Goa trance (often referred as Goa or by the number 604) is a form of electronic music and is a style of trance music which originated in the Indian state of Goa, as opposed to most other forms of trance music which appeared in Europe.

Goa trance is closely related to the emergence of psychedelic trance during the latter half of the 1990s however the distinction between these two genres is imprecise and they are considered by some to be synonymous. Both styles are generally non-commercial and underground compared to other forms of trance. The goa sound is more likely to be heard at outdoor parties and festivals than in clubs and places like Ibiza.

History

The music has its roots in the popularity of the Goa area in the late 1960s and early 1970s as a hippie mecca, although the actual Goa trance style would not appear until early 1990s. As the tourist influx tapered off in the 1970s and 1980s, a core group remained in Goa, concentrating on improvements in music along with other activities such as yoga, recreational drug use, and various New Age pursuits.

The introduction of techno style and technique to Goa led to what would eventually become the Goa trance style; early pioneers included DJs like Laurent, Fred Disko and Goa Gil, or Mark Allen a bit later. Many "parties" (similar to raves but with a mystic flavour, at least in early 90's) in Goa revolve entirely around this genre of music; Goa is also often played in other countries at raves, festivals and parties often in conjunction with other styles of trance and techno.

Today, Goa trance has a significant following in Israel, brought to that country by former soldiers returning from recreational "post-army trips" to Goa in the early 1990s. A great deal of Goa trance is now produced in Israel, but its production and consumption is a global phenomenon. New "hot-spots" today include Brazil, Japan, and Mexico.

The sound of Goa trance

Never changing. Forever true. In the name of love. Dance for paradise.

--as sampled by Boris Blenn

Goa is essentially "dance-trance" music (and was referred to as "Trance Dance" in its formative years), and as such has an energetic beat, almost always at 4/4 and often going into 16th or 32nd notes. It is also especially noted for switching to a 12/8 beat with the same tempo during some parts of the song. A typical number will generally build up to a much more energetic movement in the second half of the track, and then taper off fairly quickly toward the end. Generally 8-12 minutes long, Goa tracks usually have a noticeably stronger bassline than other trance music and incorporate more organic "squelchy" sounds (sounds put through a resonance filter, thought to sound especially good on psychedelic drugs, the most famous of these being generated by the TB-303).

Goa trance parties

Goa trance parties can take place in unusual locations such as on a beach, in a desert or in the middle of the forest, although it is not uncommon for them to be held in conventional locations like clubs. These days the need to pay the local police baksheesh means that they're generally staged around a bar though this may only be a temporary fixture in the forest or beach. Once the baksheesh has been paid then the freaks are free to bring out their charas and fill their chillums without fear of getting busted. The parties around New Year tend to be the most chaotic as busloads of Indian men from Mumbai descend to gawk at Western women. Travelers, beggars and sadhus from all over India pass by to join in the fun.

The parties have a visual aspect as well, the use of "fluoro" (fluorescent paint) is common in clothing and decoration. The images are often associate with topics like aliens, hinduism and other religious (especially eastern) images, mushrooms (and other psychedelic imagery), shamanism and technology.

Goa trance in popular culture

For a short period in the mid-1990s Goa trance enjoyed significant commercial success with support from DJs like Paul Oakenfold. Only a few artists came close to being Goa trance "stars". The two most notable are Man With No Name and Infected Mushroom. Juno Reactor had their music featured in many Hollywood movies like Mortal Kombat, The Matrix, and even Once Upon a Time in Mexico, however whether or not those are Goa or psychedelic trance tracks is still up for debate.

In fact, Goa trance remains very much an underground form of music and except for the most popular artists (Hallucinogen, Juno Reactor), Goa trance albums are usually not sold at mainstream record stores.

Typical Goa trance music tracks

• Astral Projection Mahadeva.ogg "Mahadeva" - Astral Projection
• Etnica Mystical Experiences in Goa.ogg "Mystical Experiences in Goa" - Etnica
• Talamasca Sinai.ogg "Sinai" - Talamasca
• Cosmosis Gift of the Gods.ogg "Gift of the Gods" - Cosmosis
• Man With No Name Teleport.ogg "Teleport" - Man With No Name
• The Muses Rapt Spiritual Healing.ogg "Spiritual Healing" - The Muses Rapt
• Ubar Tmar feat Dj Dan Dan the tale of taketori.ogg "The Tale of Taketori" - Ubar Tmar
• Shakta The Neuromancer.ogg "The Neuromancer" - Shakta

See also

• Music of Goa
• Psychedelic trance
• List of psychedelic trance artists
• Trance music
• Ambient music

Popular Goa trance artists and albums

(in chronological order)

1993

• Eat Static - Abduction
• Juno Reactor - Transmissions

1994

• Kode IV - Silicon Civilisation

1995

• Asia 2001 - Râ
• Hallucinogen - Twisted
• Indoor - Progressive Trance
• Koxbox - Forever After
• Total Eclipse - Delta Aquarids
• Transwave - Hypnorhythm

1996

• Astral Projection (group) - Trust In Trance
• Chakra & Edi Mis - The Promised Land
• Cosmosis - Cosmology
• Etnica - Alien Protein
• Juno Reactor - Beyond The Infinite
• Man With No Name - Moment Of Truth
• MFG - The Prophecy
• Planet B.E.N. - Trippy Future Garden
• Total Eclipse - Violent Relaxation
• Transwave - Phototropic
• Transwave - Helium

1997

• Astral Projection - Dancing Galaxy
• Hallucinogen - The Lone Deranger
• Juno Reactor - Bible Of Dreams
• Koxbox - Dragon Tales
• MFG - New Kind Of World
• Miranda - Phenomena
• Pleiadians - Identified Flying Object
• Psygone - Optimystique
• X-Dream - We Created Our Own Happiness
• X-Dream - Trip To Trancesylvania

1998

• Cosmosis - Synergy
• Jaia - Blue Energy
• Man With No Name - Earth Moving The Sun
• Shakta - Silicon Trip
• The Muses Rapt - Spiritual Healing

1999

• Astral Projection - Another World
• Infected Mushroom - The Gathering
• Pleiadians - Family Of Light

2000

• Asia 2001 - Dreamland
• Talamasca - Beyond The Mask

2001

• Ra - To Sirius

2002

• Astral Projection - Amen
• Fractal Glider - Parasite

2003

• Fractal Glider - Digital Mandala
• Talamasca - Zodiac

External links

General information

• 604 mailing list - a long running mailing list for Goa trance fans.
• Austaliens.net - an in-depth analysis of Goa trance.
• Goatrance.net - a European Goatrance Resource
• Isratrance - A huge archive with information about most of Israel's Psychadelic Trance/Goa Trance artists.
• Philosomatika.com - a free Goa internet radio station.
• Psychedelic Mind Expander - extensive database of Goa and psychedelic trance artists, labels and releases.
• PsyNews.org - a long running Goa/Psytrance community website. Includes reviews of most albums.
• PureGoa.de an "oldschool" Goa and psytrance scene website from Europe with streaming audio DJ mixes and various other information related to psychedelic music
• Goa-Trance.de german psy-trance-site with psychedelic galleries, goa-music and party-dates
• Psyshop German online psy-trance store.
• Saikosounds Japanese online psy-trance store.
• Chaos Existence American online psy-trance store.

History

• A Decade of Psychedelic Trance - a synthesis on the history of Goa Trance.
• A Psykotropic Trip Through Tribedelic Transcapes - an article that explores the phenomenon of Goa trance.
• Goa StoriesAn interesting collection of articles about Goa ranging from the history of the freak scene, the phenomena of Goa Trance and the corruption of the police
• Liquid Crystal Vision - a documentary about GOA. Can be purchased or just watched online.
• What is Goa? - a history of Goa trance from psynews.org.

Parties and festivals

• BurningMan.com - the biggest pschedelic trance event in the USA.
• Goabase.com - large database of Goa parties
• GoaTranceParty.net - a database for parties and scene supporting activities
• Visionquest Tokyo- a documentry on the Japanese trance festival called The Gathering.
• Voov-Experience.com - the mother of Goa parties and scene in Europe, one of the biggest international open-air goa festivals