Silent Raves: iPod vs Walkman Revolution

Imagine hundreds of people dancing in a public park but in silence; or more precisely by each one’s own iPod chosen track. In fact, this has been happening in cities like London, New York and Boston. Very simply, teens schedule a "silent rave" in social websites (Facebook, My Space), and the crowd then shows up at the designated place and time. Then, by the organizer's shout, everyone turns on their iPods simultaneously, dancing to the song of their choice. In relative silence (other than eventual shrieks from mouths and rubber-soled shoes), hundreds of bodies widely gesture at different rates, styles and rhythms. A silent rave lasts no longer than one hour. (Watch video at the end).

It is not simple to "sociologize" about this type of "dancing together but individually." Actually, the element of silence is not totally new in rave culture. In the early 1990s, silent raves were reported in northern California, but with a very significant difference. The dancing crowd had Walkmans which were set on the same radio frequency, with music being broadcast by a DJ with a pirate radio transmitter by the dancefloor. They danced in silence, but in synchrony - a very important difference in terms of ritual connection and experience.

Left-leaning NPR was ready to criticize the new iPod dance phenomenon as an example of autistic alienation, of a hyper-individualism that fragments society, and which teenagers sadly exemplify. Not too differently, from a radical countercultural viewpoint, these silent dance gatherings could be dismissed as pacified pseudo-raves, events that do not transgress the logic of state control of urban spaces and moving bodies. In fact, a passerby thought that the silent rave in London was a "city-sponsored program to combat stress"!

However, iPod raves could be rather seen as an emerging and sophisticated way to reclaim public spaces by indirectly circumventing laws on noise and public space. These are teen crowds celebrating togetherness through body expression, yet within the strange realm of "non-illegality". According to videos and anecdotal reports, these are daylight, apparently drug-free crowds. Nevertheless, if such events were to become popular, perhaps it would not take long for state authorities to take some repressive action. Does the state have the right to intervene in the private space of one's own subjective interiority?...

More deeply, I'd argue that the lack of a single rhythm unifying the crowd would prevent the liberating experience of self-transcendence which is very typical in religious gatherings - whether shamanic, evangelical or clubbing. As a collective catalyst, music binds all individuals together. It engenders an organic entity, triggering states of collective effervescence that overtake the individual, and may last for many hours. Perhaps, the fact that iPod raves last no more than one hour is indicative of such a lack.

Therefore, I am inclined to believe that the ancient Walkman syncronic silent rave (California 1990s) provides a much more socially connective experience than the emerging iPod variant (London 2000s). What is the point of choosing your own music to dance, if you can't share it with the person next to you, at any deeper level?... As such, it is ironical to observe that the iPod is an involution from the Walkman!

Well, we don't need to be deep all the time. All and all, iPod silent raves should be welcomed as a soft form of daylight socialization, why not?... At least, they will probably pave the way for real, all night long syncronized silent raves, yeah...

Video: London, Victoria Station, April 2007. Author: twittervlog

"Nazi Criminal Caught at Trance Party in Goa"

The above headline was widely used by the Indian press last June. The story allegedly involves an 88 year old German man, internationally sought for war crimes, trying to sell a rare piano over the Internet, a lead which finally led to his arrest by authorities flown from Berlin, as he desperately tries to flee the scene on a taxi towards Karnataka.

This was a hoax spread by an Indian blogger who successfully exposed the lousy job being regularly done by several newspapers in India.

Yet, anyone who knows the trance scene in Goa would not be so surprised if the story were true. In this environment, there is a silence by which nobody openly talks about their past - no questions asked. It is not so much that Westerners may be involved with the drug scene, directly or not. The fact is that many have gone to India to forget about who they are in the West. Moreover, note what I wrote about the trance scene in northern Goa a few years back:

A mosaic of diverse peoples interacted closely in the region: villagers, trance freaks, backpackers, Israeli ex-soldiers, Japanese hippies, Osho sannyasins, Nepalese workers, Goan businessmen, beach vendors from Karnataka, Kashmiri traders, European charter tourists, drug dealers, junkies, sadhus etc. Though populated by petit criminals and many other marginal types, the socio-economic order in northern Goa was rather determined by shady deals (…). As freaks pointed out, even though the ‘scene’ is potentially dangerous (due to drugs, strangers, corruption and lawlessness), the situation in the region was exceptionally peaceful.

In this contact zone you can find some marvelous individuals, as well as some shady types – from various nationalities, ages, and walks of life - people who can really give you the creeps. As I mentioned above, it is not easy to find out about who these people actually are. As such, a Nazi criminal in the shadows of a trance party in Goa would not be, after all, too far off reality.

Not only hippies were fascinated with India. Former Nazis were interested in Hindu mythology, to the point of inverting the Hindu swastika, a symbol of peace and good luck that can be traced back to the Neolithic, misused to represent a horrible ideology of hatred and racism.