Re: Information & references on 'House' music (Peter Barszczewski )

Subject: Re: Information & references on 'House' music
From:    Peter Barszczewski  <peterba(at)MICROSOFT.COM>
Date:    Tue, 16 Jan 1996 21:23:30 TZ

Kevin wrote:

| How can we explain the psychological (i.e.cognitive and perceptual)
| and possible physiological appeal of this type of music?

I don't think you can describe the psychological appeal (i.e. fun) of
the music without considering the entire dance culture (or house nation
as it is often called).  For example, some of the strongest appeals of
this music/culture are:

- being part of a 'tribal' group (gang, crowd, friends, thesis defence
board :-).
- combining the music and dancing with psychoactive drug consumption
(mdma, peyote, coca leaves, alcohol, etc.)
- the mating ritual (some things never change :-)

all of which are related to, but not directly affected by the music itself.

I would be more interested in answering questions such as: why is
dancing to rhythmic repetitive 'music' so much fun? why is rhythmic
dancing combined with psychoactive drug consumption so much fun? and
why has our species been doing it for so damn long and in so many
diverse and widespread cultures?

IMHO, the slogan "sex, drugs and rock & roll" was just a 60's cliche
used to describe something we humans have been practising for thousands
of years. The house nation and rave youth cultures are simply a
variation on a theme.  For example, you can easily swap Vienna with
Goa, Mozart with DJ <insert goofy name here>, waltz with trance,
alcohol with mdma, 1796 with 1996, and a piano with a waveguide network
of a piano, to observe a similar phenomena in a different time.

Sincerely,
Peter Barszczewski, Montreal, Canada.
disclaimer: these views are mine and do not necessarily reflect those
of Microsoft.