GRIOTS REPUBLIC - AN URBAN BLACK TRAVEL MAG - JULY 2016

As a DJ, I’ve traveled to three different
continents in search of evidence of
the fact that house music is a form
of global black music, or what I call, electronic
music of the African diaspora. As
a Californian native, my relationship to
house music was limited, it wasn’t in regular
rotation of California 1980s’ black radio
nor was it played in my home. Part of
the reason for this is because house music’s
early development is linked to migration
patterns.
Chicago and Detroit,
two of the most popular
great migration
destination sites, are
the cities where the
music was first produced
by its founding
artists, many of whom
traveled regularly to
New York gay clubs.
DJs-turned-producers
created a sound that
can be described as
the space between
Saturday night club
culture and Sunday
morning church. This
means that house music has black southern
gospel and New York queer-oriented
disco roots.
At the core of house music is a pulsating
vibration that can be likened to a heartbeat.
The pulse, also known as the ‘four
to the floor” beat situates house music
in a diasporic context. Brown folks from
places like Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Dominican
Republic, and who were also part
of the NYC disco scene, can be credited
with bringing regional rhythms like salsa,
merengue and even music associated with
Santeria, to the sound of house music as
well.
This layered origin story of house music explains
why I traveled to attend the premier
of Yoruba Records residency launch party
in Mykonos, Greece. Club Scorpios, where
the “Rituals” residency will be hosted from
June until September, was stunning and
curiously posh which inspired questions
about Greece’s declining economy and its
tourist industry in response to it. The venue
overlooks the Aegean Sea, serves designer
cocktails whilst you sip surrounded
by Moroccan décor. Walk a few steps away
from the bar and you’ll find yourself outside
on the dance
floor, under the
moon.
At the core of house
music is a pulsating
vibration that can
be likened to a
heartbeat. The pulse,
also known as the
‘four to the floor” beat
situates house music
in a diasporic context.
I traveled to Greece
to hear DJ and producer
Osunlade
‘bless the decks,’
with his special
soulful-afro-techy
touch. Osunlade
has been based in
Santorini, Greece
for the past ten
years and is the
founder of Yoruba
Records.
I had a chance to chat with Osunlade, a
black expatriate and St. Louis native, and
we discussed his connection to house music
as a practicing Ifa priest and his life
in Europe. When asked about the relationship
between house music and African traditional
spiritual practices, he referenced
the heartbeat and of course the trancelike
percussive rhythms that drive the music
and guide those who surrender themselves
to it.
One of the most interesting parts of our
conversation was his response to my question
about the impact of Prince’s death on