Balearic Beat, Balearic Beat

After visiting other clubs on the island where similar music was being played, including Pacha and Ku, Oakenfold and his friend Trevor Fung returned to London, where they unsuccessfully tried to establish a nightclub called the Funhouse in the Balearic style. Returning to Ibiza during the summer of 1987, Oakenfold rented a villa where he hosted a number of his DJ friends, including Danny Rampling, Johnny Walker, and Nicky Holloway. Returning to London after the summer, Oakenfold reintroduced the Balearic style at a South London nightspot called the Project Club. The club initially attracted those who had visited Ibiza and who were familiar with the Balearic concept. Fueled by their use of Ecstasy and an emerging fashion style based on baggy clothes and bright colors, these Ibiza veterans were responsible for propagating the Balearic subculture within the evolving UK rave scene. In 1988, Oakenfold established a second outlet for Balearic Beat, a Monday night event called Spectrum, which is credited with exposing the Balearic concept to a wider audience. Reynolds, Simon.

Vocals were sometimes present, but much of the music was instrumental. The sounds of acoustic instruments such as guitar and piano were sometimes incorporated into Balearic Beat. Major artists credited with popularizing this form of Balearic Beat include Soul II Soul and Enigma. A trance offshoot, Ibiza Trance , also developed during this time. Having been primarily associated with a particular percussion pattern that eventually fell out of vogue, the style eventually faded from prominence, and its repertoire was subsumed by the more general "chill out" and "downtempo" genres.

While the public outside Ibiza generally describes Balearic Beat as a music style, the island based community regard Balearic Beat as a non-style or a healthy disrespect to style conformity and a challenge to the norm. It's a freestyle expression that seamlessly binds sporadic vinyl inspiration through technical flair on the turntables. Today, due to segregation in the electronic dance music few promoters and thus DJ's dare to stretch their spectrum of styles that far in fear of losing identity and clients. DJ Alfredo still heralds the most diversity among Ibiza DJ's, but generally the approach to mixing as well as the terminology, have been swallowed up by the Chillout scene.

Source: Wikipedia > Balearic Beat