Pushing the boundaries of Psy

The trance scene in Israel

Author: Elinor
Date: Sep 26, 2007
Views: 3016

Pushing the boundaries of Psy: Israel

The most popular genre amongst young people in Israel is Trance. We have a long tradition of parties, started in the early 90's by young people who finished their army duty and went to Goa. Israeli Trance made its mark from the very beginning exporting artists like Infected Mushroom, Astral Projection, Oforia, Space Cat and many more. 

The commercialisation of the scene has been led by artists like Skazi who have become local celebrities after appearing on Israeli TV and advertising brands like Pepsi Max. However, there is also a growth in the diversity of labels and genres in Israel compared to the past when we used to concentrate mostly on Full-on, with labels such as Hommega and BNE/YOYO broadening their horizons. We have some laid back tunes offered by Aleph Zero records whilst others delve deeper into the underground layers of the scene with a huge awakening on the darker side with new labels such as Mushy Records, Psy Shark Records and Zaikadelic Records. This year also saw a progressive uprising amongst the older tribe members with the development of labels such as Domo from the Ear Peaks group. We also have VP records run by DJ Zombi and DJ Avi Nini who are trying to open Trance to the electro funky side.

During the summer there are plenty of parties to choose between from big commercial parties with a few thousand people to underground parties with several hundreds or even a few dozen guests. If you want to go to a Progressive party then we have the Beat Culture crew, Lapland crew and of course the 3rd Empire parties who held their first Progressive festival this year called T.A.Z (Temporary Autonomous Zone) in the desert. If you feel like some Full-on you can go to TFN or the veterans Moksha pro'. Closer to the darker side you will be able to find Doof parties organised by the Doof label people, who hold an annual 3 day festival each Passover on a lake with lots of BBQ. If you're looking for the Suomi and old Goa style then you should look out for Amanita, Psyzion, Ping Pong or Rataxes crew's.

One of the main on-line meeting places where artists, labels, party organisers and people who are involved with the Israeli Trance scene can meet together is the international forum www.isratrance.com, that will be celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.

This year a lot of pubs, especially in Tel Aviv, have started to open up Trance nights, in the summer every Monday in the Sakaya with changing DJ's from the local and global scene under the stars and a cool breeze from the sea. We also have regular Trance nights in clubs like the Maxim in Tel Aviv every Thursday with Progressive tunes led by DJ Zombi and the resident DJ Nadav Agami or the Luna Club in Haifa, also on Thursday's with DJ Indepth. We don’t have a lot of parties in winter as Israeli trancers prefer to party with nature and not in a closed place like a club.

Trance music is well represented on student radio stations across Israel with shows like "Matantrance" on Kol Hanegev 106.4fm in the South, "Hafirot" and "Hypnoza" on Kol Hakampus 106fm in Tel Aviv and "Trance On Air" at local center radio station 99ESC in the Netanya area.

The main problem for visitors in Israel is finding out and getting to good parties. Israel doesn’t have any public transportation during the weekends (Friday evening until Saturday evening) and you will often need to find a vehicle that can withstand very rough terrain to get to a party. Another obstacle is of course the police; like every other country, making a party without permission leads to a chance of getting busted. We still have free parties that we call Hat Parties but the prices have risen in the past few years. Of course, one cannot ignore the higher prices for booking a DJ or an artist or the massive expenses of decent security, which is very much encouraged here. However Israel, as a very advanced scene in the evolution of Trance, offers a wide range of parties and sounds and a whole lot of pure KARAHANA for all you freaks!

 

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Elinor
tiptipe@hotmail.com
Journalist, Psychedelic activist, editor of Trance channel in cable and satellite TV

Date: Sep 26, 2007
Text: Elinor
Photos: Elinor, katom.co.il
Taken from: "Trancer's Guide to the Galaxy 2007 magazine"

 

 

 

   

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