RAVE NOTES: IF NIETZSCHE WAS A DJ
By Jesenko Tesan and Aleksandar Zobec
If Nietzsche (1844 – 1900) was a DJ what kind of sounds would he be putting into his sets: Apollonian or Dionysian? Would Nietzsche’s music shine with the reason, harmony, as associated with the-athletic-golden-hair-curled the God of Light—Apollo?, or would his DJ-sets behind the turntables create unique sounds on the stage with the ecstatic energy constantly evolving into chaos, trance, and eternal repetitions; in short: Dionysius—the God of messy hair, and unchecked reason? When bringing Nietzsche into this almost mathematical binary equation we dare to say that there is no shortest answer to this dilemma. However, in the context of this meditation it would be no exaggeration to argue that Dionysian element would be predominant in Nietzsche’s sets though with the right number of Apollonian elements; therefore: contra-binary logic.
Therefore, in order to elaborate on the psytrance and rave music, above all as an experience/event, we offer a philosophical mediation or why we think Nietzsche’s music would have a clear message: At once a delicious-destruction-and-creation. Before we get into the nuts-and-bolts of these meditations let us begin with a brief introduction on why and how did we choose to meditate on the transcendent music or what is the reason behind bringing the philosophy, and even anthropology and sociology, into the psytrance and rave music? Following that we shall introduce why Nietzsche is important for the understanding of trance music and finally offer summary.
In these meditations the term “transcendent” is extracted from Immanuel Kant’s first critique referring to that which is beyond phenomenal world or that which can only perhaps be sensed via a transcendental exposition or in our case: the (rave and psytrance) music. In that sense, we use Nietzsche’s thoughts to drive over and beyond the world of shadows. We argue that the very term transcendental, in this context, refers to a specific technology (artistry by which something was destroyed whilst something new is crafted). Indeed, the terms – “technology” and “transcendent” – possess a powerful crafting aspect in itself. They are part of specific experiences associated with the sound(s) for the purposes of tuning-the-self-into-that-a-priori-state where the excess via sound unveils itself in its full divine glory thus take precedent – music – over the obsolete words, or as Metallica would have it “exit light, enter night.” Thus, music the God(s).
The rite of passage
The main dynamo of these meditations lies in the very question: how would Nietzsche, or his soul-mate(s), react to the situation that it was he, not Alice, who fell into the rabbit hole – or as some call it ‘Festiland’[1] – and to his astonishment met the Red Queen who would say to him, to paraphrase Red Queen, my dear you must run (dance) as fast as you can just to find out that you are in one place? Probably Nietzsche’s reaction would be via question: where am I? Dear Nietzsche, you are above the wall or in the event of psytrance rite-of-passage! The event is not a state of hypnotic delusion. It is a real space in this time. An event where the ceremony of individual initiation takes place under the careful guidance of the Master of Ceremony: the DJ. It is there where our mediations originated few years ago. So, Nietzsche are you ready?
[1] Festiland: places where rave and trance festivals are taking place.
Many would argue that in the Festilands all one can experience is a negative excess not wordy elaborating it, not to mention spending the time and writing about it. We disagree with those approaches as we think that they are incomplete and misguided. They miss the point of the transcendental surplus that is palpable within oneself and as a part of magic ceremonies associated with the constant rise of “communitas” to tap into Victor Turner’s vocabular: “Liminality and Communitas.”
Retrospectively, we visited several festivals, indoors and outdoors, perhaps and indeed to experience the experience of Alice in Wonder Land, but also to question what is that that is so interesting in the rave and psytrance music? Is it just the specific music, if music what voice is there or what is that that is magical in that sound? Is it the technology, if yes what kind of technology? How could human all too human recognise that what it is— the sound of the massive excess when standing before and feeling it within us? Wouldn’t be a terrifying experience? —an almost tragically voluptuous experience? How would we capture and describe that surplus of that deep sorrow and yet a joyful Beauty at once? Can words speak about it? – Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) would say No: remain silent! —yet we dare to disagree. We argue that the excess manifests itself in this phenomenological world as part of the rite of passage, which could be experienced not as silentium ad infitum, but rather a loud sublime paradox of surplus for-all-now-and-here.
It all happened like this: In our festive state we would approach people and hand a piece of paper or a notebook to write or pencil draw what they thought or how they see the excess of music in that very instance/moment (see stickers in different language). We ask people only one thing: to capture the kinesis, movement of the music in a single note or picture. What we gathered were different responses. Some were either in the form of drawings while others were in the forms of Japanese haiku poems (see some of the drawings). In unison they all represented an experience and thus a moment of a joy.
After studying the drawings, texts and conversations we had with hundreds of people of different ages and backgrounds, we concluded that this experience must be put into the form of meditations. From socio-anthropological point of view, it appeared that there is an unusual rite-of-passage happening on the floor. Therefore, we asked ourselves one night while basking in the moonlight glittering in the Danube river why don’t we do something about this unique almost DaDa experience? That very question produced the moment in which, in 2018 in Serbia during the Elysium Island Festival, we used our findings to create a Platonic symposium/workshop in the middle of the trance music festival in order to publicly share our thoughts.
The liminal Island
The journey began in the summer of 2017 when we first attended Elysium Island festival in Serbia. These festivals are not unique to Serbia. There are happening all over the globe. We argue that these festivals represent a large-scale positive liminality that is a complex rite of passage. For example, the deep rhythm of the music in the forest, the mindful tranquillity, the warm acceptance of the stranger (initiatds) and the out of body experience without the word spoken represent a specific transcend communication within the community. Almost like inverted liturgy: DaDa par excellence. The music is the ritual while the DJ represents the master of the ceremony via unverbal communication s/he gears the rite towards it. In other words, it is music and the DJ no-worldly communication that transcend. The significance is that the music/rhythm is the scene/media of the communal complex contemplation associated with the large-scale liminality.
It is from witnessing that large scale rite of passage that came an idea of sharing our thoughts with the future present selves, so we have prepared a session where we wanted to discuss our previous island experience, our view towards the subtle rituals behind the rite of passage hidden behind the psychedelic and transcendental experiences, the ridiculed stereotypes and personas an outsider perceives to exist within the psychedelic scene. We scheduled the workshop for our second day at the island, giving us enough time to settle in and let go of all the society-imposed constraints that prevent our spirit to wonder freely within the ecology of mind as Gregory Bateson would call it.
The main reason why we chose to hold the workshop where we did is due to the very name of the ‘thing’ as Plato would argue. Namely, the name of the festival is “Elysium Island Festival”, which happens every year on a tiny island on Danube several kilometres from Novi Sad or two hours from Belgrade (Serbia). We argue that Elysium Island in Serbia is directly related and hence represents an extension, not a mime or copy, of the ancient Greek Eleusian Mysteries thence it can be understood as an unverbal ritual over the millennia. During the Elysium Island Festival, and in particular our symposium, was the place where we unveiled the Apollonian elements and the Dionysian jolly character asking a benign question: If Friedrich Nietzsche was a DJ what kind of sound would he be putting into his sets: Apollonian or Dionysian?
Limen
At the late afternoon, coinciding with the most colourful and dazzling sunset one can see, chill stage sets the stage for our liminality and ritual to begin. The growling liminal rhythm appears in the deep, calling the free to join, rejoice and transcend through movement. Even the river was attuned to the sounds. One has two options, to float among the down tempo, psy-chill melody and natural percussion sounds or to get lost in the dripping, mind-twisting loops of technosis forest and dark psy induced in both body and spirit. Bonfire is sporadically regulated by some wonderer, fighting of the Godzilla-mosquitoes and providing comfort to the drifting thoughts. Let the liminality begin.
We stepped from the boat onto the island. The first bare foot steps made connection to the earth and liminality begins. The winds of the northern psy blow strong. The call for the shamanic dances to be performed on the dance floor has been heard. Tingling sounds makes the fingers conjure magic moves, fluently gliding through the air, performing aerobic chants. Once the flow of liminality takes hold of you, the focus on the predominant bass repetition diminishes, and the oscillatory electronic wave sound float the mind. Naturally, we mingled with the community, identifying equal souls and sharing peace. Welcoming sense of each moment spent in random and brilliant encounters with strangers leave stories for reminiscing about our time at the island. Dionysian beat is present.
The session, symposium in true Platonic sense or the workshop as we might call it, gathered diverse sort of people. The symposium happened in the middle state of liminality; namely, the limen. The most dangerous state in liminality. It is dangerous as it is situated in the betwixt and between two opposing poles: severing past and approaching new. Engaging eyes gave image to the juxtaposition created by our presentation. In our open air like ancient Greek Theatre the symposium raised several questions regarding the importance of preserving the rites of passage in particular this one. It was only at and during the symposium that people use spoken language rather than drawing and symbols to express the kinesis.
We wanted to know whether the solo medium (Master) of trance music, the very DJ, or the music per se as the media is the dynamo towards transcendence? However, we very shortly realised that our question is wrong question as it postulated binary effect and affect. We realised that binary in liminality is not existing entity. We had to avoid binary approach or “yes” or “no” dichotomies. The only other option was non-binary or “cybernetic” approach, which is part of other consciousness or higher consciousness, which posed a problem for the rational, “logical,” thought. Yet as we are in the middle of liminality we realised that only way out of it would be to engage into triadic or cybernetic relationships within this liminal communication.
In other words, it is wrong to see rite of passage as binary. Festilands enter different state of consciousness. In this non-binary state of consciousness, one does not a priori, a la Kant, methodise the future. One as would Nietzsche argue lives the moment via art. Thence question To-Be-Or-Not-To-Be evaporates down the rabbit hole. The moment we are after is triadic or multiple meta-communication in which the master of the ceremony is the dynamo of enchanting sound produced by the DJ. It is enchanting[1] or magical out of which the magic of art in the form of the surplus, Dionysius, steps forward announcing the cut in the binary – Apollonian – thinking.
[1] In this work the concept of magic or “enchanting” or even better “disenchantment” (Entzauberung) is used in the same sense when Max Weber is describing the loss of thereof due to the excessive and mechanistic rationalisation associated with the binary and hyper rational thinking.
The idea is in the form and as the part of the repetitive forces of trance music. It is triggered, not as many would argue via excessive psychedelic drugs, but as a specific non-verbal-ecstatic-experience chasing and constantly decoding the Medium’s (DJ) personalised message(s) in vivo braking the rational thought. The ceremony is like Mozart’s Opera The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte) in which one is trying to binary understand the medium thence the blissful expression of the surplus associated with the multiple escapes rational thought.
Enter Nietzsche
The music is very bombastic. Its rhythm borders with the grotesque, but its strength foments kenosis through the gentle rite-of-passage. Whipped out by the DJ’s sounds the very essence of music-excess reviles itself in the form of the Will-To-Sound. In this participatory mechanism, or shall we say technology, the very will becomes as undeniable Is, or as the essential part of the repetitive heart-like-beat provoking the state of sublime bliss or that what wills-to-live. Thus, the mysterious excess is in the form of kenosis from within the will. This surplus is thus felt, accepted and leading to the trans experience of each initiands under the careful guidance of DJ. This is indeed the rite of passage in which those who want it do willingly experience it. The experience of the excess as-the-will-to-sound demanding of the medium a strong tragic yet jolly leadership position: Nietzschean par excellence caesura through the binary systems cuts into the triadic non-binary.
It will thus come as no surprise to the readership to learn that Nietzsche would choose two – binary – brothers – Dionysius and Apollo – whose world-views are fundamentally different though come from the same father to create the multiple psytrance music. Accordingly, rave and psytrance music represents Dionysius (see Bonaventura’s watercolour painting). It revolts against binary. It is pregnant with life and festivities. Yet it is also like Apollo. It is rational, distinct and structural (particularly in the context of its repetition), or in Nietzsche’s words apropos Apollonian and Dionysian: “If someone were to transform Beethoven’s Ode to Joy into a painting and not restrain his imagination when millions of people sink dramatically into the dust, then we could come close to the Dionysian. […] Singing and dancing, man expresses himself as a member of a higher unity. He has forgotten how to walk and talk and is on the verge of flying up into the air as he dances” (The Birth of Tragedy: 2)—par excellence transcendental experience.
In that sense it would be wrong to argue that Nietzsche would not like trance music. Nietzsche indeed would enjoy and possibly produce the best DJ-sets precisely because he refused to solo engage in the “rational” binary dichotomy and hence completely separate those two brothers. Just like Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860), Nietzsche understood that music, and art in general, are liminal entities. Once art – music in particular – conceptualised as non-binary, it offers a passage over the gory wall into the realm of transcendental. Kant stays behind.
The multiple: Apollonian and Dionysian
As the title of our meditation hints, we have shown that Nietzsche’s DJ-sets would encompass both Apollonian and Dionysian elements and hence his response to trance music probably would have been very positive but non-binary. In his major works The Birth of Tragedy from the Spirit of Music, Thus Spoke Zarathustra and Beyond Good and Evil, Nietzsche as philosopher, and in this context as a DJ, declares the war to pessimism and nihilism of young (intoxicated) European generations. Reading through his meditations our meditation concurs upon his will-to-power as an antidote to any new form(s) of nihilism. The reason for such optimism lies in the very fact of Nietzsche’s character though most of the time misunderstood by the many to be nihilistic, if any it would be DaDa.
In addition, and from etymological point of view in some Slavic language(s) Nietzsche’s last name (written in an imperative form as Niče/Ниче!) it represents something that is voluptuous, growing, living and hence his kinetic character. Trance music is thus above all a Dionysian loud and growing, but also socio-philosophical Apollonian response to the need to avert what Nietzsche saw as the pathological and tragic seed(s) of nihilism rooted in the binary-thinking-world.
Finally, the main conclusion of this meditation is that transcendental music is contra binary logic. It revolts with all its might against and/or, yes/no binary logic. It forces one to engage into multiplicity of liminality and hence multiple co-existence within self and others including ecology. When Nietzsche in The Birth of Tragedy says, to paraphrase, that in the nature both Apollonian and Dionysian elements appear but, are rarely triggered by human, we meditate that if Nietzsche had known the psytrance music, he would probably agree that it is through the multiple, that is, non-binary meta-communication the world of Alice’s shadows is not rave but happening. Thus, one may say that Zarathustra may have whispered in Nietzsche’s ear following music: exit binary, enter multiple and say-it-through-dance-and-music, if you can.
© 2021 Jesenko Tesan
