Few months ago, I didn’t even know that this is a separate genre (in fact, that trance is even a genre!). For me, trance was only an overheard word, as for many of you it may be, even right now.
I am really thankful to twitter for letting me come across some of very awesome people, who know a lot, I repeat, a lot… about music. These are some craziest people I have seen on earth. As a music lover, it’s obvious that I keep searching such people (the search is never ending in fact! and won’t ever stop), and keep increasing my musical knowledge.
Two months ago, I happened to travel to Goa for project work. As journey started, I took out my cell and started reading tweets. It was then I came across one tweet about trance music from one of the twitter buddy. I requested him to send the song right away and also told him to send the list of all his favourite trance tracks. Fifteen minutes later, I was lost into the trance world, and I just thanked him for introducing me to this beautiful genre!
The only trance track I had known till then was the “Farewell trance” from Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna.
Even today I can remember the day when I had listened to it for the first time. It was six years ago. My brother had made me listen to that track… and I was all like… wow man… what an amazing track this is…! But I had not acknowledged this track as a “trance genre track“. For me, it was just a Bollywood track till I heard the track that night…. ‘Perception by Markus Schulz ‘.
Can you listen to a song which contains only one primary tune? Yes, for the whole song… No? You can! That’s the magic of trance. Trance is a genre of electronic dance music that developed in the 1990s. It has tempo between 136 and 140 beats per minute, consisting repeating melodic phrases, and a musical form that builds up and down throughout a track. For most of you, trance will sound like DJ music… full of electronic mixes… but trance has its own rules! Every trance track starts slowly with a rhythm, and then goes filling it up with different bits. It contains a middle point known as “Soft Melodic Break-down“. Just before the SMB, comes a slightly different tune… which is complementary to the primary tune of the trance, and after SMB, it comes into the picture in full swing! What a beautiful way to please the listener! But what exactly is Soft Melodic Break-down? When SMB begins, rhythm tracks fade out rapidly, leaving the melody and atmospherics to stand alone for anywhere from a thirteen seconds to a few minutes. Trust me; you will just love this part! Also, if trance contains vocals, then it has to be in the SMB part. The vocals are generally sung by a female with a soaring, operatic voice. The trance lovers describe it as “ethereal female leads floating amongst the Synths“!
The trance originated in Germany two decades back, and can I say ‘Thank you Germany!‘? Trance has many different sub-genres. In India, we have trance roots in “Goa Trance“. What a co-incidence it is for me! And yeah, about the farewell trance track, I call it as ‘Bollywood trance’!
I don’t remember when I fell asleep that night, but at 3 am, the bus took a stop at a small village in Kokan. I stepped out, had a cup of tea at a small hotel in front. Few minutes later, as bus started again, I did not sleep. It was trance for me, till I reached Goa in the morning.
