TECHNO
Emerging in Detroit, Michigan in the mid 1980’s techno is a form of African American dance music that is produced fully electronically.
By Jadah Best
Techno is a form of electronic dance music. It is composed of fast beats and synthesized sounds. There is typically 120-150 beats her minute within a techno song.
Like most musical styles, techno had had been influenced from a few different musical genres. Electric jazz, electronic music, and electro funk inspired techno. Often times people compare house music that was developing in NYC (during that same time period) to techno although they do have their differences. Techno has more of a serious beat while house music has more of a swing to it.
Techno brought a new feel to African American music. The music had more of a futuristic/ fictional theme. With the increase of technological advancements came techno. It is able to connect the groove of Motown with the technology available at that time.
Electronic instruments are used to produced techno music. These instruments include; drum machines, sequencers, and synthesizers. Roland’s TR-80’s was inexpensive and very popular at that time for making beats.
Juan Atkins, Derrick May & Kevin Saunders are considered to be the founders of techno music. They called themselves the “Belleville Three) being that they attended highschool in Belleville Michigan. Juan Atkins is provided with the most credit foe making techno what we know it as today. The Belleville’s single “Cosmic Cars” made in 1982 was pretty successful. Once signed to Fantasy Records they debuted their first album Enter.
By the 90’s techno was not super successful in the US but was prospering in Europe. The United Kingdom, Belgium, and Germany seemed to have taken in techno as its own. Being that their are many raves in Europe, this music genre fit perfectly with what they were looking for.
