THE HISTORY OF HOUSE
MUSIC AS SEEN BY THOSE WHO CREATED IT…
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| Frankie Knuckles |
On the rainy
afternoon of June 4, 2014 I went to a familiar Washington, D.C. Landmark to
attend a conference on house music sponsored by Jamil Fletcher’s SWERVE
magazine and attended by many luminaries of that brilliant genre, house. D.J.’s that essentially shaped the culture of
house music over the past 40 years in such legendary clubs as The Club House,
The Paradise Garage, The Paradox, Cignal, Better Days, The Sound Factory, Odell’s,
and many others. The careers of these
D.J.’s and the foundations of house music they have established stretches from
Chicago, Detroit, New York, Philly Baltimore to Washington, D.C. originating
from blues, jazz, spirituals, R&B and Disco, the conceptual origins of what
is called house music in twenty first century human civilization.
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| The Paradise Garage |
The patron
saints of this hallowed, soulful congregation were none other than those
celebrated Disc Jockeys known to house heads as D.J. Sam “The Man” Burns and D.J.
Mandrill respectively leading the panel of distinguished Disc Jockeys by virtue
of their tenure and fame as accomplished entertainers. The panel
shared their insights and experiences and their philosophies of the art of playing
and mixing the sound that was to become the body of classic house anthems. They shared how their personal aesthetic and
philosophy not only of House but of music and entertainment informed the sound,
feel and chemistry that is now the stuff of legend.
 |
| D.J. Sam "The Man" Burns |
Listening to
them recall those gilded times transported me back to the dance floors of those
temples of house music; The Clubhouse, The Paradise Garage, The Sound Factory,
The Paradox... I remembered a magical
time where music, fashion and culture came together into what is now called an “Interdisciplinary”
piece of “Performance Art”. Back then,
like many of the house music aesthetes I was drawn to the clubs to see the fashion,
(what everyone was wearing), to hear unique, freshly-minted music, (hot off the vinyl press), the brilliant
dancing, (featuring the “Hustle” and classic, modern house music
improvisational dance) and to fellowship
with the stylish community of the Avant Guard.
As personally soulful as house
music was it cultivated an opulent culture that worshipped conceptual, physical
beauty. In the temples of house music
patrons dressed opulently many of them making their clothing or having them
made specifically for clubbing hence the birth of the term, “Club Clothes”. The irony and true beauty of that time was
that one had the option of dressing to the nines when feeling elegant or coming
in sweats and tennis shoes on those nights when one just wanted to get
down. As I recall every Saturday night
at the Club House, which was really Sunday morning around 5:00 A.M. the lights
would go out on the main dance floor and a house mix would ensue for an hour or
more… what occurred over 37 years ago during that sacred “temps noir” is now hallowed
as the stuff of fondest memory…
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| D.J. Mandrill |
The panel
discussion was hosted by Racine Pendarvis under the sponsorship of Swerve
Magazine to promote the “Ask Rayceen Show” accessible to all on YouTube. This past Wednesday the show was hosted above
the historic Bohemian Caverns at 11th and U. Streets N.W. free of
charge. This was my first exposure to
Rayceen’s gracious, witty and genuously entertaining and M.C. style. Rayceen asked the panel questions that helped
elucidate the virtually unknown history and impetus of the D.J.’s. I found this important essentially because many,
not all followers of house music know very little about how and why the people
behind the music they love became D.J.s and what their journeys entailed. Rayceen’s queries humanized the infinitesimal
particles of sound oscillating in the spatial vessel of the club, or at home in
the channel of the earlobe so that they were no longer just beats, vocals,
tracks, etc., they became tangible expressions of the human experience.
 |
| Rayceen with D.J. Panel |
When Rayceen
concluded her queries she opened the floor to the audience for questions and I
stepped forward instinctively asking them to comment on the rich culture of
House and what they personally envisaged as the future of House Music. I referenced the rich artistic culture that
cultivated house music such as the “Houses” themselves, the balls, the
vogueing, the fashion the holistic culture of house music in an attempt to
determine if they felt house music could continue to exist without them. I asked if house music which has always
existed in some form as an underground movement needed to be mainstreamed in
order to survive as a viable and culturally relevant genre and if mainstreaming
would compromise its integrity and uniqueness.
The panel was warmly accommodating to my questions and generally agreed
that the “Culture” of house music is essential to its healthy evolution and
must be preserved by continuing and expanding upon its traditions. They felt that going mainstream would not
have a harmful effect upon the integrity of the genre as may have been the
example with rap and hip-hop for example. The panel agreed that house music, similar to disco has not been as universally embraced as a truly unique and important art form in America because its origins are from the underground black gay community. Notwithstanding, house music did experience a brief mainstream explosion as did disco before receding back to largely underground status. Mainstream media is replete with marketing and advertising themes that are clearly derivatives of house music but as in past examples in this country proper credit has not been given to the source. it is imperative that we preserve the history of house music and disco, that we document the lifestyles of those men and women who created one of the most dynamic phases of American culture in the late twentieth century. At the conclusion of the discussion I left confident that this esteemed
body of men having cultivated the movement we now call “House Music” for the past
30 or 40 years truly had a vision for this genre for the first quarter of the
twenty-first century; I saw in their eyes and heard in their voices a passion
and devotion to realize that end.
FIN
Written by
Bigdaddy Blues
FOR THE
BROTHAS A VIRTUAL, INTELLECTUAL AND CULTURAL SALON
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at: WWW.FORTHEBROTHAS.BLOGSPOT.COM
LINKS: RELATED LINKS TO THIS ARTICLE
1.
SWERVE MAGAZINE:
http://www.swervmagazine.com/advertise/
2.
THE ASK RAYCEEN SHOW: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzNVbS6C-cE
GATLETTER: http://www.gayletter.com/gerard-h-gaskin-is-legendary/
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