balearic beat
{{Short description|Subgenre of house music}}
{{About|the house music subgenre|the trance music subgenre which evolved from Balearic beat in Ibiza|Balearic trance}}
{{Infobox music genre
| name = Balearic beat
| stylistic_origins = {{hlist|House music|deep house|electronica|post-disco|Mediterranean music|bossa nova|Europop}}
| cultural_origins = Late 1980s, Ibiza {{small|(Spain)}}
| other_topics = {{hlist|Tropical house|Balearic trance}}
}}
Balearic beat, also known as Balearic house, Balearic, Ibiza house or Ibizan chillout, is an eclectic blend of DJ-led dance music that emerged in the mid-1980s.Gilbert, Jeremy; Pearson, Ewan. Discographies: Dance Music, Culture, and the Politics of Sound. Routledge. 1999. {{ISBN|0-415-17032-X}}. "The musics which fed into acid house and the developing culture were various too; the heterogeneous sounds of the 'Balearic beat' which helped define it did not constitute a discrete musical genre, but an unholy mix of, among other things, hip hop, house, Mediterranean pop and indie rock. DJs' playlists temporarily situated highly disparate musics beside one another. Musical miscegenation reunited several of the dance forms that had emerged after disco, mixing American and European dance musics. Though house music was the dominant mode, the rapid proliferation of styles and subgenres which followed in its wake, for a short time at least, kept dancefloors moving to a range of grooves."Evans, Helen. [http://hehe.org.free.fr/hehe/texte/rave/ Out of Sight, Out of Mind: An Analysis of Rave culture]. Wimbledon School of Art, London. 1992. "It was in the upmarket clubs of Ibiza: Pacha, Amnesia, Glory's and Manhattans, that Balearic beat was created. DJ's would mix musical forms as diverse as Public Enemy and The Woodentops, to create that eclectic, highly danceable, don't care holiday feel." It later became the name of a more specific style{{cite web|url=https://i-d.vice.com/en_us/article/the-birth-of-balearic|title=the birth of balearic|date=29 May 2014|access-date=6 July 2016|archive-date=19 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160919065656/https://i-d.vice.com/en_us/article/the-birth-of-balearic|url-status=dead}} of electronic dance/house music that was popular into the mid-1990s. Balearic beat was named for its popularity among European nightclub and beach rave patrons on the Balearic island of Ibiza, a popular tourist destination. Some dance music compilations referred to it as "the sound of Ibiza", even though many other, more aggressive and upbeat forms of dance music could be heard on the island, such as Balearic trance.
History
This style was popularized at Amnesia, an Ibizan nightclub, by DJ Alfredo{{cite news |last1=Anderson |first1=James |title=the birth of balearic |url=https://i-d.vice.com/en/article/xwx89z/the-birth-of-balearic |access-date=30 September 2022 |work=i-D}} from Argentina, who had a residency there.{{cite news |title=The birth of rave |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2007/aug/12/electronicmusic |access-date=30 September 2022 |work=the Guardian |date=12 August 2007 |language=en}}Kaplan, C.D., Grund, J-P & Dzoljic, M.R. (1989) Ecstasy in Europe: reflections on the epidemiology of MDMA. Instituut voor Verslavingsonderzoek, Rotterdam.{{citation|last=Bush|first=John|title=All Music Guide to Electronica: 'Paul Oakenfold']|editor=Bogdanov, Vladimir|publisher=Backbeat Books|date=2001|quote=[Oakenfold] ended up at the Project in 1985–86, one of the first venues for house music in England. With Fung and another friend named Ian St. Paul, Oakenfold was introduced to the exploding club-scene on the vacation island of Ibiza (near the coast of Spain) during 1987 and imported the crucial mix of house, soul, Italian disco and alternative music later dubbed the Balearic style. During 1988–89, house music and the Balearic style gestated at several Oakenfold-run club nights (Future at the Sound Shaft, then Spectrum and Land of Oz at Heaven) before emerging above terra firma as a distinctly British entity.}} DJ Alfredo, whose birth name is Alfredo Fiorito, has been credited as the "Father of the Balearic beat".{{cite web|last1=Ross|first1=Annabel|title=Father of the Balearic beat DJ Alfredo Plays Australia|url=http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/father-of-the-balearic-beat-dj-alfredo-plays-in-australia-20141230-12f4j4.html|website=smh.com|date=30 December 2014|publisher=Sydney Morning Herald, 31 December 2014|access-date=21 October 2016}} Alfredo played an eclectic mix of dance music with his style encompassing the indie hypno grooves of the Woodentops, the mystic rock of the Waterboys, early house, Europop and oddities from the likes of Peter Gabriel and Chris Rea. Similar music was being played at other nightclubs, including Pacha and Ku.{{citation needed|date=July 2012}}
British DJs such as Nancy Noise,{{cite web |title=Nancy Noise & Leo Mas Talk |url=https://www.theransomnote.com/music/mixes/nancy-noise-leo-mas-talk-the-ransom-note-versus-mixes/ |website=Ransom Note |access-date=30 September 2022 |language=en |date=19 August 2021}}{{cite web |title=AN INTERVIEW WITH NANCY NOISE |url=https://www.refugemcr.co.uk/news/an-interview-with-nancy-noise/ |website=The Refuge |access-date=30 September 2022}}{{cite web |title=Nancy Noise and friends at Amnesia, Ibiza, circa 1987 |url=https://norepetitivebeats.tumblr.com/post/168501545431/nancy-noise-and-friends-at-amnesia-ibiza-circa |website=No Repetitive Beats! |publisher=Tumblr |access-date=30 September 2022}}{{cite news |title=Acid flashback: Nancy Noise is the pioneering Balearic DJ and acid house hero |url=https://mixmag.net/feature/acid-flashback-nancy-noise-is-the-pioneering-balearic-dj-and-acid-house-hero |access-date=30 September 2022 |work=Mixmag |date=May 15, 2018}}{{cite web |last1=Laverne |first1=Lauren |title=DJ Nancy Noise on her time in Ibiza |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06j7s2v |website=BBC Radio 6 Music |date=23 August 2018 |publisher=BBC |access-date=30 September 2022}}{{cite web |last1=Girou |first1=Baptiste |title=Beyond Paradise: In Conversation with Nancy Noise & Craig Christon |url=https://inverted-audio.com/feature/beyond-paradise-in-conversation-with-nancy-noise-craig-christon/ |website=INVERTED AUDIO |date=3 March 2017 |access-date=30 September 2022}}{{cite web |title=The First Time I Ever... Nancy Noise On Amnesia |url=https://www.testpressing.org/magazine/the-first-time-i-went-to-nancy-noise-on-amnesia |website=Test Pressing |access-date=30 September 2022}} Trevor Fung,
- {{cite web |title=Trevor Fung |url=https://www.amsterdam-dance-event.nl/en/artists-speakers/trevor-fung/4931/ |website=Amsterdam Dance Event |publisher=Amsterdam Dance Event Foundation |access-date=30 September 2022 |language=en}}
- {{cite web |title=DJ Trevor Fung |url=https://gdpr.djguide.nl/djinfo.p?djid=7832&language=en |website=DJGuide party site |access-date=30 September 2022}}
- {{cite web |title=Trevor Fung |url=https://www.discogs.com/artist/38418-Trevor-Fung |website=Discogs |access-date=30 September 2022 |language=en}}
- {{cite web |last1=Foster · |first1=Dean |title=Trevor Fung's Acid Desert Island Discs |url=https://www.future-past.co.uk/blogs/news/trevor-fungs-acid-desert-island-discs |website=Future Past Clothing |date=12 March 2021 |access-date=30 September 2022 |language=en}}
- {{cite web |title=Trevor Fung Interview from DJHistory.com |url=https://www.nowaybackstore.co.uk/blogs/news/14290425-trevor-fung-interview-from-djhistory-com |website=nowaybackstore.co.uk |access-date=30 September 2022}}
- {{cite web |title=Interview - Trevor Fung - Balearic Beat Original |url=https://banbantonton.com/2022/05/31/interview-trevor-fung-balearic-beat-original/ |website=Ban Ban Ton Ton |access-date=30 September 2022 |language=en |date=31 May 2022}}
- {{cite web |title=POSTCARDS FROM 88… Trevor Fung |url=https://909originals.com/2018/11/04/postcards-from-88-trevor-fung/ |website=909originals |access-date=30 September 2022 |date=4 November 2018}}
- {{cite web |title=Trevor Fung on Ibiza, the Balearic Sound and Kickstarting London's Acid House Revolution |url=https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2019/01/trevor-fung-interview/ |website=daily.redbullmusicacademy.com |access-date=30 September 2022 |language=en}}
{{cite web |title=Biography |url=https://djtrevorfung.wordpress.com/about/ |website=DJ Trevor Fung |access-date=30 September 2022 |language=en |date=24 June 2014}} Danny Rampling{{cite web |title=An Oral History of the London Club That Kicked Off Rave Culture |url=https://www.pumpitupmagazine.com/rave-culture/ |website=Pump It Up Magazine |access-date=30 September 2022 |date=28 December 2017}} and Electra's{{Cite web|url=https://www.radiotimes.com/tv-programme/e/d6ydnb/trailblazers--s1-e7-trailblazers-acid-house/|title = Trailblazers Season 1}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/25038/electra/|title=ELECTRA |website=Official Charts Company }} Paul Oakenfold{{cite web |title=Paul Oakenfold celebrates M8's decade of dance |url=http://www.oakenfoldmixes.com/press-articles/m8-magazine-september-1998 |website=M8 Magazine |access-date=30 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200929101219/http://www.oakenfoldmixes.com/press-articles/m8-magazine-september-1998 |archive-date=29 September 2020 |date=September 1998 |via=Oakenfold Mixes}}{{cite news |last1=Spearman |first1=Kahron |title=How Did Legendary DJ and Londoner Paul Oakenfold Land in Bastrop? |url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/music/2021-07-30/how-did-legendary-dj-and-londoner-paul-oakenfold-land-in-bastrop/ |access-date=30 September 2022 |work=Austin Chronicle}} are commonly credited with having "popularised"{{cite magazine |last1=Caesar |first1=Ed |title=Solomun, the D.J. Who Keeps Ibiza Dancing |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/10/03/solomun-the-dj-who-keeps-ibiza-dancing |access-date=30 September 2022 |magazine=The New Yorker |date=26 September 2022}} Balearic beat, especially in the UK,{{cite web |title=A Second Summer Of Love |url=https://www.808state.com/various/interview/2008-04-ObserverMusicMonthly-Article.htm |website=The Observer Music Monthly |publisher=The Guardian |access-date=30 September 2022 |date=20 April 2008 |via=808State.com}} with Fung said to be the originator of the term.{{Cite web|url=https://sun-13.com/2020/07/26/trevor-fung-interview-if-you-love-music-you-just-follow-your-heart/|title=Trevor Fung Interview: "if you love music you just follow your heart"|date=July 26, 2020}} In 1987, after a holiday in Ibiza, Oakenfold, Fung and Ian St. Paul{{cite web |title=Trance encounter: Can it really be 25 years since acid house was born? |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/trance-encounter-can-it-really-be-25-years-since-acid-house-was-born-7893365.html |website=The Independent |access-date=30 September 2022 |language=en |date=29 June 2012}}{{cite web |author1=The1950smoonin |title=The Origins of British Dance Music, Rave & Club Culture: Part 1 |url=https://steemit.com/life/@the1950smoon/the-origins-of-british-dance-music-rave-and-club-culture-part-1 |website=Steemit |access-date=30 September 2022 |language=en |date=16 January 2018}}{{cite web |title=acid rain sleevenotes: Part 3 |url=https://www.theransomnote.com/music/news/acid-rain-sleevenotes-part-3/ |website=Ransom Note |access-date=30 September 2022 |language=en |date=19 August 2021}}{{cite web |last1=Wilson |first1=Greg |title=Shoom Summer Of Love |url=https://blog.gregwilson.co.uk/2013/09/shoom-summer-of-love/ |website=Greg Wilson |access-date=30 September 2022}}{{cite web |title="Chaos with a capital C": How Monday became the new Saturday at London's acid house haven |url=https://mixmag.net/feature/members-only-inside-vip-world-acid-house-raves-book-gallery-excerpt |website=Mixmag |access-date=30 September 2022}} returned to London, where they unsuccessfully tried to establish a nightclub called the Funhouse in the Balearic style.{{Cite web|url=https://ra.co/dj/trevorfung/biography|title=Trevor Fung · Biography |website=Resident Advisor}} Returning to Ibiza during the summer of 1987, Oakenfold{{cite web |title=Paul Oakenfold: Bunkka |url=https://www.popmatters.com/oakenfoldpaul-bunkka-2496022287.html |website=PopMatters |access-date=30 September 2022 |date=1 December 2002}}{{cite web |title=Interview: Oakenfold |url=https://www.clashmusic.com/features/oakenfold/ |website=Clash Music |access-date=30 September 2022 |date=5 August 1988}}{{cite web |title=Paul Oakenfold |url=https://thevogue.com/artists/paul-oakenfold/ |website=The Vogue |access-date=30 September 2022 |language=en}}{{cite web |title=NOISE: Into The Fold |url=https://lasvegasweekly.com/news/archive/2005/sep/01/noise-into-the-fold/ |website=Las Vegas Weekly |access-date=30 September 2022 |date=1 September 2005}} rented a villa where he hosted a number of his DJ friends, including Danny Rampling, Johnny Walker,{{cite web |title=Johnny Walker (House music producer) |url=https://www.discogs.com/artist/168236-Johnny-Walker |website=Discogs |access-date=30 September 2022 |language=en}}{{cite web |last1=Baines |first1=Josh |title=30 years on, should we still care about the second summer of love? |url=https://i-d.vice.com/en/article/vbpmqd/30-years-on-should-we-still-care-about-the-second-summer-of-love |website=i-D |access-date=30 September 2022}} and Nicky Holloway.
{{cite web |last1=Armstrong |first1=Jeremy |title=Pioneering UK DJ battling cancer to travel for proton beam therapy due to fans |url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/pioneering-uk-dj-battling-cancer-10987202 |website=mirror.co.uk |access-date=30 September 2022 |language=en |date=14 August 2017}}
Returning to London after the summer, Oakenfold reintroduced the Balearic style at a South London nightclub called the Project Club. The club initially attracted those who had visited Ibiza and who were familiar with the Balearic concept. Fueled by their use of Ecstasy and an emerging fashion style based on baggy clothes and bright colors, these Ibiza veterans were responsible for propagating the Balearic subculture within the evolving UK rave scene. In 1988, Oakenfold established a second outlet for Balearic beat, a Monday night event called Spectrum, which is credited with exposing the Balearic concept to a wider audience.Reynolds, Simon. Generation Ecstasy : Into the World of Techno and Rave Culture. Routledge. 1999. {{ISBN|0-415-92373-5}}. It was 1988{{cite web |title=Ibiza 99: Tales From Ibiza |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/ibiza99/talesfromibiza.shtml |website=BBC Radio 1 |publisher=bbc.co.uk |access-date=30 September 2022}} when Balearic beat was first noticed in the U.S., according to Dance Music Report magazine.{{cite journal|journal=Dance Music Report|date=1989-12-16|title=Back To Basics|last=Paoletta|first=Michael|quote=In addition to repetitive beats and sampling, 1988 also saw the emergence of hip house, acid house, the Garage/Zanzibar styling of deep house, new Jack swing, world beat, Balearic beat, and ground beat. Some of these musical genres came and went before you could utter the word "hype" while others are enjoying success.}} Jose Padilla was an Ibizan DJ best known for his residency at Café del Mar. Also Jon Sa Trinxa, a British DJ and Producer best known for the longest residency on Salinas Beach at Sa Trinxa defines his style as being Balearic Music.
Pitchfork traces back elements of Balearic beat music to the 1982 Indian album Disco Jazz, sung by Rupa Biswas and composed by Aashish Khan. According to Pitchfork, the Bengali language song "Aaj Shanibar" from Disco Jazz contains "touches of what would now be considered Balearic beat music, with its expansive and hypnotic musical interludes." However, the album was largely unknown until its rediscovery in the late 2010s.{{cite news |title=How a Long-Lost Indian Disco Record Won Over Crate Diggers and Cracked the YouTube Algorithm |url=https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/how-a-long-lost-indian-disco-record-won-over-crate-diggers-and-cracked-the-youtube-algorithm/ |access-date=15 June 2023 |work=Pitchfork |date=22 January 2020}}
Style
{{blockquote|Two years ago, a club world constantly in search of new beats and a media constantly in search of new trends were presented with a bright bouncy new baby which answered to the name 'Balearic Beat'...the fact that the only 'rule' proposed was that "there are no rules" was ignored...Then came Mr Balearic's lucky break: Soul II Soul. A mish mash of styles (soul, hip hop, reggae) all moulded over a rock solid beat met the 'anything goes as long as it's danceable' criteria—and more importantly, it allowed the world to rediscover a BPM below 122...These days in clubland, rap, house and soul freely rub shoulders with continental beats, alternative grooves, and a whole welter of diverse sounds constructed from an even more diverse set of influences. This is what 'Balearic' was all about...Laying down rules or attempting to initiate trends is completely contrary to what the 'Balearic Spirit' was all about (if only its pioneers had explained it better at the time we might not have spent two years getting to where we are now). An effective blanket ban on house/uptempo music in a club is silly, short-sighted, and narrow minded, and it won't take long for people to see it as such...What the 'Balearic concept' has taught us is that it doesn't matter what genre the track falls into, as long as the beat 'n' groove move the feet and what's on top of 'em is pleasing to the ear.|Mixmag editorial, {{cite journal|journal=Mixmag|date=July 1990|pages=71–73|title=Famous Last Words on Clubland's Class System or 'How We Learned to Love the Balearic Beat'}}}}
Balearic beat records vary between house or Italo house and deep house influenced sounds and a slower R&B-influenced (under 119bpm) beat consisting of bass drum, snare and hi-hats (often produced with a Roland TR-909 drum machine) programmed in certain laid-back, swing-beat patterns; plus soul, Latin, African, funk and dub affectations; and production techniques borrowed from other styles of dance music that were popular at the time. Vocals were sometimes present, but much of the music was instrumental. The sounds of acoustic instruments such as guitar and piano were sometimes incorporated into Balearic beat. Having been primarily associated with a particular percussion pattern that eventually fell out of vogue, the style eventually faded from prominence and its repertoire was subsumed by the more general "chill out" and "downtempo" genres.
The style of Balearic beat is described by the original followers, as opposed to its UK followers, as the ability for the DJ to play across a broad range of styles, from early minimal New Beat to the first extended remixes of pop-songs, making Balearic DJ sets those that tend to have the sharpest turns of musical direction. While the public outside Ibiza generally describes Balearic beat as a music style, the island based community regard Balearic beat as a non-style or a healthy disrespect to style conformity and a challenge to the norm. It's a freestyle expression that seamlessly binds sporadic vinyl inspiration through technical flair on the turntables. Today, due to stylistic segregation in electronic dance music, few promoters and DJs dare to stretch the spectrum of styles that far in fear of losing identity and clients. DJ Alfredo still heralds the most diversity among Ibiza DJs, but generally the approach to mixing as well as the terminology, have been swallowed up by the Chillout scene.
Ibiza is still considered by some to have its own "sound", however, including the music of Jens Gad, co-creator of Enigma, and his new chillout-world-influenced hybrid project, Achillea, recorded in his studio in the hills overlooking Ibiza.{{cite web|url=http://www.sequoiarecords.com/artists.php#ACHILLEA|title=Sequoia Records Artists: Award Winning New Age Music, World Music, Meditation Music, Drum Music and Chill Out Electronica.|website=www.sequoiarecords.com}} Compilations such as Global Lounge Sessions: The Balearic Sound of Ibiza, released in 2002, and Sequoia Groove's Buddha-Lounge series, continue to be released.[http://www.sequoiarecords.com/artists.php#groove Sequoia Groove Ibiza-influenced chillout compilations], including the Buddha-Lounge series These generally feature house music and certain downtempo selections, not the old style of Balearic beat, per se. Some prefer to use the term Balearic more generally, however, to apply to all of these styles.{{cite magazine |last1=Lynskey |first1=Dorian |title=Have Ibiza's Glory Days as a Dance Music Mecca Come to an End? |url=https://www.billboard.com/music/features/ibiza-dance-music-mecca-end-7446764/ |magazine=Billboard |access-date=30 September 2022 |date=26 July 2016}}
See also
References
{{reflist|35em}}
Further reading
- {{Cite book
|title=Last Night A DJ Saved My Life: The history of the disc jockey
|last1=Brewster|first1=Bill
|last2=Broughton|first2=Frank
|edition=Revised (UK only)
|publication-date=2006-05-22
|isbn=978-0-7553-1398-3
|publisher=Headline Book Publishing
|year=2006
}}
- {{cite book |last1=Shulman |first1=Alon |title=The Second Summer of Love: How Dance Music Took Over the World |date=2 May 2019 |publisher=Kings Road Publishing |isbn=978-1-78946-089-6 |page=163 |language=en}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20111205211104/http://djhistory.com/features/in-search-of-balearic In Search of Balearic] - 2008 article by Bill Brewster for DJhistory.com
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20080530000955/http://www.indigoguide.com/ibiza/ibiza-music.htm Ibiza Travel Guide – Ibiza Music] (archived site) discusses the music of Ibiza, including Balearic Beat
- [http://www.discogs.com/release/5870 Balearic Beats – The Album Vol. 1] – information about an early (1988) Balearic Beat compilation
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20061101180534/http://www.anthems.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=10551 "Spirit Of Bedrock" DJ mixes] – a series of DJ sets demonstrating the late-1980s/early-1990s Balearic and related styles
{{House music-footer}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Balearic Beat}}
Category:20th-century music genres