History

Goa
The roots of goa culture can be found on the south-eastern coasts of India, on the coast of Goa, dated back to the ’60s. World traveller hippies, the adventurous ones and rock stars fled this marvellous beach that time who were looking for the lost freedom after the exhaustion of the american hippie movement. This grop that wouldn’t step out of the sex&drugs&rock’n’roll-feeling settled down here and begin to have a – for the western culture – new, unusual lifestyle close to nature. Though, it was too much for most and till the end of ’80s only a small group of Americans and Europeans left in Goa. And, in the ’90s, everything changed. A new front came in music: the Acid. Residents of the coastline hooked on the style and developed it. The starter, Goa Gil is a freak from San Francisco, living in Goa for a very long time: he is the real Goa-Guru. Gil and his mates have long been playing the electronic sounds that meant the Yello and Talking Heads-type tunes. Under the influence of ’70s psychedelic music with techno, acid, industrial, detroit, electro and new beat styles goa trance was born with forerunners Killing Joke, and Belgian Front242, who made the first real goa song.

Music
Psychedelic trance and goa trance are mainly used as synonymes and later, around the end of ’90s
psytrance became to be used as a distiungished name for an independent style. There are only few well-defined characteristics of psy/goa music. The rhythm of the tracks is basically 4/4, the rate is between 135 to 150 bpm most, but of course there are faster and slower songs. Music is bulit on lots of strange, psychedelic sounds; brain-twisting and flowing themes and lots of rhytmic elements and effects. The 303-s are still usual and many songs have electric guitar sound in them. The bases are mainly on hard-sounding halves and „rolling” bass line and 4/4 kick drums. Eastern-sounding tunes written on non-European scales played a dominant role in older goatrance, nowadays composers use more simple but unique and captivating sound themes in goa/psy music. Many new styles have evolved from goa and goa itself went through a metamorphosis as well. This is how psychedelic trance (GMS, Logic Bomb, Space Tribe, Talamasca), the mostly Scandinavian-represented progressive minimal (Atmos, Son Kite, Tico, Vibrasphere, Necta), progressive psytrance (Parasense, Droidsect, Paste, new Etnica) psychedelic techno (Yumade, PAPS) became. The psychedelic music having more of the chill sound also gained ground, often mentioned as psychedelic ambient.

Parties
Parties, especially outdoor parties have always been (and still are) the strongest bases of goa culture. One reason for it is the unique locations goa parties are organised: on beaches, in jungles, in old castles, on boats, in the middle of deserts, on riversides and distant mountains, in valleys, etc.. Club parties also have their own specialities, mostly due to the decoration: UV-active pictures, statues, visuals, partition reed carpets resembling nature or fantasy worlds decorate the venues. The other extra is the audience that determines a goa party: a lot of smiling, friendly people wearing the most extreme clothes and coming from the most extreme places. Everybody is dancing and the audience finds the way together to liberation that started due to the music and lights in the dancehall or around the bonfire. Most of the people who have ever visited a goa party reported the fantastic experience of developing the „common spirit” when dancers feel that the cognition and thoughts all people partying are connected in a great consciousness. Sunrise is the main event in open-air parties, this is arrival to the light from darkness, the culmination of chakra journey, when people discover the faces around them and the beauties of the spot. No-one is alone in a goa party and everbody is smily and helpful. These characterise goa parties all over the world. Goa people are big travellers and can appear on a party at any locations from any countries because they know they will feel at home and will find helpful people. Big festivals describe the activity of the scene when soemwhere in the nature tens of thousands of goa fans spend 3-5 days (or more) together. The most famous one is the Solipse, the Eclipse festival that was just organised first time in Hungary, Ozora with circa 30 thousand people. The Ozora festival now has become a cult event (www.ozorafestival.eu). Boom festival is held in Portugal every 2 years with the greatest performers and there is also the remarkable Voov festival in Germany for 11 years now.