Roots of the Music and Dance

In the opening article it was observed that disco music is of recent popularity. But authorities say that its origins can be traced to earlier times. In a September 1977 feature article, “Evolution of Disco Music,” Discoworld says:

“What holds it all together, what makes it Disco music, in fact, is the beat.

“And the Disco beat, to the uninformed, did not begin one fine morning in 1965 . . . nor even when Van McCoy first dented the charts a decade later with his version of ‘The Hustle.’ That beat—the basis of Disco music—is Africa talking.

“Talk about roots. When you go to a Disco today, you are basically participating in a 1977 version of ceremonies that were going on eons ago on the West Coast of Africa. Certainly, Disco music has been spruced up with the latest technological geegaws such as twenty-four track recordings, synthesizers, eardrum-busting amplification, overlayed strings and cooing vocals. But strip away all those accessories and you’re grooving on the same beat that no doubt was moving the ancestors of Kunta Kinte.”

Does having an ancient African origin in itself make disco music objectionable? Obviously not, no more than if the music had an ancient Asian, European or American origin. What does bear on the matter, however, is the purpose of the ancient music. What kind of dances were performed with it?

Disco literature has commented on those ancient dances, and their purpose. In fact, the wild abandon of those ancient dancers is held up for modern disco dancers to imitate; they are urged to cast off the inhibitions that they may have. Discoworld of May 1977 says:

“The natives danced to exorcise devil-demons and evil spirits from their frenzied bodies and to coax Mother Earth to yield new crops. In spring they danced during ‘fertility rites’ so women would grow healthy children to perpetuate the species. They danced to celebrate new life and even to prepare for death. But no matter what the exact purpose of their dancing was, all dance was really a display of worship of their gods, worship that either paid homage to the gods; sought the gods’ good will; or tried to allay the gods’ wrath . . . The energy often became so intense that a young virgin girl or lamb would be sacrificed in the hopes that the blood spilled would appease the gods.”

Then, in advice to the modern disco dancer, this magazine article goes on to say: “It’s just a matter of letting yourself go. You must liberate your mind first; then your body will follow. When I dance I almost astral project and leave my body.”

Another issue of Discoworld also draws attention to disco’s roots “among Voodoo worshipers, primitive tribesmen, the Brazilian Macumba, and the Kalahari Bushmen,” and then advises: “Your body is a complex of energy forces blending into one another and connected to even larger cosmic energy forces. This is how the ancients saw it and how we’re beginning to relearn this. Try to become aware of every sensation while you dance until you gradually lose awareness, and blend with your surroundings.”

Do disco dancers heed this type of advice? Do they commonly let go in wild abandon? Note what the new book Disco Fever says: “With discotheques came disco dancing—a form of dance totally divorced from the discipline of the Hustle, yet completely at home with it on the dance floor. . . . Disco dancing—whether it is called free-styling or free-form—is doing-your-own-thing dancing.” Yes, it is an uninhibited, anything-goes style of dancing.

There can be considerable variety from one disco to another, for as Discothekin magazine says: “Disco is simply music and dance, and can be shaped into any form desired. People dictate the success of a club, and if the owner/manager is astute he can determine his clientele merely by defining, via the music, the atmosphere he desires to create—be it the Seventies, the Forties or even the Gay Nineties.”

There are even kiddie discos for children; others are designed particularly with their grandparents in mind. Regarding persons who are a little older, the Detroit Free Press observes: “It hasn’t been hard updating their lindy steps into the hustle and their fox trots into the foxy trot at subdued disco-supper lounges.”

Some places are classified as “restaurant-discos.” They may be restaurants during the earlier evening hours. But later at night they serve as discotheques. This enables the restaurateur to generate additional receipts during hours in which his restaurant would normally be closed. In Europe, most discos are places where one can dine and drink as well as dance.

So not all discos are the same; the name can be attached to quite differing kinds of places. But what is the essence—the very substance or soul—of disco? What life-style does it promote? How is this reflected in its music, its dancing, its dress, and so forth?

Disco—What It’s All About

Kitty Hanson, who has researched and written extensively on the subject, says of a modern disco: “Under the glittering canopy of lights, the floor seemed to heave with the pounding of feet, and the air began to crackle with sheer physical energy. Then the room exploded. Cries and calls and a thousand wildly waving arms filled the air as the music virtually lifted the dancers off their feet and off the floor. It was a simmering, sizzling moment of pure primitive emotion. It was the essence of the disco experience.”

What is this “pure primitive emotion”—the essence of the disco experience—that is elicited from dancers? Show Business, a professional trade journal, gives us an idea in its article “A Dynamic Decade of Disco,” saying:

“An aura of acceptance surrounds the disco trend . . . Antiquated sexual mores, which were successfully battled during the sixties, have yielded to a new sexual freedom in which people deal with their desires honestly and participate without guilt.

“Gays are dancing side-by-side with straights, and neither could care less. It is this multi-faceted freedom that constitutes the soul of the disco, and its heart is the pulsating disco beat.”

Free, liberated sexual expression—abandonment of restraints—that is the essence, the soul, of disco. Surely this is reminiscent of ancient fertility dances where worshipers broke loose in frenzied, passion-arousing movements that may well have culminated with participants engaging in sexual intercourse so as to coax “Mother Earth” to yield new crops.

True, not all discos necessarily encourage the casting off of inhibitions, but disco is identified with such a ‘sexually-freed’ life-style. “What differentiates discomania from most of its predecessors is its overt tendency to spill over into orgy,” explains Esquire magazine. “All disco is implicitly orgy . . . By offering the instant and total gratification of all sexual desires in an atmosphere of intense imaginative excitement, the disco-inspired orgy promotes the dawning of an exalted state of consciousness, of literal exstasis, or standing outside the body.”

Emphasis on Self

Some may think of disco particularly as a disciplined form of dance featuring the Hustle, and for some it may be that. Yet this really is not what disco is all about. Rather, the attention of dancers is generally focused not so much on dancing with someone else, but on doing one’s own thing—‘getting down’—as the saying is. The scene is one of sexual exhibitionism.

This self-indulgent thrust of the disco culture has been observed, and some thought-provoking comments have been made. Note the editorial “Disco, Narcissism & Society” in the New York Daily News of March 19, 1978:

“Separated by walls of deafening music and swept up in a frenzy of bright lights, dancers do their own thing seldom touching, never looking at each other, or even speaking. It’s a lot like standing in front of a mirror shouting, ‘me, me, me, me . . . ’ endlessly.

“This pure self-indulgence reflects a dangerously deep-rooted philosophy in our society. It preaches that anything an individual feels like doing is 100% right—no matter how it affects anyone else.

“The attitude shows up in our soaring divorce rate, our legions of broken families and in countless books and movements keyed to self-gratification and self-esteem.

“There is too little room for love in the philosophy that permeates the disco world. And that is a pity, for those who have forgotten—or never known—the joys of giving and sharing are missing the richest part of life.”

The Esquire article of June 20, 1978, has a similar thrust, being entitled “The Disco Style: Love Thyself.” “That disco has been built on a revival of ‘touch dancing’ or that it is focused on a step called the Latin Hustle,” it says, “is either wishful thinking by instructors at the Arthur Murray schools or just bad women’s page journalism. The truth is that today’s hip disco dancer is into the kind of one-man show that John Travolta puts on in the most exciting sequence of Saturday Night Fever.”

Music, Dress and Drugs

As its popularity grows, there are few people who are not familiar with the sound of disco music. Many well-known songs of earlier decades have been blended with the pulsating beat of disco. As they get used to these tunes, even some older persons who liked the originals find enjoyment in listening to the updated versions. But again, what is often a dominant thrust of disco music?

Reporting on one of the popular disco groups, Discoworld says: “On ‘Baby I’m On Fire,’ from their current album, ‘Arabian Nights,’ the three women pant and purr ‘Oooh, I’m on fire.’ A phallic saxophone enters, turning the song into a fabulous soundtrack for a Times Square peep show.” Then the magazine adds: “The sex-charged style of the Ritchie Family falls within the sphere of the main thrust of today’s disco music, which is to celebrate pleasure.”

Disco’s blatant exploitation of sex, including attempts to arouse listeners sexually, was also noted in Time magazine. Its article “Gaudy Reign of the Disco Queen” said: “Back in 1976 . . . she got a gold record by simulating orgasm 22 times.”

Disco album covers, too, give an idea of the type of music they contain. Nudity is sometimes featured, although sexual exploitation is often more subtle. Discoworld says of one cover: “The stances of Jaqui and Dodie, combined with Ednah’s, create a three-letter symbol which on casual observation is invisible to consciousness, but instantly perceivable at the unconscious level: S-E-X.”