When I was invited to perform at the fantastic ZNA Gathering in Portugal that took place in August 2015, I was also asked if I would contribute on their Facebook page some historical introductions and overviews of the psychedelic trance music that Goa fans love so much. Having entered the scene myself in 1994 – a key turning point in the evolution of this musical language – and having always been a historical perspective kinda guy (including in my work in the classical music field), I have been observing the trends in this music and bringing my classical music background and philosophical perspectives into play in my observations. I am taking those posts from the ZNA page and expanding on them in a weekly series on this website called Flashback Fridays so that those interested in the history of Goa Trance can have access to them.

This rich branch of electronica music currently has a wide range of sub-genres that are enjoyed by its fans worldwide and there are varying ideas about what constitutes the original Goa music. This depends not just on how far back into Goa history one delves but it is worth recognizing that in the early parties there was no hardened, set definition of what music was ‘acceptable’ at the parties – these events featured a wide array of styles. A couple of things are certain: the tempi were largely much slower than the norm today (something that will be explored in other posts in the coming weeks) and there was a darker vibe to a lot of the music than might be expected from those familiar with more popular Goa music from the mid-90s onward.

This filmed footage of a 1992 party in Goa gives some insight into the music and vibe of some of the earlier parties. In general, photographing and filming were not allowed at parties in Goa, there having been a shared understanding that the events be experienced in-the-moment while also giving partiers the freedom to be as expressive and explorative as they wanted to be. Olli Wisdom told me that the fellow who filmed this was known and liked by all, and anyone else would have been showered with rocks. (Some parties I went to in Japan in the mid-90s had a no-camera policy and they would take the film out of your camera if they caught you with one.) Olli and Goa Gil are among partiers in this film here. It’s very interesting to see how the DJ booth is located in the middle of the party space and is pretty non-descript – clearly not the focus of attention as people dance with a 360-degree perspective in the outdoors setting…  the emphasis was on the journey and collective experience of the music, not on who was at the controls.

And as you can hear, the music is quite dark and broody – not exactly the cheery or ‘spiritual’ music that one might expect for a sunrise. So those who believe that ‘real Goa music’ either has Asian/Indian melodic lines or lots of 303 or some other standard would do well to listen to this to see what was being played a mere two years before that kind of music became popular.

I’ve also observed how many people describe ‘the real Goa music’ as the music they were first exposed to: those who were in Goa before the 1994 shift in the direction of the music found on TIP, Dragonfly, Matsuri, Blue Room, and other labels often comment on the music on those labels being commercial and not ‘real Goa’ … the same thing that a lot of partyers active in the 90s say about newer psychedelic music. It seems that for many, the first music that they heard when they had they ‘AHA!’ moment is what they continue to resonate with.

One thing is for certain: the music played at the time was varied: a lot of moods, textures, tempi, and flavours. Several of the artists active at the time have told me that there wasn’t the concept that ‘you can’t play that kind of track’ in a set – it was all being created as they went along and there was no determined style that had been fully formed and labeled.

Stay tuned for weekly explorations of different artists and styles in this Flashback Friday series!