Balearic beat

Balearic beat
Orígens estilístics	House; Música electrònica; Música mediterrània; Bossa nova
Orígens culturals	Finals dels 80 a les Illes Balears
Instruments típics	Sintetitzador - Caixa de ritmes - Seqüenciador - Sampler - Teclats - Ordinador
Origen	Regne Unit i Espanya
Creació	1987
Part de	dance electrònic i chill out

El Balearic Beat, també conegut com a Balearic house, és un estil de música electrònica que va gaudir de cert seguiment a la dècada dels 1990; rep aquesta denominació per la seua popularitat entre els nightclubs de les Illes Balears, especialment d'Eivissa, destinació turística de nombrosos europeus. Va començar a sonar cap mitjans de la dècada dels 80, com una barreja eclèctica de música dance punxada per PD.^[1]^[2] Algunes compilacions de música dance assenyalen el Balearic Beat com "el so d'Eivissa", encara que a l'illa es poden trobar altres variants d'aquest gènere de música electrònica.

Història

Els punxadiscos britànics Trevor Fung, Paul Oakenfold i Danny Rampling van "descobrir" el Balearic Beat durant unes vacances a Eivissa el 1987, a partir d'una estada a la discoteca Amnesia, de la mà del PD argentí anomenat DJ Alfredo Fiorito.^[3]^[4]

Fiorito punxava una eclèctica mescla de música dance^[4] amb l'indie hypno grooves dels the Woodentops, el rock místic dels Waterboys, el primer house, Europop i rareses com Peter Gabriel and Chris Rea. Després de visitar altres clubs eivissencs, com Pacha o Ku, on l'estil musical era força semblant, Oakenfold, Fung i Ian St. Paul van obrir a Londres una discoteca influenciada en aquestos ritmes, la Funhouse.

Oakenfold va retornar a Eivissa a l'estiu de 1987 i va entrar en contacte amb diversos PD, com ara Danny Rampling, Johnny Walker o Nicky Holloway. A la seua tornada a Anglaterra, va obrir un nightclub anomenat Project Club, al South London, que buscava l'ambient balear. De fet, la discoteca atreïa a aquells que havien fet turisme a la Mediterrània i estaven familiaritzats amb aquest estil de música, esdevinguda subcultura que s'anava estenent dins del panorama del rave britànic. Una subcultura que víndria acompanyada del consum d'Èxtasi i d'una moda basada en els colors brillants i pantalons amples (Baggy trousers). El concepte de Balearic Beat va arribar a un públic més nombrós el 1988, quan Oakenfold obre un altre club, l'Spectrum.^[5] Eixe mateix any, l'estil musical travessa l'Atlàntic i aplega als Estats Units.^[6]

Estil

Els registres del Balearic Beat varien entre sons influenciats pel house o l'Italo house i el deep house i beat influenciat per un rythm and blues més lent (per sota de 119bpm), tot consistint en bombos, xarlestons i caixes (sovint produïts amb una caixa de ritmes Roland TR-909) programats amb patrons relaxants i oscil·lants. A això cal sumar afectacions provinents del soul, el dub, el funk i dels ritmes llatins i africans, a més de produccions tècniques preses d'altres variants del dance populars en aquell moment. Sovint era instrumental, tot i que a vegades hi havia veus. També a vegades s'incorporaven sons de guitarra o de piano al Balearic Beat. Amb el temps va passar d'estar associat a patrons de percussió a formar part de la família genèrica dels chill out o dels downtempo.

Encara es considera que és el propi "so d'Eivissa", però l'etiqueta incorpora també, per exemple, la música de Jens Gad, co-creador d'Enigma, i la seua nova banda híbrida amb influència chill out, denominada Achillea, que enregistra a l'entorn d'Eivissa.^[7] Compilacions com ara Global Lounge Sessions: The Balearic Sound of Ibiza, del 2002, i la sèrie de Sequoia Groove's Buddha-Lounge, continuen publicant-se.^[8] Generalment, aquestes compilacions són més properes al house que no al primigeni estil del Balearic Beat. En algunes ocasions, es prefereix l'ús de la denominació genèrica Balearic per referir-se a elles.

Referències

↑ 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 sub-genres which followed in its wake, for a short time at least, kept dancefloors moving to a range of grooves."
↑ Evans, Helen. 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."
↑ Kaplan, C.D., Grund, J-P & Dzoljic, M.R. (1989) Ecstasy in Europe: reflections on the epidemiology of MDMA. Instituut voor Verslavingsonderzoek, Rotterdam.
↑ ^4,0 ^4,1 Bush, John. Bogdanov, Vladimir. All Music Guide to Electronica: The Definitive Guide to Electronic Music [Paul Oakenfold entry]. Backbeat Books, 2001. «[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.»
↑ Reynolds, Simon. Generation Ecstasy : Into the World of Techno and Rave Culture. Routledge. 1999. ISBN 0-415-92373-5
↑ Paoletta, Michael «Back To Basics». Dance Music Report, 16-12-1989. «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.»
↑ Jens Gad and Achillea discography
↑ Sequoia Groove Ibiza-influenced chillout compilations, including the Buddha-Lounge series

Enllaços externs

In Search of Balearic Arxivat 2011-12-05 a Wayback Machine. - Article de Bill Brewster per a DJhistory.com, publicat el 2008
Balearic Beats - The Album Vol. 1 - Informació sobre una de les primeres compilacions del gènere, de 1988
"Spirit Of Bedrock" DJ mixes Arxivat 2006-11-01 a Wayback Machine. - Una sèrie de demonstració de punxadiscos tot mostrant el Balearic de finals dels 80 i principis dels 90

[1] 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 sub-genres which followed in its wake, for a short time at least, kept dancefloors moving to a range of grooves."

[2] Evans, Helen. 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."

[3] Kaplan, C.D., Grund, J-P & Dzoljic, M.R. (1989) Ecstasy in Europe: reflections on the epidemiology of MDMA. Instituut voor Verslavingsonderzoek, Rotterdam.

[amgem-4] 4,0 ^4,1 Bush, John. Bogdanov, Vladimir. All Music Guide to Electronica: The Definitive Guide to Electronic Music [Paul Oakenfold entry]. Backbeat Books, 2001. «[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.»

[5] Reynolds, Simon. Generation Ecstasy : Into the World of Techno and Rave Culture. Routledge. 1999. ISBN 0-415-92373-5

[6] Paoletta, Michael «Back To Basics». Dance Music Report, 16-12-1989. «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.»

[sequoiagad-7] Jens Gad and Achillea discography

[sequoiagroove-8] Sequoia Groove Ibiza-influenced chillout compilations, including the Buddha-Lounge series

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