Music and Dancing


or

The Neo-Tribalism of Modern Music and Its Effects on Adolescents


I love music. I love to dance. Do I like dance music? Some, yes. Most, no. Why? Most dance music nowadays is what I call "Crappy Wannabe House Shake Your Ghetto Booty Music". I do love tecno, whether you call it hardcore, breakbeat, drum&bass, jungle, hiphop, house, trance, acid, etc., I have developed quite a love of modern electronic music. And yes, I have never been to a rave... but I have no life. What do you expect?

I started getting into music when I was 12. Listening to my sister's collection of metal, punk, and classic rock, I discovered a band called Nine Inch Nails. Little did I know then how much I would grow to love the music made by that band. Anyways... I liked what I was listening to. When I moved to Massachusettes, my friend Josh really introduced me to music. Especially NIN. He was just getting into the entire "tecno scene" and showed me some very nice albums, though we were still a bit more focused on industrial at that point.

That was 3 1/2 years ago. Now, I have more CD's than I wish to count, and listen to genres varying from Classical to industrial to punk to tecno in all forms I can find. Though still nothing compared to Josh's knowledge of music, I have become an avid music listener. I fell in with a group of musically inclined friends. Though possessing no music skill of value, I think I have a good appreciation of at least the modern music scene.

One thing I have noticed is the neo-tribal style of modern electronic music. Many people claim that the music itself becomes a driving force and taking many mind-altering substances often enhances the experience. I know nothing of the latter, having a rather Muslim approach to any foreign chemical (I don't need it or want it, but if you do it, it's your business). I do know, though, about the driving force behind the music. When I was younger, I was on the drum for my local Native American community (I'm part native), and I know about how a simple beat can seem to be filled with a meaning beyond our ken. I have often felt a similarity between the music we made then and the electronic tones of now. The drum had a natural feel to it, a sense of the old ways. The new music is the New Way, the New Tao, the New Life.

Electronic music is the way the world is heading. It is the sublime peace and hectic anger, the disturbing darkness and the gracious light, the spirits and devils, of tomorrow. It is the harbinger. It is the New

And that is why I dance. I dance, not really caring as to form or structure, but I dance in a way that was nearly forgotten. Like the great circle dances, there are no necessary moves. Like the great circle dances, there isn't even a needed pace. You dance the way the music tells you, the individual, to dance. The music reaches into your soul and moves your body. Its spirit possesses you, and you are driven to move, to shake, to dance. The DJ acts as priest and conductor at once. The others are puppets on strings pulled by forces of a new age, but an age ancient at the same time. It is the New Way.

I seek the sublime. I seek the peace. I seek the balance. I dance for these things. I dance for the feel of my body moving. I dance because I can, and I love it.

One should always dance to the rhythm of the soul.


Back Home