150 years of Electronic Music

In the last 10 years we have lived a great cultural change in which to music it corresponds.

The “Grunge� had arrived, and with him all a tribe of musicians who stops some no longer was considered “so� musical… I am speaking of bands like L7, SoundGarden, Pornographic for Pyros, Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins, blur, pulp, NIN etc… that comprised of the music to which it denominated itself to him incessantly “alternative�; word that came to mean a cultural movement to a contemptuous term….5 years later “everything was alternative�. The movement of electronic music popular and more and more conscientious era, after near more than 100 years of its evolution. Therefore, the great ones of the electronic music of the 70' s returned with more force… but incarnated in its productions… they were the “power behind the throne�, specifically speaking of the masters Brian Eno and its disc intervention like “Achtung Baby� of U2 (to side of Flood and Daniel Lanois), “Outside� of David Bowie, that was discs that marked not only to a transition but a way to follow of the rock. And finally, also in parallel at the beginning of noventas, the Rave movement, communal celebrations motivated by the music mixed by DJ' s, it was beginning to arise and to take form in Europe.

Within electronic music we can make 3 distinctions:

1) The music created electronically through signals of sound generated by oscillating (as it can be a sintetizador)

2) the recontextualización of sounds reproduced by electronicses (as it can be from a tornamesa or recorder to sampler)

3) The music created on the basis of tools or devices that its operation stops needs electrical energy and that in case single they are not instrumenos musical comedies (for example sirens, turbines of airplane, drills, etc…, in this distinction would emphasize the importance of industrial music)

On these three distinctions, at the moment we are living the height of the second point… “the recontextualización�.

The new “musicians� of new musical sorts (like jungle, Drum n' bass, trip hop… etc) to the eyes of the folk music are not it. We can see a Tricky (precursory of the Trip Hop) affirming in its interviews that did not know to play nor, that did not know to sing, that it did not know of musical annotation… and then what does? …. good then what does he is “to recontextualizar�….said in other words…. The sonorous recontextualización is the art to equip with a sense different from a noise or sound with the fact to extract it of its origin and to place it in another atmosphere.

In the cultural changes, some words change of sense and of course ..... of “the musical� word we can extract 2 new meanings:

• “The musician is not only the one that studied music or executes some musical instrument…. he is the one that makes feel through sound�

• “The musical being of now is the one that dominates the art of the recontextualización�

The instruments for the sonorous recontextualización have existed for a short time more of a century, simply that they had not been conscientizado as musical instruments… an example is the phonograph, that was of first `samplers' nevertheless the Sampler as musical and commercial instrument arose in the middle of the 80' s.

A Sampler is a device that store and record sounds of any source, and in which it is possible to be manipulated to them or to secuenciar “is the new musical floodgate to esthetic - a cultural guerilla to shoot sounds of sources without sign in `datósfera', something truly despicable for the traditional slight knowledge of originality in a world `more and more available'� [1]. Now instead of having virtuous musicians in the guitar or the battery… it is not rare to find some virtuoso in the use of sampler, a true designer and manipulator of the sound.

Another essential element of electronic music is the mixture, is much of what to speak, its collaboration in this change we can delimit cultural it in 3 main points postulated by Paul D. Miller: “1) by its nature, criticism the idea of the intellectual property, 2) redefines a communal artistic value in contrast to the majority of the forms of art in the capitalist social context, 3) Creates an interface of the technology of the communication so that the antroporfomiza… In short, culture DJ positions to music as an extension of the neurolingüistica relation between the men… reveals a place now to us where different voices, rates and tones megre to create a syncretic flow of sounds to way of 2 external memory� [] DJ' s not only are virtuous of `scratch' but now they are producing, just as the artists and writers of our time are modeling the form in which we perceived music. In order to obtain to end these cultural qualities, instruments like the tornamesas were very important as much that we took if it into account as an instrument bases for the generation of present electronic music, we can say that it was the first instrument of this sort that was invented although not of conscious way…. and no, I am not speaking of the 70' s, the time of the “Saturday night to fever� I am speaking of the 50' s… but of century XIX.

1850 - French investigators develop the fonoautógrafo, a device that recorded sounds in a cylinder.

1870 - Takings Edison, begin to develop to the Phonograph or machine talking. Tin consisted of a surrounded cylinder in paper that turned on an axis. The receiving one was one trompetilla acoustic that had in an end a provided metallic diaphragm of an ivory needle that vibrates with the sound that arrived at the apparatus.

1870 - The majority of the experts thinks that the Telharmonium was the first musical electronic instrument (we remember that the tornamesas were not used as instrument but until much later) and was a disc that rotated in a magnetic field causing sonorous variations in the electrical signals.

1876 - Elisha Gray invents the musical telegraph. In these times, there was no telephone and the telegraphs were arriving at all the corners of the world. The main problem was that the telegraphic line only allowed to transmit a message simultaneously, In addition the interest to several telegrfistas, like Elisha Gray, was to invent a new method that transmitted manifolds simultaneously messages. Elisha Gray began to work on this when his nephew showed a strange experiment to him that consisted of an electrical oscillator, a bathtub and a hand. This experiment generated a sound, the electrical oscillations were transformed into acoustic vibrations through the oscillation of the electrified hand. Elisha Gray improved the invention and instead of the bathtub it used the body of a violin and a metal plate, and discovered that “the new� instrument had a different timbre, between the electrical bathtub and the violin. From that then, Elisha Gray knew like generating and transmitting sounds with the electricity, discovering that through the telegraphic line it could transmit chords, many notes or signals. In order to demonstrate this property to transmit Elisha chords, it invented a bank with 8 oscillating that could be controlled with a piano keyboard First Sintetizador. The invention of Gray gave to the return to all USA causing astonishment. As cultural data Elisha Gray I patent the telephone two hours after Alexander Graham Bell.

1890 - Musicians begin to record, the cylinder of the Phonograph allows to record of 2 to 4 minutes of audio, for these years. The Musicians begin to record their sessions with several phonographs.

1892 - The first flat discs are invented to record… are made call discs for gramófono

1912- Luigi Russolo, Italian futurist artist and composer, design several generating machines of sound, among them were `entonadores of noise' who were used by famous composers like Stravinski and was used to represent sounds of the nature in several frequencies.

1916 - The Hugo anarchists Valley, Tristan Tzara, Marcel Janco & Richard Hue - lsenbeck founded the artistic movement Dadaísta after their first encounter on the Voltaire Night club on Zurich. The Dadaístas believed more in the transmission of ideas through sound than through the words, they considered freer and sincere means of expression. As cultural rebellion the Dadaístas created music based on industrial sounds. Compositions like `Ana Blume' (1919) & `Ursonate' (1923) of of Kurt Schwetters, gave to beginning to the development of abstract music `of century 20.

1920 - The Theremin by Lev Sergeivitch Termen is invented, and was the predecessor of the sintetizador Mini, is unique from the point of view of which it is the first instrument that sounds without physically touching it. Also along with the Theremin they appear other electronic instruments like the Ondes Martenot and the Trautonium.

1923 - George Antheil, a young person of 23 years and friend of James Joyce, Ernest Heminway, Stravinsky, Ezra Pound and Pablo Picasso among others; one of the first chapters of Industrial music wrote ..... “The Mechanical Ballet�. This work implied in scene to 16 pianolas, a siren, and turbines of Airplane, build clear that the author never managed to listen as wrote he it. Due to obstacles technological, like lack of MIDI, (Music Digital Instrument Interface… protocol that communicates to an instrument with a computer), Samplers and computers, that work never was interpreted completes but until 1999 with the production of Paul D. Lehrman… 75 years after its conception and 40 after the death of Antheil.

1925 - The electrical amplification (the microphones) is invented, this invention forced the engineers to redesign the sound reproducers. The company Victor responds to this innovation with the box of Ortofónica sound, sensible to discharges and LF.

1931 - The investigator of EMI, Alan Dower Blumlein, invents the stereophonic sound for recording.

1939 - The magnetic tape is invented, John Cage composes “Imaginary Landscape # the 1� first piece that used an electronic reproduction

1940 - First DJ' s emerged, in history, their work was to entertain the troops who were across of the sea. These DJ' s were armed with a tornamesa, a Y amplifier several discs of Glenn Miller, the Brothers Andrews and Benny Goodman among others. He was practitioner more than to command to all these bands until the other side of the sea.

1950 - Karlheinz Stockhausen, student of electronic music, builds its theory and praxis of electronic music. Invention of discs of 45RPM of 7 inches. Musique is born “makes specific�, with Pierre Henry and Pierre Schaeffer when composing “Symphonie Pour a Homme Seoul�. “Musique makes specific� is obtained using extracted sounds of the surroundings and to as well distort them in several forms to create music, is the complex tape manipulation to create effects.

1951 - John Cage composes “imaginary landscape #4� in which he is used the radii like instruments for the first time.

1952 - The first concert of electronic music in America is carried out by Otto Luening and Vladimir Ussachevsky in the Museum of Modern Art of New York. Luening and Ussachevsky collaborated in other works combining in scene to musicians who executed traditional instruments with electronic sounds while they worked like co-directors of the Center of Electronic Music in Columbia-Princeton.

1958 - Invention of the Electrónco Piano (and - Piano)

1960 - The analogical sintetizador Moog, created by Robert Moog, is sent commercially with great success. New sounds and concepts are used in music, like the mathematical compositions of Arnol Schonberg and Eric Satie, as well as the created works to “machine� of mentioned previously the Luigi Russolo.

The “Dub� that is a branch of the Reggae of electronic nature, of low `is created tempo'. As well as first remixes headed by King Tubby. “Afterbeat� is born that is a rythmical variation that gave rise ska.

1960 (final) - the Reggae takes too much importance at world-wide level. The Lees “Scratch� Perry, Edward “Bunny� Lee and King Tubby, begin to work with studies multitracks; they become the best producers of Reggae.

1967 - Pink Floyd, a British band of progressive rock, publishes his first work: “to piper AT the gates of dawn�. This grouping had the quality to assemble psychedelic atmospheres, with instruments like: organs, sintetizadores and guitars

1968 - Walter Carlos publishes a called disc “Switched on Bach� which contains works of Johann Sebastian touched Bach but in a sintetizador Moog.

King Tubby, develops `cuts'. As masterful of done the wax acetate cut for him, it extracted the parts that did not have voice of any song and created another new version of the piece.

1969 - Kool Herc, considered the first DJ of Hip Hop, development the technique of “cutting breaks�, that is to say, found the way to extend in an acetate “breaks� or ruptures of rate, indefinitely. Using mixer and two identical acetates it time and time again replaced the wished segment. What Kool for was to extract breaks instrumental of percussions, and to sing on those parts.

1970 (principles) - Technics brings to light its original tornamesa SL-1200. Giorgio Moroder is considered the pioneer of the sintetizadores in electronic music disc.
 

1970 (half-full of) - environmental music is born along with the works from Brian Eno and its album “Another Green World�.
 

1970 (final) - Juan Atkins, visionary of electronic music, founding of Cybotron and who would be the founder of the Techno movement in Detroit, make his first work

1970 - Thanks to the qualities of the SL-1200, “scratching� (technical in which `scratches' the disc with the needle of the tornamesas) he perfects himself in New York by DJ' s Hip Hoperos. Throbbin Gristle creates the seal `Industrialist Record'; industrial music taking forces.

1971 - Ralph Hutter, Florian Schneider and company, form Kraftwerk; the first electronic band.

1980 (principles of) - DJ Frankie Knuckles is one of the pioneers of House music. In then known Warehouse de east Chicago DJ it mixed rates disc, funk and soul; in New York a forum that also helped the development of the House, was the Paradise Garage.

The discs of 12 inches with percusivos tracks of breaks, contributed to the birth of House Music.

The “new Romantic ones� appear, groups like Depeche Mode, Erasure, heaven 17, Yello, Klaus Nomi, DAF, Japan, etc… Skinny Puppy of Canada and Severed Heads followed but with a heavier style.

To Young European fresh-from-the-oven generation of bands such ace

1980 - Roland removes to the market the TB-303 “bassline machine� and the TR-808 “drum machine�, these instrumenos is of great importance for the height of electronic music time later.

1980 (half-full of) - first samplers (Ensoniq Mirage and Akai S900), instruments that allow to digitize sound and peanut to pular it, leave successfully to the market.

1987 - House music is divided in two subgenera: Acid House and Techno.

1988 - Musicians of Chicago and Ron Hardy found new applications of the TR-303 to create Acid House

1989 - The scene “Rave�, (that was the organization of massive festivales in who hundreds or thousand of people all night danced the music mixed by diverse DJ' s), which derived from the Acid House, was growing more and more in Europe; as much that in the United Kingdom the promoters made events with thousands of people in the outskirts of London, which lasted several nights. To half-full principles and of 80´s they appeared in scene groups like Einsturzende Neubauten, Swans, Sonic Youth… where the concepts of “nonWave� and “Noise�, gave rise to sorts like the Gabbahouse. And as well, the Hip Hop culture begins to occupy a great importance in the Breakbeat sort.

The Sort Gabba/Hardcore Techno is born in Germany, when DJ Rob in their presentations took techno to their ends. The Hardcore Techno is of the most extreme sorts in the Techno, can arrive at impressive speeds, until 1000 beats (blows) per second.

1990 - 2000 Variants of the Ragga and Hip Hop begin to take their ways, creating sorts like the Breakbeat (with representatives like Fatboy Slim, Fluke, Crystal Method, Chemical Brothers), the Trip Hop (with Tricky, Massive Attack, Portishead provienientes groups of Bristol. This it is a sort in which music is at the same time slow and uses sampleos or harmonic progressions a little jazzeras. Thus also they resort to the use “Lo-fi�, that is to say, the use or I sample of old woman Discs of grazes to give a texture of audio of low fidelity), Jungle, Drum n' bass (with representatives like Roni Size, Goldie, LTJ Bukem, DJ Hype, Nico, Ed Rush, Grooverider, among others. These sorts are distinguished at a high speed to contain percusivas sequences in contrast to melodies in the middle of time of other instruments; jungle we could say that he is a little “clogged�, however to drum n' bass, he is cleaner and it has the quality to incorporate melodic progressions and classic instruments of the jazz).

In 1994 something new is born, the Techno and the House became heavier and crude… a link between the Hardcore and the Ambient appears Tribal music. It began with artists like Cosmic Baby, Oliver Lieb. The Critical moment derived in several Subgenera: Hardtrance, Acid Critical moment, Critical moment Core (a mixture of Critical moment and Hard Core), the Goa Critical moment/Psychedelic Critical moment and more and more derived from the Critical moment, reaching this one popularity between 1996 and 1997 through record seals like Blue Room, Released, Dragonfly, Phantasm, Tip. .etc. artists like The Infinity Project, Juno Reactor, Mindfield and Youth played an important role in revivir certain ideologies of end of 60´s and the 70 principles of' s ´pero with technology…

At the moment the height of “techno MGP� or “electro MGP� is immense, figures like Moby, Orbital, Deep Forest, The Orb, Enigma, Black Box, Inner City, the KLF have become heroes of scene MGP. As much that for example an icon of this scene as is it Madonna no longer makes a production without its gurú William producing and also musical Orbit “electro MGP�, like David Bowie, that has become a fanatic of a fanatic his… Trent Reznor. Several of the mentioned groups previously as Enigma and Deep Forest go beyond of the use of electronic instruments… are conciliators of the native thing, of far. of history; using sampleos of regional songs of Asia, Gregorian Africa, songs they transport, us to another time, to another world, but simultaneously they remain in this one to comprise of the Billboard Chart.

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