The power of trance music: what is so addicting about it?

Music is the most present art form in modern society, far ahead in front of photography, dancing, painting, and the hundreds of different types of creative activities there is. It also is the most popular. Actually, an astonishing 97% of the world’s population enjoy listening to music, in one style or another. It is so engrained in our lives that we have created a medical condition called “musical anhedonia” to categorize the ones that are not able to appreciate it, people for whom listening to music is halfway between boring and distracting as if it was a disease. Yet, there is no medical terms for people who don’t like dancing, painting, etc. Truth is, in a world where we are more and more disconnected, songs and melodies are one of the main way we can create friendships, deepen bonds and even fall in love.

Like it or not, music is at the core of our culture. The most interesting thing about music is surely its variety. “Every Noise at Once” listed over 2300 different genre of music as of November 2018, what this means is that if you were to listen to one song of every different genre it would take you 5 days! If most humans enjoy music, we all have our own preferences, what we like and dislike. It’s our culture, our influences, our experiences that dictate our tastes, define what resonate with us, what brings us joy, happiness, chills, and so on. I’ve always been a fan of electronic music myself, and it all started about 20 years ago. Over time, I’ve navigated into a lot of different kinds of electro until I found the one that deeply resonated with me and who I am.

As far as I can remember, my love for electronic melodies started when I was 10. That’s when I got hooked up to the general dancefloor sound coming from the French radio station “Fun Radio”. I was really into that sound which was pretty mainstream, I was extremely familiar with all the songs playing on the radio, all the time. At 22 I moved to the United States and discovered a new scenery, less mainstream but still pretty popular. Moving to the US and pushing away the most important components of my life in order to grow was a really difficult experience. Lack of markers in a new culture pushed me in uncomfortable territory where I felt trapped, left with loneliness for only companion. Music was the place I rushed to find comfort, support and try to pick myself up. I decided to use this as an opportunity to go see in concerts and music festivals all these deejays whom, over the years, brought me these intense and repeated feelings of joy. Quickly it expended into a need to see all the biggest names in electronic music, and that’s how my journey really started.

My first big music festival was in 2012, I went with a group of friends at the famous Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas, over 300 000 people attended the 3 days festival. It was composed of 6 stages and like a lot of new comers to this kind of events I mostly spent our time on the main stage. At one point, I followed a friend to a smaller stage, he really was into trance music and wanted to see some of the big artists for this genre. I don’t recall who was playing but what I clearly remember is that I really hated it. I could not find the music exciting or entertaining. This was not my music, not my deejays, not my mood. Looking back at this experience, I was simply not ready but more on this later.

A year went by and I kept going to more and more shows, still listening to the same kind of Electro-House, high intensity, energy music. At this stage, my life is not a lot better, I still feel pretty empty when I’m not dancing in a club, concert or a festival. It’s March 2013 and this is my first time in Miami, this time it’s for the 15th edition of Ultra Music! It’s a 3 days festival and this time I’m pretty much by myself. After 2 days of partying I was exhausted but still extremely excited, the energy and the atmosphere are completely unbelievable. After spending most of the time on the main stage it was time to head to another one to go check out Armin Van Buuren. I’ve been wanted to see him for a long time, he was (and still is for some people) considered as the biggest deejay in the world. Alongside Tiësto, he completely dominated the industry in the late 90’s and 2000’s. At the time, I had no idea what his music and his style was about, I simply wanted to make my own opinion and satisfy my curiosity. That’s when the magic happened. That day he began his set when the sunset started, under a megastructure shaped like an enormous oval half dome. He played for an hour and a half. Never before in my life I’ve felt these emotions going through my body as I was dancing and listening to the music. To this day, I’m still unable to rationally explain what happen: I wasn’t particularly drunk, I wasn’t completely exhausted or out of my mind. It was the beats, the melodies, the lyrics. It was the way the entire set was put together; every song was tuned to idyllically vibrate with the following ones in pure harmony. That music had something special, almost out of this world. It was able to transport me further away than any other kind did before. It was deep, it was underground, transparent. That did it for me. I thought it was impossible but that was the moment I fell in love with trance music. I’ll never forget these feelings, I’ll never forget that moment.

Shortly after that I started to listen to Armin’s music, and then a little bit of trance here and there. The more I listened to it the more I enjoyed it. The sound was not boring to my ears anymore, I was able to understand it, I was able to feel it. Quickly, it became the only thing I would listen to, at any time of day or night, and this is still true now more than ever. To be honest, I still enjoy other genres of electronic music but definitely not as much as I’m into trance and its sub-genres. Trance is a very profound type of music which combines repeating melodic phases and a musical form that distinctly builds emotions throughout different superposed layers. It is considered one of the most uplifting, beautiful and spiritual types of sound available today. It is special in a sense that it takes some practice to be able to understand how the different layers resonate together and play with each other to create these gorgeous melodies. Every sound, every beat has its importance and they all interact with one another making the musical pieces extremely deep and profound. This kind of music makes use of different parts of the brain which are not necessarily connected. The synchronization between neurons in the different zones of the brain is essential to fully process the multitude of sounds and being able to understand the music. Some people are born with the proper connections, other like myself acquire them through their experiences. In a sense, listening to Armin’s set for me that day linked up my synapses together to create a mental bridge I could use to reach the trance kingdom. That happen to me, but also to so many people over his 20 years of careers and this all around the world. This is one of the reasons why he is considered as one of the biggest music artists. I don’t know what will happen in the future, my tastes will probably evolve and evolve again but I’m sure trance will be part of me forever. I’ve espoused its philosophies, embraced its healthy lifestyle. It really helped me found the balance I needed in my life, and for that I’ll be forever grateful.

What goes around comes around. I would like to conclude this essay with what might be an even better story: Dreamstate 2018, Los Angeles — a pure trance festival taking place over 2 days. I went there with a couples of friend and here’s what happened.

Gaia just finished playing one of the most incredible set I’ve heard in a long time. One hour of pure genius. I have seen many, many deejays, been to many, many shows, but very few sets I’ve seen were able to reach that level of purity. The entire hour was put together with something close to perfection. Few minutes passed by and the next deejays started playing, it was the moment that 3 of us decided to take a small strategic bathroom break. The intensity was going down a bit and the night was still pretty young. I lead the way to get out of the crowd which was still into the music. I clearly remember that feeling, like if it was yesterday. I was extremely satisfied, completely fulfilled; in plenitude. On my face, an enormous smile, completely engraved. This was exactly the reason why I came to the show, experiencing these moments where music transports you to a higher ground.

Just after escaping the crowd, moving toward the bathrooms I decided to stop and throw a glance around. I wanted to memorize this moment and appreciate the beauty emanating from the crowd. Everybody was dancing and screaming loud, they were just there to listen to the music, all of them in total harmony. Suddenly, I made eye contact with an older man. Unconsciously, as I was looking at him, I smiled even more. He then smiled back at me, and as I was turning my head away to look toward where we were originally headed, he said “Yes you know it!”. Immediately, I stopped walking. Something was odd. That voice sounded really familiar. I looked back at him a bit confused and he repeated these four words: “Yes you know it!”. At the exact moment, I realized I knew this person and who it was. Literally, time stopped. Unconsciously, my first reaction was to put my hand in my pocket to grab my phone. I absolutely had to immortalize this moment. I looked at him in the eyes and said: “oh my god I can’t believe it”. Very quickly I turn my head around and called my friend, I had to share this with them, then I turned my ahead toward him again. Phone in my hand I immediately asked him “can I take a picture?!”. Very quietly he said, “no pictures” and repeated “no pictures”. I got this, taking a picture here, right now with us would mean that he wouldn’t have been able to wander around anymore as thousands of fans would have rushed into him.

A second later my friends finally are around me, I can tell they haven’t realized, yet. I turned around and put my hand on this not so stranger’s shoulder and I whispered to them “guys, look who that is”. A second goes by, they stayed silent and seemed really confused. Then my friend Elean suddenly realized. Exactly like my first reaction her first reflex was asking for a picture as well which at this point he repeated “no pictures please”. I jumped on the opportunity and asked him for a hug, in the process I thanked him for the influence he indirectly had in my life and told him how his music changed my life. I just could believe it. I then took a step back so my friend could also interact with him and pretty quickly after that he walked away and moved on.

We did not try to hold him back nor to chase him down. I wanted other people to experience what we just experienced. We stayed there a few seconds, in shock and a bit disoriented, trying to process all just what happened. I never thought I would ever had the opportunity to meet the king of trance in person and even less in this context. I’ve replayed that scene times and times and times in my head, like a movie. Every single time it gave me shivers, up and down my spine. After a while it hit me. If you only had few seconds to spend with someone would you rather take a picture or be in the moment and exchange feelings and emotions? In today’s world, it’s easy to lose your train of thought and become spectator of your own life, but really remember life has so much more to offer from what we can see from a picture or a movie.