, would not have
taken place w/o its presence. Kind of like the element which brings the whole
ensemble to a more active state. A 'key' of sorts, opening up the possibility
of emergent and synergistic behavior of the entire ensemble, whatever it may
be. I think it is safe to say that this is also it's adopted vernacular
meaning. I think if we want to talk about catalysts, we should perhaps be
talking about the relationship between humans and machines after the advent of
the transistor. In other words, music has been around for ever, and "electronic
music" was thought up, at least in theory, far before any body actually built
the machines capable of making it. The catalyst in this case is the technology,
particularly the transistor, and the tremendous variety of new music, culture,
and ideas which have proliferated since it's 'birth', the "reaction". It is
obvious that people have been making all kinds of music using electronic
instruments, as Behn wrote, "all over the world", and I think it is ludicrous
to point to any one place as it's point of origin. The whole issue is
problematic, and to reduce it's genealogy to a punctal and linear progression
doesn't really do it justice. In fact even to think of the technology as
catalyst needs to be thought about, since technology and music have existed for
a very long time. I would even venture the contention that they both predate
the advent of what we now like to call 'homo sapiens'. Animals are quite
capable of artifice and engineering, and as we all know, making music as well
(just open your window).
Here I will most likely be charged with anthropomorphising the question, but I
would argue, that it is more of a case of geomorphisis, i.e. we are animals,
and we make music just like all the other animals. What goes through a little
birds mind as it alights my window sill and is bombarded by tweeky, high
pitched noise breaks? I can assure you that something does, even if it isn't
the words "I hate that techno stuff, it's so soulless and unbirdlike".
Back to the point; I think that when people look for points of origins,
grounds, roots, they are more often than not motivated by some force other than
trying to really understand the way whichever system they are looking at
actually 'becomes'. And 'becoming', in music or any where else involves
transverse and viroid cross-contamination. Do you need a "Big bang" or a
"Genesis" to make the world intelligible? Why not have indeterminate open ended
origins - just as music has not yet been put through the histrionic mill; no
one would argue that there is some kind of a final state in store for it.
The question which I think would be interesting to ask in this case: "How is
what I am hearing part of something else? How and with what does it work?"
Regards,
Christophe
Kurtis Behn wrote:
quoted 21 lines I'm amused by this... just by reading a book or watching a documentary> > I'm amused by this... just by reading a book or watching a documentary
> > you can get the full history of electronic music... i must admit both are
> > good resources for what has occurred in the history of electronic music,
> > but detroit is NOT the catalyst for launching electronic music.
>
> > In fact, I'd tend to believe every section of this earth has had a part in
> > launching electronic music... from the "techno pioneers" in detroit to
> > the warehouse and garage djs in chicago and nyc to the d&b creators in the
> > UK to john cage in champaign/urbana, IL basically every section of earth
> > has had *some* part in making electronic music what it is today.
>
> While I tend to believe/agree with your second paragraph, I don't think that
> that conflicts with the previous statement about detroit. I think you're
> misunderstanding what was meant by catalyst, as in a jump start, not
> necessarily the source of all things electronic.
>
> k
>
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