8-19-06
Music
Back in the late 1960s, disco originated as a combination of many instruments played together. It was in 1969 when Jerry Butler released his latest song ‘Only the Strong Survive’ that we got our very first disco song. This was the birth of disco but then it was a form of music which hadn’t been named. Four years and many songs later on the 13th of September 1973, Vince Aletti wrote an article in the Rolling Stone Magazine which gave this music form its name “DISCO”.
This soulful music is based on a number of instruments blended together to get what is known as the disco sound. The vocals are played on a steady four on the floor beat or what is known as a quaver (eighth note) or a semi- quaver (sixteenth note). Many electronic musical gadgets are used to create the background score. This form of music has more of electric bass line and the guitar is seldom used as a lead instrument. Films like Saturday Night Fever and Thank God Its Friday made disco theque more popular than ever before. It was the Bee Gees who came to represent real Disco theque. The group till then was famous for their ballads and pop songs challenging the supremacy of The Beatles. Their success numbers were released again on the Saturday Night Fever movie soundtrack.
Disco was born much earlier in the late 60’s when Jerry Butleras haunting melody was the first case of a combination of music with dance. This particular song brought about the marriage between Philly and New York soul both being evolutions of Motown Sound. The Philly sound is lavish percussion. 1972 Soul Makasso is said to be one of the first disco songs.
Disco spread to Europe through the jivings of Abba from the mid 70’s. Boney-M was another group of four West Indian singers and dancers who guided by West German record producer Frank Farian, soon became a great hit in Canada and Japan.
The latter half of the 70’s saw clubs reverberating with Disco music. The culture centered on