Reading Garcia’s article, I couldn’t help but think about why it is techno that is at the heart of Berlin’s ‘alternative’ tourist circuit. What is it about Berlin that accommodates techno, and why is it techno that has developed such a strong scene in Berlin, rather than other musical genres? Apologies if the following is quite informal, it is more than anything an attempt at understanding my own thoughts!
– Post-Socialist, post-industrial restructuring. After the collapse of the Berlin wall, many formerly state-owned buildings were left without ownership. Large warehouses and factories were abandoned, to later be occupied by artists and Bohemians (as Garcia might put it) and developed into clubs: unlike more formal concert environments, a nightclub doesn’t necessarily need a stage, nor does bass-heavy music require a space as acoustically sympathetic to higher frequencies. Major Berlin clubs like Berghain and Tresor are both situated within repurposed industrial buildings. Garcia notes that Bohemia describes the fetishization of “the gritty and the illicit as authentic”, while neo-Bohemia is the conversion of these characteristics into “profit-making factors” (Garcia 14).
– Lack of language. Visiting Berlin, it becomes clear that proficiency in German is not necessary for one to get by in the city. Similarly, techno, being largely instrumental, often lacks the lyrical and linguistic signifiers that might otherwise make music inaccessible to an audience. Although not necessarily diverse in terms of race or gender, techno is arguably more multi-national than other genres in which linguistic identification becomes a key characteristic of sub-genre. (Contrarily, as an attempt to maintain a club’s ‘authenticity’ [read: lack of tourist appeal] bouncers will often ask “Are you German?” to try and drive away non-German guests trying to enter a club.)
– Timelessness and escapism. Garcia notes that two of his interviewees, Bob and Donna, deal with “rigid work schedules” (9). Thanks to a lack of “regulated closing hours” (7) – due in part to Germany’s decentralized nature and the hangover from 1989? – clubs will stay open more or less all day and all night, thus allowing ‘techno-tourists’ to feel a timelessness in their clubbing experience. Unlike a rock or pop show or an orchestral concert, where individual songs or movements can provide markers of time (for example, a pop performance might consist of twelve 4 minute songs), a club night will likely include music that can be seamlessly mixed together and thus played continuously, without pause.
– Tradition. Although techno may have developed in Detroit, it was significantly influenced by German electronic music, such as Kraftwerk. One may interpret Berlin’s emergence as the Europe’s (the world’s?) techno capital as a musical style’s development coming full circle. And might we compare Berlin’s techno scene to that of the early-70s rock we studied earlier this semester? What similarities might we find in the repurposing of spaces like the Mariannenstrasse building, or in the appeal of Ton Steine Sterben’s “volume” and “rhythmic allure”? (Brown 88).
