Conscious Choice: Web Exclusive

April 2007

Web Exclusive

by Derek Beres (aka DJ Derek Ji)

Planting the Seeds
of Green Music

Reflections on the Chicago
Green Festival 2007

Walking through the dense passages of Chicago’s McCormick Center on April 21-22, tens of thousands of eager spectators were bombarded with a surround-sense experience of some of the most progressive ideas in nutrition, solar power, sustainable furnishings and clothing, and a host of fair-trade and organic philosophies inspiring what is being proudly touted as the Green Revolution. The reality is, this could very well be the first truly conscious global revolution to occur, and the Green Festival, in its first year in Chi-town, was indicative of the progressive mindset millions are adhering to.

During the two-day stretch visitors were afforded the opportunity to sample the most exquisite raw cacao, slide down tasty shakes of hemp, acai and yerba mate, walk on bamboo floors (and even wear tree-shirts), practice fire-dancing yoga and eat scrumptious vegan soul food. The fusion of forms occurring on a worldwide level is truly astounding, and for the last few years the Green Festival has been at the forefront of presenting, and preserving, organic and sustainable lifestyles. And then I walked by the music stage.

In 2005 I was the first DJ brought in to perform at the San Francisco chapter of this fete. Working in international music as a journalist, DJ and advocate since the turn of the century, I’ve long recognized its niche, albeit global, appeal. World music, as it has long been dubbed, is mostly relegated to catchy marketing campaigns and café counter displays, while the more popular forms of American pop, hip-hop, rock and country take center stage. With the shifting paradigm in how music is presented and sold, however, that is all changing, which made me wonder why there seems to be a disconnect with the Green Movement.

Over the two-day period, lodged into a compromised section of the food court, a handful of acoustic guitar-slinging, anthem-wielding singers covered Bob Dylan again, again…and again. Understand, I love American folk music — I’ve been writing for the country’s largest folk magazine for years. But like so many other industries, music seems to be an afterthought, something that’s thrown into spare space instead of making the space available for it, which is unfortunate. Every other stage at the festival was buffered by blankets and walls, so the sound was insular; only the music stage was set up in an area that, while communal, could only be heard if you were standing directly in front of it, and even then not very well. Music has been the salve and medicine of cultures for as long as cultures have existed, and the link between the Green idea and music needs to be repaired.

When gazing back at what many consider to be a true global “awakening” in America, the catchphrase remains Woodstock. That festival is the totem pole of what was right about that movement: Eastern philosophies, the advent of widespread vegetarianism, a quest for individual and social freedom, a blooming consciousness about the absurdities of war, and, of course, music. All of these ideas, judging by the Green Festival and other like-minded movements, have evolved since the ‘60s: new techniques in agriculture and food preparation and presentation, eco-friendly relationships in fuel, solar energy and architecture and home design, the technological revolution that provokes and provides an easily-accessed space for people to converge and share. Everything has evolved, in fact, except the music (and the fact that we’re still at war).

I love “Rainy Day Woman #12 & 35.” It’s a Green idea through and through. That song was part of what made the ‘60s what it was. So why that’s the song I heard, over and over, forty years later remains a mystery. I’ll always honor the timelessness of music, but I also recognize evolution. There are plenty of modern theme songs being performed today, in Africa, in the Balkans, in Brazil and Argentina and India and Iraq and…the list is endless. We have the technologies to share as never before, and to access the sounds of the world to go along with the tastes, ideas and fashions. And yet we don’t take advantage.

I was honored to DJ the Conscious Choice party at the Funky Buddha Lounge on Saturday night, with Andrew McPherson (a.k.a. Eccodek), a fellow globetrotter on the international music scene. The club was packed with screaming dancers getting lost in a flurry and fury of beats. Remixes of Mali’s Vieux Farka Toure and Nigeria’s Fela Kuti meshed with Brazil’s Carlinhos Brown, South Asian stylings of Fun-Da-Mental and the heirs of Bob Marley. Whatever language was sung, whichever tempo was concocted, the effect was a seamless, planetary journey of sound merging into one common space. As Cheb i Sabbah once told me, it’s not the DJ and dance floor and music — it’s one thing converging into movement. The party was indicative of this idea, and, as in San Francisco two years prior, I was honored to be part of the process.

In my first book, Global Beat Fusion: The History of the Future of Music, I put forth the idea that the computer is the planet’s first global folk instrument. Music forms are defined by the regional instruments they are created with, and today artists around the world are learning about each other through sounds and beats, translating them into their own local, and universal, music. With American touting itself as being in the forefront of global ideology on so many levels, it’s a constant wonder why we forget about music in the process, especially since it’s such an easy, and inspiring, entry point.

The recurring question I’ve heard through my years of DJing has been: “Where do you find this music?” It’s available, and only takes a little searching — and a bit of open-mindedness, which is why international music is an obvious sibling of the Green Movement. There is so much incredible art being produced in both traditional and electronic terrains that it is, quite literally, mind-boggling. But from what I’ve experienced, people practicing Green like to be boggled. It’s why we do it: to blow asunder our expectations and fulfill inherent cravings of broad experiences; to live a rich and prosperous life where community is a global term; to make conscious and informed decisions about what we are putting into ourselves, so we will transform that into something beautiful and sustainable ourselves. The Green Movement, as apparent in Chicago this sunny April weekend, is going strong, and the soundtrack is waiting to be compiled. When it’s played, everyone will be dancing.

Derek Beres is one of the leading figures in international music in America, working in numerous facets of the industry, from journalist and DJ to producer and presenter. He has written for dozens of magazines covering the traditional and digital realms of global music and has toured internationally, playing alongside some of the most important figures in the scene today. Visit globalbeatfusion.com.

Check out more pictures of the Conscious Choice party at the Funky Buddha Lounge.

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