Christophe,
This is a pretty intelligent discourse into the notion of the intrinsic
relationship between humans and, the machine resulting in electronic music.
But somehow you go beyond the original thread idea which argued that Detroit
was somehow the catalyst for the birth of techno music. It would have done
you a bit more justice to refer to musical examples when talking about
'catalyst', 'human', machines' and 'technology.
Anyone who is knowledgable about modern electronic music would understand
that there have been many various catalysts for techno music, one of which
was Detroit. I would argue that Detroit was one of the many birthplaces of
techno ( not the only one). Techno in my understanding was given birth in
several places including where it was conceived 'technologically' (Frankfurt,
Berlin, Cologne) , UK (Sheffield) and USA (particularly Detroit and Chicago).
Detroit is a special case since the music was a unique opportunity for a
small population of Afro-Americans to express their disdain for the
post-automotive wasteland they lived in, at the same time discovering their
rhythmic/ tribal roots through newlyfound technological sources.
It is becoming somewhat of a legend that Juan Atkins as Cybroton was the
first to coin the word 'techno' and apply it such to a musical genre. This is
obviously also heavily intertwined with the popularisation of the genre
through the press at the time and it somehow ended up being credited to one
person. Anyone including Manuel Gottsching, Kraftwerk, Cabaret Voltaire,
Afrika Bambatta could have coined the term but it may not have been
publicised said for lack of press (or popularisation).
So in effect if we just blindly accept that techno originated in the one
geographical area or first coined by one person, we are in effect missing the
bigger picture and not truly understanding the WHOLE story of electronic
music. Which option would you rather choose to understand this music we all
love - an open mind or a closed one?
A_Zed
_________________________________________
Program Co-ordinator, Ambient Zone RTRFM 92.1
Sunday Electronic Listening [
http://rtrfm.ii.net]
Perth, W.Aust (WST) 23.00-01.00 Detroit (EST) 10.00-12.00
Frankfurt (CET)/ London(GMT)16.00-18.00
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