This is an exciting time for electronic music at Emory, in Atlanta and all over the world. Danny Avila, an 18-year-old electronic music DJ from Madrid, Spain will perform at Swoop's Week this Friday. Avila won Vicious Magazine's "Best Newcomer DJ Award" at the age of 16 and, since then, has been making a big name for himself in the world of electronic music. He has worked and performed with big names in the industry such as Tiësto and preformed at electronic music festivals all over Europe, such as the legendary Pacha in Ibiza and the Creamfields music festival in Liverpool. He already has confirmed performances in several Asian cities for this fall, incluing a performance at the AsiaWorld-Expo in Hong Kong with Tiësto. Avila's upcoming performance at Emory is going to be an exciting one, and it's an important example of a growing international electronic music culture.
Electronic music has become increasingly popular among Emory students over the last few years, and famous electronic music DJs such as Alesso and 3LAU have performed at our Spring Fest and in well-known venues throughout Atlanta. An increasing number of Emory students have attended music festivals such as CounterPoint here in Atlanta and Ultra in Miami. Many will be attending TomorrowWorld this coming weekend.
Electronic music has been traditionally associated with club hotspots such as Ibiza, London, Stockholm, Brussels, New York and Miami. But the genre is developing in new places Рlike Buenos Aires, where a new yet booming electronic music scene has made the cosmopolitan a new hotspot for m̼sica electronica in South America. International music festivals such as Ultra and Creamfields have already come to Buenos Aires, and international electronic DJs such as David Guetta and Alesso have been making a concerted effort to tour in Argentina.
There's also a promising future ahead for Argentine electronic DJs as they slowly become a part of the growing global electronic music culture. The local electronic music and DJ culture in Buenos Aires incorporates traditional elements of electronic music as well as local Argentine influences and beats. This new scene has had a dramatic influence on Argentine nightlife.
AgustÃn Esposito is a passionate 21-year-old DJ who studies industrial engineering at Universidad Austral in Buenos Aires. Although he started small – his first DJ experience was at his younger sister Lucila's birthday party – Esposito's DJ career has since taken off.
"I bought my first mixer with all of my savings when I was 15-years-old. It was expensive, outdated and not even automatic," Esposito said. "But I don't consider myself an artist. My goal as a DJ is simply to make people have fun and enjoy electronic music and for it to make them move."
In 2009, Esposito started the Electronic Sound Project (ESP) – a play on the first three letters of his last name – a small business dedicated to bringing more electronic music to events. Esposito identified demand in the Buenos Aires event and DJ scene.
"It's hard to find DJs in Argentina that are solely dedicated to electronic music, especially for events," Esposito said.
Although ESP is a small company, it has enjoyed a great deal of success. It consists of four jockeys and two main DJs (one of which is Esposito himself). Esposito and other ESP DJs frequently play at private parties, family functions, weddings and at well-known nightclubs in Buenos Aires such as Chapa Bar and The Roxy.
Before electronic music became popular, most nightclubs in Buenos Aires would play reggaeton (Spanish hip-hop), cumbia and other Latin music varieties. However, these styles are now losing their appeal in the Buenos Aires music scene, due in part to increased demand for more international styles of music. However, the issue goes deeper than where the music comes from. Many porteños are now trying to distance themselves from music genres that have always been present in the Argentine capital, such as cumbia villera and reggaeton, because these more traditional music genres are often associated with working class listeners. Cosmopolitan Argentines now prefer to listen to a more universal form of music.
"Electronic music is international," Esposito said. "People in any country will move to it, whether they're in Dubai, Argentina, USA or Russia. The exclusive boliches in Buenos Aires now almost only play electronic music."
Despite its growing popularity, many Argentines still struggle with the new electronic music culture. They view it as a music genre associated with corruptive vicios, like drugs.
"These days there's a trend for people to want to go out to electronic music parties drugged, because they think it's canchero (cool), they think it's what electronic music fans in other parts of the world do, too," said Melody Winter, a 21-year-old Argentine from the outskirts of Buenos Aires.
However, the issue of drugs and electronic music isn't limited to Buenos Aires. At the beginning of this month, the third and final day of the Electric Zoo music festival in New York City was cancelled due to two drug-related deaths.
The underground electronic music scene has developed a unique culture of its own and has an increasingly important presence in Buenos Aires. Mariano Vicien, a 23-year-old DJ and student at Universidad del Salvador has made an important impact on both the commercial and underground electronic music scenes in Buenos Aires. Vicien started working as a DJ in 2009 and has taken several courses at the famous Arjaus School in Buenos Aires, the only Spanish language, Ableton-certified DJ school in South America. At Arjaus he had the opportunity to work with famous Argentine electronic music Mariano Trocca and Matias Sundblad. Although Vicien plays electronic music at commercial nightclubs in Buenos Aires such as Asia de Cuba, he is more passionate about the underground electronic music scene.
"I prefer the underground electronic music scene in Buenos Aires for what it represents," Vicien said. "The music played at underground clubs is more genuine – it's from the heart. The crowd at underground boliches is also very different, many people who truly appreciate electronic music come out to dance and not just to see their friends."
The popularity of electronic music in Buenos Aires has also led to the emergence of a new fashion. It seems like everybody in Buenos Aires wants to be a DJ these days. Unlike talented and trained DJs like AgustÃn Esposito and Mariano Vicien, more and more young and inexperienced porteños are trying to become DJs. Accessibility to these resources has fueled this new moda in Buenos Aires. Young porteños interested in electronic music no longer have to use expensive turntables and vinyl records; they can buy mixers and use computer software.
"DJ equipment was a lot more expensive in Argentina. Nowadays it's cheaper, and there are a lot more resources on the Internet such as different software, apps and tutorials on YouTube," Esposito said.
"I think it's just a fashion. These people who follow the trend and pretend to be DJs don't really bother me because I know that soon they will disappear," Vicien said.
Buenos Aires is now an established international electronic music hotspot, and tango has taken a back seat. Here at Emory, electronic music can be heard all over campus, from Wonderful Wednesday to frat parties. The city of Atlanta has always been known as the hip-hop capital of the United States, but electronic music is also increasing in popularity here. The arrival of TomorrowWorld, an offshoot of the Belgian super-festival TomorrowLand, is a local representation of the global electronic music culture.
– By Sergio Dhillon
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Read More
Trending
