Teknival

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Type of DIY party  v • d • e 
Free party / Squat Party Teknival
Freetekno Sound System
Music Played at the Parties
Also see Rave music
breakcore - free tekno - gabba - jungle - psychedelic trance - speedcore - terrorcore -
acid techno and techno
Famous Parties
List of noteworthy raves ( not all DIY ) - Castlemorton Common Festival - CzechTek - Stonehenge Free Festival - Reclaim the Streets
Paris Teknival, May 2005
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Paris Teknival, May 2005

Teknivals (the word is a portmanteau of the words tekno and festival) are free parties which take place worldwide. Teknivals remain predominant in Europe and are often illegal under various national or regional laws. They vary in size from dozens to thousands of people, depending on factors such as accessibility and reputation, weather and of course the police. The parties often take place in venues far away from residential areas such as squatted warehouses, empty military bases, forests or fields. The teknival phenomenon is a grassroots movement which has grown out of the rave, UK Traveller and Burning Man scenes and spawned an entire subculture (though some have argued that such global networks call for the term post-subculture [1]. Summer is the usual season for Teknivals.

Contents

[edit] History

Teknivals are a larger scale version of free parties and emerged in the early 1990s, when acid house parties and travellers in Great Britain became the target of political repression, culminating in the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 [2]. Section 63 of the Act gave the police new powers to close down illegal parties.

Sound systems then started travelling to countries in Europe where laws were less restrictive and the authorities were uncertain how to stop the festivals. One of the most famous of these sound systems was Spiral Tribe, which was at the forefront of the free party movement in Europe. Other systems were called Bedlam, Circus Normal, Circus Warp and Vox Populi. Desert Storm sound system organised teknivals in Spain and France and brought raves to the war-torn Sarajevo, Bosnia, in 1996. At one party the front-line was 10 kilometres away and they were asked to turn off their lights in case they attracted enemy fire [3].

While some teknivals are one-off events, most take place every year on or around the same date; the biggest, such as the ones in France or Czechtek in the Czech Republic (which blossomed from a small festival in 1994), can attract up to 80,000 visitors. In France teknivals have often taken place in car parks beside legal festivals such as Printemps de Bourges or Transmusicales in Rennes or Borealis in Montpellier.[4]

Just as the word 'teknival' was formed by merging together the words 'tekno' and 'festival', teknivals in different countries are referred to by abbreviated names, such as the aforementioned Czechtek, and also Poltek (Poland), Slovtek (Slovakia), Southtek (South Germany), Dutchtek (Netherlands), Easttek (East Germany) and Northtek (Canada). NorthTek was held on Crown Land in Ontario.

Recently in the United Kingdom teknivals have occurred again, despite huge police attention. In 2002 the tenth anniversary of the legendary Castlemorton rave was celebrated at Steart Beach [5] [6] in Somerset (there had also been a smaller teknival at the same location one year previously). In 2005 there was a UKtek in Wales [7] [8] and also a teknival known as Scumtek that happened twice in London. Only the first Scumtek was stopped by the police.

[edit] Organization

Sound systems gather on the site and play varied types of electronic music. Along with each sound system come friends and travellers so most teknivals have a multicultural atmosphere. The parties can last for several days or even weeks. Teknivals are organised by the sound system community using underground methods such as word of mouth, answerphone messages, flyer (pamphlet) and internet discussion boards. Normally the flyer states that the party is an open invitation, thus any artist who turns up can play music. The emphasis is on a DIY ethic. As well as local sound systems, who might act as the hosts, larger sound systems can spend the summer travelling from one teknival to the next before returning to their home country for the winter.

Dutch teknival, August 2001
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Dutch teknival, August 2001

[edit] Music

Since a teknival can last a week or longer, many musical styles will be represented. The music which grew in tandem with teknivals was free tekno, which is characterised by heavy, repetitive kick drums and is normally about 180 bpm. The DJs and party goers are unconcerned by musical boundaries, so a lot of different, mostly electronic, music is played and performed.

Most Sound systems play styles such as acid techno, spiral tekno, terrorcore, electro, drum n bass, breakcore and speedcore. Instead of focusing on genre, the music can be characterised by being more underground than the music heard in clubs and at commercial parties. Some sound systems might specialise in a certain subgenre. The music is played by DJs playing vinyl records and Mp3 files on a computer. Livesets are also frequently played using a variety of equipment: keyboards, drum machines, guitar effects pedals, MIDI controller and computers.

At early teknivals sound systems would play until either no-one was left dancing or the diesel ran out in the generator.

[edit] Subculture

The teknival is often regarded as an example of what Hakim Bey has termed the Temporary Autonomous Zone [9], though in interviews Bey has professed that rave culture's interest in technology remains problematic for the implementation of the TAZ. However this has not stopped various groups from claiming the Teknival and rave culture in general as the implementation of the TAZ.[10] Anyone is welcome to enter the site, there is no ticket or fee. Normally any artist who turns up is encouraged to participate. Over the course of a few days the site can grow into a confusing village of sound systems, cafes, tents and vehicles.

Recreational drug use is common but by no means a prerequisite for entry. Drugs used include marijuana, ketamine, MDMA (ecstasy), alcohol, amphetamine (speed), LSD and magic mushrooms.[11]

At the teknival site one finds a mixed group of young people which may include students, tekno travellers, squatters and hippies, bonded together by their love for listening to free tekno 'sous les etoiles' (translation: 'under the stars') - as an early flyer proclaimed.

It is usually the perception that there is no "coherent" politics or philosophical stance represented by the teknival subculture, mainly due to the fact that emphasis is placed on individual freedom. Many young teknival goers are disillusioned with mainstream politics. Nevertheless, the parties themselves require complex collective organisation and, in order to be successful, a sustainable environment of community relations. In themselves such events can be seen as a political statement of self-organisation at a distance from the State. Clashes with the police have mobilised some people to action against laws which would prohibit self-organisation and gathering to enjoy Teknivals. These clashes date back to the '80s (when Teknivals were arguably indistinguishable from UK Orbital raves, summer acid house parties, UK Traveller gatherings, Stonehenge pagan events, early Burning Man and tribal gatherings, trance parties in Goa, India and the like) and have continued to be part of Teknival life. In April 2006 there was a march followed by a small teknival in Strasbourg, France to protest against police repression generally and more specifically against the closure of Czechtek in 2005. During the implementation of the Criminal Justice Act in the UK, various large-scale protests took place during daylight and in public. The Reclaim the Streets and Anti-Capitalist Carnivals of the '90s that led up to and beyond the Seattle WTO protests (and subsequent "anti-globalization" events) drew from Teknival and rave organisation and culture, often involving many of the same organisers and cross-section of the population. [12]

Like many subcultures, a dress code has developed. This 'underground look' involves dark, baggy clothing (often ex-military) and extreme haircuts, such as dyed hair, dreadlocks or a shaved head (or a combination of the above). (1999:164) [13] Body piercings and tattoos are common. People often buy large vehicles second-hand such as decommissioned buses, coaches or trucks. The vehicles are often primarily homes, lived in permanently or for a few months while travelling (see Irish Traveller). They are also used to transport sound equipment. The tekno traveller is also known as a New Age traveller or "crusty".[14]

CzechTek 2001
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CzechTek 2001

[edit] Clashes with authority

As the teknival movement has grown bigger, attention from the police has increased. Teknivals will sometimes be stopped; each country has different attitudes and laws concerning teknivals. To stop a teknival, police will usually begin by asking the organisers to move on but they can resort to measures such as using tear gas and impounding sound systems, for example at Czechtek in 2005[15].

Teknivals still happen in Canada, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Bulgaria, Austria and Slovakia. In France amendments to a Public Safety bill were passed in 2001 giving the police similar powers to those exercised by the police in the United Kingdom under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 but the large size of the free tekno movement compels the government to permit three large teknivals every year: Paris (May), West (July) and South (August). Organisers have also used innovative tactics to allow the party to proceed, such as organising the party just over the border into other countries [16].

[edit] References

Notes
  1. ^ http://www.palgrave-usa.com/Catalog/product.aspx?isbn=1859736688
  2. ^ Full Government text of Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 section 63
  3. ^ http://www.undercurrents.org/desertstorm23/desert1.htm
  4. ^ eds Hugh Dauncey, H. and Cannon S. (2003) Popular Music in France from Chanson to Techno: Culture, Identity, and Society Page 238, Ashgate, ISBN 0-7546-0849-2
  5. ^ http://www.squall.co.uk/squall.cfm?sq=2002061403&ct=9
  6. ^ http://www.crossbones.co.uk/uktek2002.htm
  7. ^ http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/05/312259.html
  8. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/south_west/4593319.stm
  9. ^ http://www.hermetic.com/bey/taz_cont.html
  10. ^ http://quadrantcrossing.org/papers/ItsNotARave-Fuse2003-tV.pdf
  11. ^ Collins, M., (1997) Altered States: The Story of Ecstasy and Acid House, Serpent's Tail, ISBN 1-85242-604-7
  12. ^ http://www.quadrantcrossing.org/papers/Rave-GRV12_tV.pdf
  13. ^ Reynolds, Simon (1999) Generation Ecstasy: Into the World of Techno and Rave Culture, Taylor & Francis, ISBN 0-415-92373-5
  14. ^ Petersen, V. No System, Steidl, ISBN 3-88243-645-X
  15. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4738371.stm
  16. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2196478.stm

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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