The Antiquarian Society Report
Music ands its relationship with a state of trance

To begin this paper we must first ask; “what exactly is a state of trance, what defines a trance, what stages occur?” Will they be similar in all cases for all people? Do the same neurological processes that occur for one person occur in the same way for another person?

The website html://www.fusionanomaly.net/trance.html has gathered some dictionary definitions of the word trance and gives us some history to the words origin. These words give us some idea as to what we are to experience when we go in to a trance at a very basic level.
trance (tràns) noun
1.A hypnotic, cataleptic, or ecstatic state.
2.Detachment from one's physical surroundings, as in contemplation or daydreaming.
3.A semiconscious state, as between sleeping and waking; a daze.
verb, transitive
tranced, trancing, trances
To put into a trance; entrance.
[Middle English traunce, from Old French transe, passage, fear, vision, from transir, to die, be numb with fear, from Latin trânsìre, to go over or across. Transient.]
- trance´like´ adjective
If we squash the meaning of all of these words together we can start to get a picture of how lucid this experience can be and that Trance is an old expression, which has been with us for a long time.
Trance is a dreamlike state somewhere between waking consciousness and sleep. It is similar to the daydreaming state of mind we can experience as children. However there are adults who can conduct trances to benefit us and take us to places within our mind that we seldom access. Giving us useful insights about life. The human psyche is predisposed to enter into this realm, as it is a very ancient part of our brain that is accessed.

The Director of the Trance institute, Dennis R. Wier has written on his website what he believes is the mental condition of going into trance
1) “Basically I claim that the necessary and sufficient condition for a trance to occur is whenever there is a sustained cognitive object loop of sufficient length of time to cause dissociation. A cognitive object is an abstract way to denote a thought, any thought, whether it is a word, and idea, a feeling, a vision. When a set of cognitive objects repeat often enough, you will go into a trance.”
Therefore he is saying that a repetitive effect on the mind is required to enter into this state. A looping reoccurrence, something for the mind to be distracted by!
Music by its very nature is repetitive and therefore would be suitable tool to help us enter into the trance state. Weir continues by saying
2) “Music consists of repeating rhythms and melodies. From a trance theory point of view, music consists of multiple trances, one for each repeating rhythm or melody. Most of these musical loops repeat only a few times and there is a minimum number of repetitions needed before a dissociated trance plane will be created. Musical trance can be described as the creation of multiple trances followed by their collapse. However, another cognitive loop is precisely this repeated creation and collapsing of dissociated trance planes.”

We could find ourselves going into trances all day long because many of the things we do have but their very nature are repetitive tasks, Weir continues,
3) “First, under this definition we experience trance quite often, except that it has not until this definition been called a trance. But with this simple definition we certainly include all of the phenomena that we term trance.
Music is all around us everywhere and if were not in existence at all the world would be a very dull place. It seems that everyone has there own particular taste in music and the effects that it gives us. There must be some people somewhere that don’t like music, but for masses, the majority of the population of planet, the one thing that binds us together, and that everybody agrees on is that they like music. Weir continues,
4)”At the same time, some ordinary experiences such as listening to music and becoming enraptured by it would become suspiciously under this definition. Is our being enraptured by the repetitive melodies and rhythms the single necessary and sufficient condition for musical rapture? I claim that this is so.”
This begs the question “does all music induce trance? or is one form of music better than another for accessing an altered state?”. The very roots of all music can traced back to what is suspected to be the oldest instrument. Two broken sticks lying on the floor or Clap sticks; in today’s orchestra they are called rhythm sticks or claves, and produce a high frequency resonating “clack.”
The aboriginal peoples of Australia use this instrument to mimic the sounds of nature. The insects and animals that live in the outback are very noisy at night and reach shrill crescendos many times throughout the night. The Clapsticks sticks are made of heavy, dense local wood, such as Gidgy, Red Gum and Ironwood. The tones from this wood, can be made to resonate at a very high frequency when played correctly. Making a perfect accompaniment to the nocturnal choruses of the insects. These instruments are known to very accurately mimic the sound of a Cicada.
Another contender for first place position of the world’s oldest instrument is the didgeridoo. The didgeridoo is also famous for its ability mimic the sound of many different animals; the dog, the snake, the dingo and the kangaroo. There are many myths and legends attached to these instruments and they hold a very symbolic status for the Aboriginal peoples who play them. The songs of the Didge are more like stories explaining creation myths and pass on ancient knowledge about the land. The Didgeridoo is a piece of fallen timber, which means it is a very simple instrument to make. It has had its core eaten away by marauding termites, which pretty much completes the building stage apart from smoothing of the ends plus a bit of bees wax to create the mouthpiece.
The shell or main limb of the tree branch is the part that remains; the main core is burrowed away leaving many small interlinking tubes and tunnels which facilitate a resistance pressure, therefore allowing the right conditions for non-stop circular breathing. Circular breathing is a special technique used to play the didge, it involves breathing in through the nose quite rapidly then storing the air in the diaphragm ready to be released in to the didge at will. After a period of 20 minutes or so non-stop circular breathing the exponent is said to go into Dreamtime or a very lucid dream like state that is connected with trance. After playing for many hours, the player is said to be in a very deep trance and would take some time coming back to earth, when they have finished playing. This could be due to the way circular breathing oxygenates the brain so directly, by inhaling deeply through the nose.
I have experienced this state of mind and recall it being quite pleasant.
Weir reports that:
5)Certain types of music are more trance-inducing, generally, than others. Musical loops which are sustained, such as in shamanistic or so-called trance-drumming, have at least the critical element of high repetition. Thus, the high repetition of the musical loop is more likely to produce a single disassociated trance plane. Religious and military marching music also has a higher likelihood of inducing trance because of the high repetition of the musical loop.
This is a good point, at which to introduce the Shaman to the proceedings, but we need to be clarify what exactly a shaman is and does. For many peoples of the world the shaman is the Wise One or medicine man. The person within the tribe than can prevent sickness and bring good fortune or curses. The following are dictionary descriptions of the word Shaman.
Shaman (shä´men, shâ´-) noun
A member of certain tribal societies who acts as a medium between the visible world and an invisible spirit world and who practices magic or sorcery for purposes of healing, divination, and control over natural events.
[Russian, from Tungus šaman, Buddhist monk, shaman, from Tocharian samâne, from Prakrit samaNa, from Sanskrit sramaNah, from srámah, religious exercise.]
- shaman´ic (she-màn´îk) adjective
Shaman (shä´men), among tribal peoples, a magician, medium, or healer who owes his powers to mystical communion with the spirit world. Shamanism is based on ANIMISM; the shaman shields humans from destructive spirits by rendering the spirits harmless. He receives his power from a spirit who selects him and whom he cannot refuse. Characteristically, he goes into auto-hypnotic trances, during which he is said to be in contact with spirits. He occupies a position of great power and prestige in his tribe. Noted especially among Siberians, shamans are also found among the Eskimos, some Native American tribes, in SE Asia, and in Oceania.
The Shamen are masters of their craft because as weir says :
5)One important characteristic of successful trance inducing music is what trance theory would call 'modulating the dissociated trance plane'. The music of shamans and many aboriginal tribes create effective music which modulates the dissociated trance plane by slightly varying the underlying trance generating loop
This main point of 'modulating the dissociated trance” places the shaman apart from pop producers in the west, churning out the latest new boy band. It is a musical piece of work, a composition that is unrehearsed, and yet is practiced. The music builds upon a core rhythm and then modulates lasting longer than three minutes and in fact could last the whole night and in some cases right through until the morning.
The Shamans of the North American Indians are known for using a drum and a rattle, which is used to create the right conditions to enter trance. The drum symbolises thunder whilst the rattle symbolises lightning. This sound is used and with a repetitive form of chanting that takes the whole tribe into a group trance. Some times a helper does the drumming to allow the shaman to enter a trance state and then come back using the sound of the drum as a beacon.
There are many different instruments used around the world with the purpose being to be entranced by the music. In fact many musicians will talk of entering “The Zone” when their playing is working and coming together. This will normally happen once the person has become proficient enough with an instrument that they can play with confidence
The "Nay" is a musical instrument from Iran, that is used by rural people and people of a religious order called the Dervishes, to attain a state of trance. The dancing is similar to a whirling, spinning motion and is part of a religious ceremony. It is a repetitive movement that assists in making the conditions right for the exponent to enter a trance. This, combined with the fast screeching of pipes, helps the trance occur, we learn from the website www.bestirantravel.com cites that the Nay :
6)”changes the range of pitch by having air being blown into the end of the flute; the flute has two open ends that decide the length of the instrument. Therefore, it may have up to five or six finger holes. The Nay is played with a non-stop breathing technique. The player uses his cheeks to keep the air under control for a significant period of time. The nay is made from bamboo or cane and is used by shepherds in rural areas It also plays a vital role in trance inducing music used by Dervish orders in the world.”
Also it is noted that as like the didgeridoo the Nay uses a non stop breathing technique which would help to produce the trance in the player as well as the dancers.
In his Book “Ecstasy Trance, Dance and Transformation”, Saunders says that :
7)“The Combination of the drug and the music and dancing can produce an exhilarating trancelike state, perhaps similar to that experienced in tribal rituals or religious ceremonies”.
Another instrument known for its trance inducing qualities is the Beleganjur, variously spelled Baleganjur or Belaganjur. This can be commonly seen in Bali and is used to accompany ritual processions and other ceremonial events. This instrument is also used for its temple cleansing abilities. If we visit the website www.anakswarasanti.com we learn :
9) “The music is typically a hypnotic, trance-inducing series of percussive loops, punctuated by crashing cymbals, often in highly complex staccato rhythms. In fact, the chaotic energy created by the beleganjur is felt to create a virtual sonic force-field of protection around the ritual object being transported in the procession, as well as help throw participants into trance to enable them to carry often very heavy funeral platforms for many miles.”
On the website “The flight of the kondor”, its says there are three main ways of the shaman enters the trance state. These are Body Rhythm, Acoustic and Optical. The Rhythmic body method involves dancing or moving in a rhythmic fashion, and is quoted as being one of the best methods.
10) . “ It is well-known that dancing is one of the best ways of getting into trance. Everyone who is used to visit discos is familiar with this effect. Traditionally the Sufis use a kind of whirling dance to induce trance very quick. In spite of whirling the whole body the shaking of the head produces similar effects (hi there, headbangers!) The various voodoo-cults throughout the world use the rhythmic dance, too”
The site also continues by saying that when the body reaches a state of shaking this to is a sign of trance and is recognised around the world in different cultures:
11)” Shaking and Swaying is another kind of inducing trance (or a sign of deep trance). Jan Fries called this "Seiðr", a term used in old nordic resources, translated as "seething" or "cooking". Seething is the best term to describe the ecstatic sensations and experiences you have during Seiðr Practitioners were called "Seiðmadr", "Seiðberandi", "Seiðman" or the female form "Seiðkona". During the early middle-ages these art was nearly extincted already. The trance expresses itself with shuddering, swaying or intense shaking of the body. The bushmen from the Kalahari desert, the San and the !Kung, induce the trance first by dancing and hyperventilation. After the trance kicked in, they begin to shake and sway. They call this state "KIA" - a term Spare used for describing the atmospheric ego. Within KIA the thoughts come to an end and Spares "Neither-Neither" is being reached. The ego is dead and KIA acts freely. The frequency of the shaking also determines the trance-experience: slow swaying induces different states then fast shaking or shuddering.

We also find from this site a very interesting piece of information about the lamas in the Himalayas covering huge distances.
12) In the himalayan regions there were some lamas who used to run over long distances without getting tired. The rhythm of walking or running can induce a trance-state, too. After a certain time of running - which varies much - a rhythm takes control of the walker and is no longer subject to fatigue. The distances covered can be tremendous. The 100 km walks or the extreme marathons are an example. Very important is the goal of your walk. It is not possible to run further after you reached the mark you wanted to reach.
It is important to note at this point that:
“Rhythm takes control of the walker”
The melody and rhythm of the body, of the breath, is a natural occurrence in everyone; a common rhythmical occurrence that we all share.
We confirm when we read on the website by Dennis R. Wier, director of the trance institute
13)”Certain sports such as jogging, swimming, basketball, etc. require repetition of action and therefore a repetition of cognitive objects. These sports all create dissociated trance planes and therefore trance.”
This again brings us back to the need for a repetitive action for us to fall into the trance like state. Lamas in the Himalayas walking for hundreds of miles or jogging for a long time, well over twenty minutes, all produce the required stimuli for this to occur.

Weir continues by suggesting that everyday, common acts such as:
14) “Watching television or a movie also generates trance because of the attention loop between the viewer and the images viewed. This cognitive loop is very short and simple. You look, you integrate the image, you look again. The processing of the content of the images takes place in the dissociated trance plane in which a variety of cognitive functions are disabled.”
This is an experience we have all felt at one time or another. To sit in front of the television and then realise two hours have flown by. Could this be the modern day equivalent of sitting around a fire at night and gazing at the flames and embers? The effect are very similar to watching television.
This brings us to the ancient practice of meditation. I have personally been involved with two different types of meditative practice; the first is called Vipassana meditation, which I studied in Kathmandu, Nepal. This is very deep meditation and teaches the practitioner to sharpen the mind and then use it as a tool to focus on different parts of the body. The other type of meditation I have studied has no name, and was passed on to me by my Kung fu teacher, Sifu Rik Spain, of the Wing Chum School of Kung Fu in Sydney Australia. He told me that the most basic way of meditating was to focus on the in breath and out breath and listen to the sound that they make. The heart beat this is the focus point to be held during the meditation. Weir on his trance institute website States:
15)”All forms of meditation practice involve the repetition of cognitive objects of varying degrees of complexity. The relatively simple meditation of watching the breath will induce a meditation trance. More complex forms such as are practiced by Tibetan Buddhists or Sufis may consist of combinations of meditation and hypnotic trance. Visualizations and physical movements can be combined with mantra yoga to produce multiple dissociated trance planes.”
We have just touched on how the brain is stimulated and changed by what happens to us when we participate in one of the many methods for inducing trance. There are different brainwave states that occur when we slip into trance and they have been described as Alpha, Beta, Theta and Delta.
One of the first points to look at is the way thoughts and brainwaves happen. We know that the brain creates minute electrical charges, we have to assume that these charges have some sort of connection to our thoughts and bear some relationship with what we subjectively experience as states of awareness.
These electrical charges make a variety of waveforms, which can measured in a cyclic pattern and be recorded in Hz.
Weir from the trance institute says about the brainwaves that :
16)”The most common form of waves that occur are called Beta Waves These occur during period of intense concentration, problem solving, and focused analysis. The frequency of beta waves is between 13-30 Hz (cycles per second).Alpha Waves are most common when we are mentally alert, calm and relaxed, or when day-dreaming. The frequency of alpha waves is between 8-12 Hz. Theta Waves occur when we are mentally drowsy and unfocused, during deep calmness or relaxation, as for example we make the transitions from drowsiness to sleep or from sleep to the waking state. The frequency of theta waves is between 4-7 Hz. Delta waves occur primarily during deep sleep or states of unconsciousness. The frequency of delta waves is between 0.5-4 Hz.=
So therefore we are either in one mode of brain waves or another and trance is likely to occur somewhere around the Theta state. An interesting point from the “Kondor”website states that the first sounds we hear whilst we are in the womb are those of our mothers heart beating. A nine month, marathon trance inducing session:
17) “The physiologic explanation with alpha, beta and theta waves and the influence of the rhythms of these is a shaky construct and not at all the last theory to be formulated. An interesting note, by the way: During the first nine months of life inside the womb of our mother we all have heard a steady rhythm just nearby: the beating of her heart. Perhaps the key to our trance-states is hidden there.
Weir on his Website for the Trance institute, talks about how flashing images can cause a trance like state, he calls it Brainwave Synchronisation :
18)”Brain Wave Synchronization and the Frequency Following Effect 2000 years ago Ptolemy and Apuleius noted that differing rates of flickering lights had an effect on states of awareness and on the production of epilepsy. In the late 1920s it was discovered that when light was played on the closed eyelids an echoing production of brain wave frequencies was produced. In 1965 Grey used a stroboscope to send rhythmic light flashes into the eyes at a rate of from 10-25 Hz. He discovered that this stimulated similar brain wave activity.”
This leads us to the conclusion that early man would have had access to fire and some sort of fireplace where, Weir continues :
19)”The flickerings of the fireplace in a cave could give a similar effect to those described as above and have been used in ritual and ceremony for thousands of years.”
This is all relevant to the method of optical induced trance which is backed up by the information from the Kondor website that states :
20) The swinging pendulum in hypnotic therapy is well-known as an example. Rhythmic dances and dancers, sun-rays reflected from a body of water, waves on the high-sea, rhythmic flashes (dream-machine!) are all belonging to the optical induction method. Siberian shamanism use the head-gear for additional trance-induction. Leathern fringes hang in front of the eyes of the shaman and move with each movement of the shaman. The shaman can see better with these”
How can music help us to attain a state of trance? To answer this question we must first ask,” What is Music?” We have music all around us and it has been with us for a very long time. There have been many different cultural styles of music, specific to different parts of the world. Music is also a piece of national identity, If we talk about flamenco music, we immediately conjure images of Spain. The bagpipes makes us think of Scotland. Music can give us a place we have visited in the mind’s eye, that we remember and can relate to. If I think of military band style music, my mind is cast back to a village called Pongsalie in the North of Laos. This style of music was being pumped out of a very worn metal horn for all the villagers to wake up to and was like a group alarm clock. The point here is that music has the ability to take us back and relive a moment.
An interview with Ian MacKaye of Dischord Records, Fugazi and Minor Threat 0n the website http://fusionanomaly.net puts it nicely:
21) “And, for me, music is not an industry. Music is not even entertainment. Music is not just a soundtrack. Music is part of life. It is a straight-up form of communication, and it resides in every person in the world. And that's where I'm coming from in terms of music. That's exactly the world that I want to be… that's what I want to lean toward.”. You cant really say fairer than that.
The dictionary says music is:
22)
1. The art of arranging sounds in time so as to produce a continuous, unified, and evocative composition, as through melody, harmony, rhythm, and timbre.
2. Vocal or instrumental sounds possessing a degree of melody, harmony, or rhythm.
3.
a. A musical composition.
b. The written or printed score for such a composition.
c. Such scores considered as a group: We keep our music in a stack near the piano.
4. A musical accompaniment.
5. A particular category or kind of music.
6. An aesthetically pleasing or harmonious sound or combination of sounds: the music of the wind in the pines.
[Middle English, from Old French musique, from Latin m sica, from Greek mousik (tekhn ), (art) of the Muses, feminine of mousikos, of the Muses, from Mousa, Muse. See men-1 in Indo-European Roots.]
There is also another definition from the Same dictionary website 23):-
Mu"sic\, n. [F. musique, fr. L. musica, Gr. ? (sc. ?), any art over which the Muses presided, especially music, lyric poetry set and sung to music, fr. ? belonging to Muses or fine arts, fr. ? Muse.] 1. The science and the art of tones, or musical sounds, i. e., sounds of higher or lower pitch, begotten of uniform and synchronous vibrations, as of a string at various degrees of tension; the science of harmonical tones which treats of the principles of harmony, or the properties, dependences, and relations of tones to each other; the art of combining tones in a manner to please the ear.

Note: Not all sounds are tones. Sounds may be unmusical and yet please the ear. Music deals with tones, and with no other sounds. See Tone.

2. (a) Melody; a rhythmical and otherwise agreeable succession of tones. (b) Harmony; an accordant combination of simultaneous tones.
3. The written and printed notation of a musical composition; the score.
4. Love of music; capacity of enjoying music.
The man that hath no music in himself Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils. --Shak.
5. (Zo["o]l.) A more or less musical sound made by many of the lower animals. See Stridulation.
Magic music, a game in which a person is guided in finding a hidden article, or in doing a specific art required, by music which is made more loud or rapid as he approaches success, and slower as he recedes. --Tennyson.

There is also a beautiful quote from PYTHAGORAS (6th C. B.C.)
24)”There is geometry in the humming of the strings. There is music in the spacing of the spheres.”
Why has the human race felt compelled to use music to help attain this state of mind? What are the connections between the ancient ceremonies and today?
One reason for the use of music in antiquity was for healing. G. de Purucker describes a human being as:
25) “somewhat like a sounding board, strung with seven chords like Apollo's lyre, across which sweep the winds of eternity, and the combined notes of these chords produce within him a cosmic symphony -- each one of us being a living mystic lyre vibrating in sympathy with the Music of the Spheres”
Within both of these quotes we have the Music of the spheres mentioned, what are the music of the spheres? Is it the sound of the cosmos that they are referring to, we learn from the website http://www.theosophy-nw.org/theosnw/arts/ar-rooke.htm
26) “we are constantly surrounded by a sea of cosmic music, which is none other than the harmoniously vibrating life-atoms that form the vehicles of spiritual forces underlying manifestation. Perhaps the beautiful colors in nature are manifestations of the symphonic harmonies singing about us. From the bubbling of a brook to the complex rhythms of a classical symphony, the many forms of music we hear are translations to our plane of the music which fills the universe. This truth provides the key to the use of music for healing in antiquity. Just as in an orchestra each musician plays his part, so each of us, inaudibly singing our own keynote, is enwebbed in the larger harmonies of our environment”
With music there is sound; with sound there is frequency. The Indian philosophy and relaxation technique of yoga talks of a hidden series of wheels or points that are contained within the human torso. It is suggested that these “charkas” or wheels correlate with different organs within the human body; for example the top of the head holds the crown chakra, the third eye or pineal gland, the throat, the heart, the solar plexus and the stomach reaching down to the sexual organs.
These invisible wheels supposedly turn at different rates, cycles or frequencies. Theses spinning chakras revolves at certain frequencies. Bass frequencies are said to most strongly affect the lower nerve centres, -sexual organs and the stomach. This is why when we are in a loud club and there is a huge bass line we feel it in our stomach. The Midrange frequencies affect the chest particularly the heart rate, so we find that the music of fast kick-drums can affect the heart and so we can then begin to manipulate adrenaline levels. The high end frequencies and white noise has most effect on the head and the brain as well as synthesised piercing squeals.
The rest of the music, the melody, the chord progressions, scales, the human voice, These parts influence our more subtle emotional responses, which are highly varied. To quote Terence McKenna,
"we have more words to describe narcotics than we do our emotions"
There are ancient rituals and ceremonies in use today. For example Trance music in Morocco is magical in its origin and purpose. It is concerned with the evocation and control of spiritual and magical forces. In Morocco, musicians are magicians. Gnauoa music is used to drive out evil spirits. The music of Jajouka evokes the God Pan, God of Panic, representing real magical forces that sweep away the spurious.
On the website fusionanomoly we find a quote by W. S. Burroughs stating:
27)”It is to be remembered that the origin of all arts -- music, painting, and writing -- is magical and evocative, and that magic is always used to obtain some definite result”
Again we find the word magic and music but of course it the Shaman is the traditional guide to these undiscovered nether worlds; he or she is the one responsible for taking our consciousnesses through the door with the assistance of psycadellic intoxicants and or music.

The following is from an interview with Terrence McKenna taken from the Internet:

28)Q: You've said that you don't consider yourself a shaman just because shamans cure and you don't cure anyone. Also you write a lot about the re-emergence of the shamanic institution. What do you think of its re-emergence in the modern world - how can it's integrity be preserved, if at all, and how must itevolve?
TM: The music. And the trance-dance drug-taking situation is the establishment of a ritual space outside the conventions of ordinary society, that is the new shamanism. And that's again what makes it so suspect in the eyes of the establishment. They sense that this is something they can't get a handle on and control, or that it takes them some time to get a handle on - they have to figure out how to co-opt each generation in a new way. My generation was co-opted in a very crude way, with money. Your generation... The Establishment's not interested in that, they'd rather keep the money for themselves. I'm hoping that the new trance-dance culture has enough integrity to resist being folded into commercialism and ordinary mass cultural entertainment. But we shall see.
Any move to a permanent higher consciousness would require greater emotional capacity and understanding of inner rhythms via biofeedback techniques. These techniques enable conscious manipulation of brainwave and body function. This is why people are exploring group trance states in time and space at this period in human evolution." Terence McKenna
As Terrance McKenna says there is a danger of the trance dance ritual becoming commercialised but the main essence of rave culture, if you take away all of the glam and show business is, people coming together outside under the stars to listen to a thumping drum whilst ingesting some sort of mind altering substance to dance under a Full moon. This does not necessarily mean that all people attending such parties are going into trance or the Djs are promoting a journey into another realm, its just that there are striking similarities between ancient practices and now. The Shaman and His drum.
The DJ has sometimes been referred to as the Shaman who conducts the ceremony. In the 21st century, Famous DJ’s get their reputations by having the ability to feel what is going occuring, on the dance floor, reacting to the dancers and pulling them into a trance like state.
The Middle of the 1980s saw the new genre of music evolve, acid house music, this new sound, with its 4 x 4 beat, and the use of drugs by its devotees was loathed by the authorities. The Establishment of the time did not understand Rave music and could not control it. This was a New Youth Revolution, that snowballed completely out of control and the authorities could not get a handle on it.
For the first time in a very bleak period of musical history there was something new for youth to explore and become part of. This led to the rapid expansion of the music and the scene primarily through word of mouth and fliers distributed in specialist record shops. The newspapers idea of warning people backfired totally and basically advertised the Acid House Parties to a wider audience, they used shocking headlines and pictures of huge parties:
“Is this your Daughter” (The Sun 1988)
These adverts helped spread the word to a all of Britain. It was so underground in the beginning that the general public new nothing of this new social activity. Soon there was an explosion of Acid House music. The music added to the correct mind altering drugs helped people to find out and experience first hand trance dance. These are the common modern equivalents of ancient rituals.
Acid house music began a whole new revolution within electronic music. This was helped along by new and exciting technology that created sounds that had not previously been heard. The Roland 303 and 808 drum machines helped in this revolutionary music making world, where it seemed anything could go. The were tracks called “meltdown” produced by the Band Quartz, who started there tracks with the lyrics:
”Welcome to the world of the L.S.D. User”
Joey Beltrams massive dance hit called “Energy Flash” with its one word repeated hook:
”Ecstasy, Ecstasy”
Seemed relevant in the climate of the late eighties and early nineties. Apparently Beltram had never heard or tried the new drug that was sweeping across the U.S.A and the UK at that time MDMA or Ecstasy.
This was and still is, 21st century tribal music for the masses. There has also been a continuous growth in different genres of music that have spawned from early acid house music. For example there has been, Hardcore, Happy hardcore, Drum and Bass, Jungle, Industrial, Gabba, Trance, Goa Trance, Psy Trance the list goes on and will continue to grow as every new generation explores progressive trance inducing music.
We find that within Psychedelic trance music, recordings or samples are used that have a spiritual focus, for example:
29) “spirit world” (Alien Project 2002)
and we also find tracks that mention:
30)“shamanic Powers”(1200 mics 2002)
This period coincided with the beginnings of my own interest in percussion and drumming. I was introduced to the instrument known as a Jembe, which is an African drum. I was travelling through India at the time and had the good fortune to meet a young man who was well versed in the Jembe rhythms and how to play the drum. As luck would have it prior too my visit to the Himalayas I was given about 500 Welsh magic mushrooms in Delhi by a girlfriend of mine who was on her way back to England. She did not want to take the mushrooms with her through customs. I offered, reluctantly, to take them off her hands and caught my bus up to the mountains.
I arrived in Dahramasala by bus, this is the home of the Dalai Lama and has a big Tibetan community, I had recently purchased a Jembe drum from a master craftsman in Pune who made excellent copies of the African Drum. I was looking for a drum teacher and had met a few people who had showed me some basic rhythms, but I had yet to meet anyone who could really play it. I was in India and it is not an Indian drum, so the locals did not have the knowledge or technique on how to play it correctly.
One bright morning, the day I decided to eat the mushrooms I met an Italian man who suggested that we take the mushrooms together and go for a walk in the mountains. I accepted his offer and of we went, high up the mountainside.
Off we went in more ways than one because this maestro could really play the drums like I have never heard since. A true master of trance. The trip was most interesting to say the least and after we had finished our walk through the mountains I returned a drummer.
This started my interest in Drumming and Trance and since then I have encountered many festivals and celebrations where drumming and reaching a trance like state has been the objective of the participants. All across the UK on Summer Solstice, the 21st June , there are groups of people with drums and different instruments all playing through the night to welcome the sun on the following morning. For me this harks back to a time a very ancient time in our past where we as human beings played in exactly the same way to enter in to States of mind that we achieve when we listen to the repetitive beat of the drum.
As we have learnt trance is a very ancient practise, as old as music, we are left with that age-old question, “which came first the music or the trance.”