URBAN GROOVE PREVIEW
PAUL VAN DYK
Sunday, April 13
The Whiskey
Initially, while living in the former republic of East Germany, Paul van Dyk was introduced to house and techno music courtesy of a West German radio station that broadcast out of Frankfurt. From those early days of late-night listening, van Dyk could not have foretold what dance music would become in such a short time, or the role he would have in shaping its culture.
These days, van Dyk is one of the most easily recognized names on the DJ circuit, earning accolades from both critics and fans alike – an accomplishment that is increasingly rare. His past decade of remixes, production and touring has ensured him a place of legendary status in the DJ world. Due in part to his unwavering commitment to a global musical vision, van Dyk maintains a seat in the vanguard of dance music without having exclusively cottoned to the lowest common denominator of shits, giggles and 4/4.
While van Dyk is primarily known as a trance DJ, he doesn’t like the label.
"I play music, I make music – call it what you like, but it’s music. Categories are more for definition and do more to divide and separate people than to bring them together. I’d rather that people just knew I make music."
As van Dyk sees things, music should be something that brings people together, a resource for unity and change. "It’s truly a global language, a common experience – people interact with dance music everywhere in very similar ways."
His experiences while travelling have given van Dyk great inspiration. On a recent jaunt in India, he was shocked by the juxtapositions he found in the country.
"It was just this amazingly beautiful place with so much poverty, so much suffering. People have no idea how fortunate we are until you see how others live – that’s one of the things I want to bring to people’s attention."
Van Dyk views his roles as a DJ and as a producer in a very matter-of-fact way. Seeing production as a means to connect to people, he describes himself more as a musical messenger than just a musician. He believes, not unlike traditional musicians, that he has the opportunity to disseminate ideas and that it is incumbent upon producers to incorporate meaning and a message back into dance music. He hopes to create a future for this music beyond the boundaries of the dancefloor.
"It’s a really important thing to me, to share experiences – India affected me so profoundly, I just had to try to get that feeling across. So I made a song that tries to capture that moment."
Van Dyk notes that none of this is meant to imply that he is about to abandon his well-honed electronic atmospherics for an acoustic guitar, but it does signal a shift in perspective for dance music producers. In the early days of house and techno, the music was the message, but now it is time to rebuild the meaning and context of that message.
"I mean, I’m not interested in going Bono and getting preachy," he says. "I am interested in making beautiful music that extends into realms that aren’t fully explored yet by producers, and if that means I can make a song that might have some other use than just dancing… then that’s what I have to do." |
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