A cup of novelty

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Nowadays, music has developed a lot of branches and is an industry that abounds with artists, one more talented than the other.

Looking a bit in the history of the house music, it has appeared since the ’80s. This kind of music is also known as ”club music”. Before appearing in Europe, this genre of music made its presence first in the United States, started with Chicago, and then spread to Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Miami. In Europe, the United Kingdom was the one that played a key role in the evolution of house music.

There was a strong division between house play music as part of the gay scene and ”straight” music. Founded in 1982 by Factory Records, the house music has grown in the north of the United Kingdom, the Midlands, and the South East. The first English dance music clubs appeared in Manchester. The Haçienda club was quite financially troubled, but after DJs like Pickering, Park and Da Silva started playing house music, things changed a lot. Later in 1986, private parties began to show up in London but also hosted by a contingent of Miss MoneyPenny from Birmingham. Big names as Knuckles, Jefferson, Fingers Inc., and Adonis were the ones who stimulated house music in the same year, in DJ International Tour. Slowly, Europeans embraced house music and began to reserve the legendary American DJs to play house music in the big clubs.

Also known as Kool Kat Records, Network Records was one of the oldest and most influential house and techno record label in the United Kingdom; it also introduced Italian and American dance music to the UK. In the mid-1980s, clubs like Amnesia and DJ Alfredo played a mix of pop, rock, and house. Fueled by ecstasy and their distinctive sound, they begin to have a major influence on the British scene. DJs like Danny Rampling and Paul Oakenfold are the ones who, at the end of 1987, brought the sound of Ibiza to clubs like Spectrum, Heaven and others.

Leaving aside the British scene, and going a little to the United States, in Chicago, Marshall Jefferson formed the house group Ten City ( from ”intensity”). In the United States, music was developed to create a more sophisticated sound. Performers such as Mate & Matos and Blaze produced disco-house crossover tracks in New York.

Acts as Madonna, Paula Abdul, Kylie Minogue, Janet Jackson, to name a few, were influenced by the house music in the ’90s. House music becomes even bigger, after enjoying significant success in the late ’80s, and during the second wave of the progressive house between 1999 and 2001. This genre is popular and even merged into popular sub- genres as deep house, tech house, ghetto house, and future house. House music is popular in clubs and on the radio and remains this way, keeping a step on the underground scenes around the world. Ron Hardy and Frankie Knuckles, two influential pioneers of house music, were known for their unusual, non-mainstream playlists.

Carl Cox was born in 1962 in England and he is DJ and producer since 1980s and he is still doing it. He become a mainstage DJ, in 1980s, in the electronica industry. His genres of music are house, techno, tech house and minimal techno. Carl Cox became very popular and known as ”one of the best DJs in the world.” When he decided to become a producer he realised his single ” I want you (Forever)”, in the early 1990s. He performed in club such as the Eclipse, Heaven, Angels, The Hançieda, Sterns Nightclub and raves for Fantazia, Amnesia House and so on.

Carl Cox started his dream in his early 15. He finded his passion for disco music by working as a mobil DJ. Intec Digital is the label that he is running, founded in 1999.Between 2001 to 2016 he hosted a known residency named ”Music is Revolution”, every summer season at the world renowned night club Space Ibiza. In 2017 Carl Cox featured his own stage at many festivals such as Tomorrowland, Ultra Music Festival and The BPM Festival.

Mladen Solomun was born in 1975 in Bosnia Herzagovina and he is Dj, record producer, and remixer from 2002 to the present. Before discovering that music is his passion, he worked 5 years in film. Since his cousin brought him tapes and he saw that music can do more, Solomun started to buy vinyl records and at the age of 16, he played at ”House of Youth”. He took a break and he came back at the age of 23. In 2005 he has founded the record label Diynamic with his partner Adriano Trolio. In the same year, he started to produce music. Diynamic kicked into full force in 2006 when he met H.O.S.H.

In 2012 Solomun was named Mixmag’s ”DJ of the year”. Also, he was awarded Producer of the Year, in Ibiza, by DJ Awards. Same as Carl Cox, Solomun hosted two residences in Ibiza. He has played at events like Tomorrowland, Exit Festival and in 2018 he played in Hungexpo. In 2018 he is the winner of Best International DJ at Cool Awards Brazil.

Richard Hawtin was born in 1970 in England and he is DJ, record producer, and record executive from 1987 to the present. At the age of 17, he began to do DJ in clubs of Detroit. He moved to Ontario when he was 9 years old. His early style was a mix of techno and house music. In 1989 he release his own track F.U.S.E. with the Canadian DJ John Acquaria. He also formed with this one the Label 8.

In 2001 he performed in Windsor at Life Fest and around 2003 he opened a new label M_nus, in Berlin, Germany. In 2015, Richard Hawtin was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music Technology and in 2016 launched his own music technology company named PLAYdifferently. His first release mixer has been adopted by DJ Carl Cox, Jamie Jones, and many others.

And this year, 2020, Richard Hawtin opened a sake bar, ’cause of his interest in Japanese drinks, also in Berlin, named Sake 36.

DEEA OLIVIA

Sources: Wikipedia, Guggenheim International Gala by Dior, stubhub.ca