Afro/cosmic music

Afro/cosmic
Stylistic origins
Cultural origins1970s, Northern Italy
Typical instruments
Derivative forms

In music, the terms Afro/cosmic disco,[1][2] the cosmic sound,[3] free-style sound,[4] and combinations thereof (Afro, cosmic Afro,[5] Afro-cosmic,[6] Afro-freestyle,[7] etc., as well as Afro-funky[8] and later Afro house) are used somewhat interchangeably to describe various forms of synthesizer-heavy and/or African-influenced dance music and methods of DJing that were originally developed and promoted by a small number of DJs in certain discothèques of Northern Italy from the late 1970s through the mid-1980s. The terms slow-motion disco[9] and Elettronica Meccanica[10] are also associated with the genre.

Italian DJs Tosi Brandi Claudio and Daniele Baldelli both independently claim to have invented the genre and mixing style.

  1. ^ Gill, Michael (December 22, 2006), "Beatz By The Pound #31: 2006 Best Of…", Stylus Magazine, archived from the original on 10 April 2008, retrieved 2008-04-21 “Looking over to the blogosphere, the largest hipster tremors came from the rediscovery of the Italian ‘Cosmic Disco’ sound (a mid-tempo stew of balearic disco pioneered by Beppe Loda and Daniele Baldelli)…”
  2. ^ Segal, Dave (February 20, 2007), "Data Breaker (music reviews)", The Stranger, retrieved 2008-04-21 “Originally championed by Italian DJ Daniele Baldelli, cosmic disco funkily trudges along at about 80–105 bpm, as if Robitussin replaced coke as the producers' and dancers' drug of choice. In these slow-mo dance anthems, every element somehow becomes more dilated and psychedelic.”
  3. ^ Baldelli's term; Wang 2005.
  4. ^ Beppe Loda's term, also written free style; no connection to the Latin freestyle genre; Ashton 2007.
  5. ^ Oldfield.
  6. ^ With a hyphen,[citation needed], slash (Chingas 2007.), or no punctuation (Brewster 2005.)
  7. ^ Ashton, Simon ‘DJ Baggy’ (November 2, 2007). "New Beppe Loda Exclusive Mix". cosmicdisco.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2007-11-07. Retrieved 2007-11-05. “…enjoy the latest mix from the master of Afro-Freestyle.”
  8. ^ Chingas, Johnny (2007-11-28). "Dr. Nishimura Interview". Archived from the original on 22 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-05. “In the following months I heard reports that Chee had now sold his entire ‘Italo' collection and was into the cosmic & afro-funky vibe, being inspired by the early Loda and Baldelli tapes. Hearing several of their Discossession mixes, I realised that the dudes had carved out their own sound, not only citing Italo, Disco and Cosmic, but also added psychedelic, jazz fusion and rock elements into the occasion.” (Nishimura:) “My favorite Japanese DJ is Toriyama from Sendai. He is very young, but the very best in Afro/Cosmic vein in Japan.”
  9. ^ From the name of a 2006 compilation by DJ Mooner, Elaste Vol. 1: Slow Motion Disco, released on the Compost Records label.
  10. ^ Campbell 2006. Elettronica Meccanica is the name of a series of mixtapes and planned records by DJ Beppe Loda, and in the interview, he says “Here are some of the artists and styles I like best: …Conrad Schnitzler; Meccanica Popular (the latter two inspiring my Elettronica Meccanica style)…”