Review: swinging and glittery disco exhibition in Paris
« Do ya wanna funk? » Asks Sylvester and Patrick Cowley in the song of the same name. Answer: Go to Philharmonie de Paris and see « Disco. I’m coming out ». Or rather dance to it.
A more swinging and more life -affirming exhibition is difficult to find today. With photographs, art, furniture, instruments, printed matter, clothing, movies, invitation cards, record covers and not least music, the disco culture is portrayed without being preserved and sad. And of course, the duo’s song from 1982 is included in the repertoire.
The entrance to the exhibition is congenial: a nightclub -like entrance with glittery silver drapery crowned by the word disco in pink neon. Behind the cord awaits a kind of glittering fairy tale land. The scenography is brilliant. But really the history of discon begins before the label is even coined and an early thematic impact is about origin and pioneers.
The night of June 28, 1969 Storms the police gay bar Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village. On the small dance floor at the far end of the room, Dragqueens, transgender people, sex workers, gay to Fifth Dimension’s euphoric « Let the Sunshine » from the musical Hair are suddenly lit and the patrol is suddenly thundering in.
Same -sex pair dance is illegal and raids you are what. But this time the police will come later than usual. The bar is packed and now the guests get enough. Instead of quietly leaving the place, they make resistance and riots break out. The protests that last for four days will be an outlet for an damn frustration. The news media can hardly ignore the event that becomes historic and the beginning of a new phase. The LGBTQ movement grows stronger, becomes more organized, more visible and a new dance culture is born.
The following year – on Valentine’s Day on February 14 – DJ David Mancuso opens the doors to his home and creates The Loft. A private club with the motto « Love Save’s the day » where people can dance without having to fear police intervention. The apartment is filled with balloons, the sound system advanced, the attitude open and permissive, and the fruit beacon laced with LSD.
Occasionally laid the foundation to a more inclusive nightclub culture that is becoming increasingly popular. But so far not talk of disco but a dancer r’n’b.
The name tag on the music genre first emerges in 1973 and in the same vein more and more clubs in New York open: safe and permissive free zones not least for marginalized groups such as gay, African Americans and Latinos.
There are plenty of potential premises. As the traditional manufacturing industry is discontinued at an ever faster rate in the late 1960s, unemployment and crime increase. In a short time, New York turns into a city on the decis with garbage along the streets. Therefore, there is no shortage of cheap premises, but also not to creativity and energy.
The music at the new clubs Is a melting pot of soul, funk and Latin American tones, and the dance is the very core. Of course, the exhibition’s hub is also a dance floor where songs are played after playing while pictures of record covers and artists flicker by on screens.
During my visit, a young guy releases to « Soul Makossa » with the Cameroonian saxophonist Manu Dibango, who used to be played at just the loft. The song became one of many who is first introduced on the club’s dance floor and then took the step over to the radio. Another song that reaches the first place on leaderboards in the western world is George McCrae’s « Rock Your Baby » from 1974.
DJ’s thus plays an important role in disco music’s broad impact. And instead of playing one song at a time, they slide into each other so that the dance does not need to be interrupted. The purpose is to egg, light and keep the dance floor going.
In the museum’s tablet there are a wide range of photographs from clubs such as The Gallery and Paradise Garage that steam with sweat. The atmosphere signals excesses, community, hedonism and liberation.
But here are also pictures from the sunny and fabulously beautiful Fire Island: a long narrow sandbank to Ö just outside New York that has long been known as holiday idyll and gay -friendly destination. New songs and concepts are tested on the island before reaching the town.
At least as raised as the clubs DJs are the disco. They have an obvious place at the exhibition: female artists such as Donna Summer, Candi Station and Gloria Gaynor whose voices were shaped by soul, jazz and gospel. Wearing extravagant clothes and high heels become the symbols of liberation, glamor, energy and power. The songs’ strengthening messages about resistance, freedom and self -respect thumps tactically into the breasts of many.
The exhibition is far more than a nostalgia. Clearly, Philharmonie de Paris shows that disco is political music and the movement subversive: anti -racist, feminist, inclusive and queer.
Just as in many museums today, there are stations with screens and headphones where visitors can stop for in -depth and premium with interviews and films. But rarely have the in -depth courses engaged as here. People swing, sing and stomp while listening to songs, taking part in Discon’s musical roots, the captivating rhythm, the base and all the different instruments that also show up on podiums and in booths.
Likewise, it is told about the important role of producers as composers and artistic leaders: an effort that has often ended up in the shadow of the disco star.
The genre continues to develops musically during the 1970s. Giorgio Moroders and Donna Summer’s futuristic « I feel love » is a groundbreaking example from 1977 where electronic synths replace living instruments such as strings and blows. But the same year, the movie Saturday Night Live also premieres John Travolta in the lead role, and an easy -to -digest and trivial picture of the nightclub culture reaches a mass audience.
At that point, the top charts flood by discohits and the genre is more and more dismissed as commercial, superficial and happy. In parallel, a wide -legged hate campaign with ill -hidden racist and homophobic elements arises that culminates one summer day 1979: « Disco demolition night ». At half -time during a baseball match at Arenan Comiskey Park in Chicago, thousands of disco discs gathered on the pitch for smoking shards while the audience scans « disco sucks ».
In the exhibition, not much is arranged about the bizarre campaign that floors the overheated disco scene. Why ruin the mood? On the other hand, the final death knell that arrives with the AIDSepidemic is noticed in the early 1980s, when, above all, gay men die. One by one by one. The life -affirming, rebellious and murky disco ends in death and tragedy.
But the exhibition does not end there. From the ashes is born something new.
The inheritance is propagated and lives on in the next generation of dance music. At clubs in New York and Chicago brushed the dust away from the shoulders, the volume is raised and the first dance steps are taken against what will be called house and garage. At Philharmonie de Paris, they are also clearly noticed disco -inspired, more contemporary artists and bands, such as Madonna and Daft Punk.
When I leave the vibrant exhibition with a big smile and step out in the sun, the young guy still stands and dances: « Don’t stop’til you get enough ».
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