The return of music from the 70s that makes all generations dance

In the early 1970s, a new rhythm smiled on the United States. Mixture of pop, funk, soul music and seasoned with sound effects from electronics, it is initially the work of Disc-Jockeys. The disk industry smells the right blow, because this beat (pulsation) Unpublished is mainly characteristic of its rapid tempo: 120 beats per minute (twice as fast as the human heart).

He advances accompanied by a profusion of flashy colors on the record pockets, the kitsch clothes of the artists and the saturated decor of glitter of the dance tracks.

A sound of counter-culture and civil rights

Disco, which takes its name from the French word nightclub, quickly becomes the soundtrack of the followers of the counter-culture and federates the movements for civil rights, for homosexual pride and against the Vietnam War. This wave is quick to cross the Atlantic and find a favorable soil in France. Hervé Herpe remembers: “I was 17 years old in 1977 and I was immediately seduced by the catchy tempo. »»

For the love of the disco, the sixty-something man held a record store in Brive-la-Gaillarde (Corrèze) for over twenty years … of this privileged position, he was able to observe the evolution of this musical genre. “The success of the film Saturday night fever (by John Badham, released in 1977), with the swaying of John Travolta, came to confirm to me that I was in the right vein, ”he savor. Two years later, heady disco letters dismissed by the French group Ottawan in the tube of the same name have finished revolutionizing the way of partying.

After that, the disco has a blow of soft. Claude Lemaire, muscial blogger and contributor to PMA Magazine (“The power of music and audio”), diagnostic: “At that time, he is often denigrated for his simple and repetitive words. “” Musical creativity has run out of steam. In the mid -1980s, disco even became cheesy, ”added Hervé Herpe. And the arrival of AIDS will party at half mast for a few years.

An irresistible tempo

First start in the early 1990s. Amber Larsen was 15 years old. She lives in Paris and frequents dance places for young people, where the fire of the disco years is maintained. “From Danish father and Martinican mother, this musical genre first attracted me because it symbolized mixing. Since then, she has remained attached to the party. Today, at 49, this hypnotherapist lives in Vierzon (dear) with his companion Daniel who, older, did not have the heart of knowing disco fever in his youth. “He has now joined, conquered by the beat Who allows you to dance all the time, ”she says.

Both skim the bars to Karaoke and themed evenings dedicated to disco in Berry. Amber and Daniel went to Paris in January -“a moment of bliss and joy,” she recalls -to attend, Salle Pleyel, in Mania, The Abba Tribute, Show that has been running since 2001 around the world by retracing the journey of the Swedish legendary group.

Hervé Herpe has not stopped dancing since the 1980s. “First, because I have always been an unconditional, and also because, episodically, discographic success reminded the defenders of the disco that they were wrong to bury it too quickly. »»

He quotes for example the single Believe, Released by the artist dear in 1998 and who has all the codes of the disco, or, in the early 2000s, the tubes of the French electronic music group, Grand Popo Football Club, composed of Ariel Wizman and Nicolas Errera.

Young people are inspired by disco for new creations

It was following these successes that from 2010 arises the third Renaissance of Disco. The broadcasting supports have changed. No more discs, cassettes and CDs. Digital platforms and MP3 and MP4 formats authorize individual or small committee listening. Abandoning its provocative, claiming and flashy side to keep only its festive dimension and using the envy the multiple possibilities offered by digital and electronics, the young generations create new sounds inspired by disco … and bring it back to life.

“These music from the 1970s are a gold mine,” says Kris, 32. His father, Christmas Ekwabi, now deceased, has been for years the bass player of Manu Dibango, composer of one of the precursors of disco, Soul Makossa, A mixture of American rhythms and African sounds. In the wake of Christmas, Kris is an amateur dj. From his mixing table and his computer, he is inspired by old disco and funk hits to offer arrangements that correspond to the musical tastes of today’s young people. Marion, 28, English teacher, rocked by her parents to the successes of Dalida’s disco period, used Shakespeare’s language to love her students.

A recurring theme of holidays in small municipalities

But it is above all the attraction for all that is vintage (vintage) which pushes many young people to go “getting their own” during nightclub evenings or with friends. On these occasions, they find the songs on which their parents were able to dance, disco classics from the years 1970-1980 “which, like good wine, have aged with elegance”, according to the expression of Claude Lemaire. “Admittedly, the context of demands of the 1970s is no longer there. But the rhythm has remained, ”adds Hervé Herpe, now responsible for the organization of shows in the municipality of Guéret (Creuse).

He explains why the disco themed festivals are on the rise in the small municipalities of France: “It is not necessary to organize one: it is enough for a small sound system, a few fluorescent lanterns and faceted balls, a DJ and a playlist of tunes that almost everyone knows – including those who hated disco in the 1970s – and which are now part of our common culture. To dance on these music, nothing easier. Just move as you can. Thus, during these rallies which sometimes have small carnival tunes, nobody feels excluded … as in the good old days of discomania.