My story is close the Gen’s
I was always found of music..
Started to listen to classical music with my dad when I was a kid (Bach, Mozart and Beethoven’s symphonies, Mendlesson, etc..) and I think that it helped me understanding much better Electronic music later…
Then the 60’s and 70’s music: the Beatles, John Lenon, followed by Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Led Zepplin, etc…and of course the famous Jean Michel Jarre Oxygen (1st major door toward the use of Electronic in music
Also listened to some heavy stuff (Guns’n Roses, Iron Maiden, Rainbow, Metalica, etc..)
Then reached Jazz, Acid Jazz and World Music (deep forest, dead can dance, etc.) which was the 1st door for me towards jazzhouse / chillhouse / ambient...
Well discovered
quality Electronic Music in the mid-90’s, mainly through friends who come back from Europe to live in Lebanon… Then, one of the 1st raves was organized in Beirut down town… it was a wicked party and I got immediately charmed by the vibes, felt home (you bet!).
1997, we organized a private party on NYE, in Faraya… discovered some of Space Ibiza and ministry of Sound sets, recorded on tapes… But that night, the revelation was for me discovering the Global Underground series (Paul Oakenfold – Oslo if I remember well)
… Underground parties in Lebanon (work on the music and bit of organization on the Grand Theatre and Dome parties)… The vibes were so genuine and the crowd was great by then beause ppl really wanted it and had all the same vision (broadly speaking)… (i salute MadJam here, and i wonder what happened to the talented Freddy ??)
The thing is that we didn’t have any benchmark in Lebanon by then.. nowhere to look for music (the internet was still very primitive)… we really had to dig to find music, buy lots of crap as well
… Later, I went into Electronic Music communities online, and started having
Then in 1998, came MY ALL TIME FAVORITE ALBUM: Northern Exposure 2 (sasha and Digweed), which made me discover these 2 DJs
and epic sounds… followed by my favorite Tranec album: Tranceport (Oaky),,, I consider myself lucky to have experience the golden age of trance btw… 1998 was a great great year for trance! Lots of quality produced…
Until 2000/2001, I use to listen to the Global Underground and Renaissance series, and to some quality Trance (Bonzai Records, Paul Oakenfold wicked trance, some of Pappa's old work (Platipus))… The last Trance albums I bought were In Search of Sunrise, then AVB (forgot the album title).. (I very rarely buy trance since 2001… although I must say that NuNRG surprised me to some extend)…
Anyway, starting the millennium, I had to look for new sounds… I think that year 2001 and 2002 were the worst year for the industry (for lots of reasons that we can discuss in another topic should you want)… I was bit lost at that time… going housy and proggy all the way... techy as well... even the GUs were kind of bad during these couple of years…. OK, progressive was there, but still needed something new in 2003, especially when I was seeing how the scene was evolving: both the parties and the music (with the emergence of Trance) were really not what I aimed for, not my mood ( :copying Genesis description on how he feels Trance and pasting it here: ) - (this is very subjective guys and often old skoolers feel the same)
This is how I ended up discovering psytrance.. Psytrance gave me hope again, gave me strong sensations in times I was really desperate about the scene and the music: Trance had became so cheesy and House so repetitive and boring… Ended up going to Thailand’s Full Moon party in 2004, where I really experienced psytrance in a proper environment.. IMO, you have to experience psytrance abroad AND open air to really be able to catch what it is all about, its genuine spirit, etc… What a party that was… Partying with 10,000 ravers on an almost desert island, on a Asia beach of maybe 10km , surrounded by the jungle, full moon, with Ozies, Japs, Coreans, Thai, Israelis.. Waw! It blew me away: so spiritual, so f*** free!!!! Hehe I remember, ravers were hallucinating when I use to hand them LR smiley… they were wondering what Lebanon was and for the majority, it was the 1st time they met Lebanese (and Thailand Full moon party is considered very commercial by psyfreaks btw
So basically, in 2005, went for a one month stay to London and AHhhhhhhhhhhhhhh :sigh: What a breath of fresh air that was!!! Quality house music all the way.. Discovered how house has evolved, enjoyed it so much
and felt that the coming years are housy, as I felt that Trance was also stagnating for the past couple of years (IMO)…. So basically that was it for Marquis
Basically i enjoy all kinds of genres, sub-genres, styles, as long as i find it quality, as long as it touches my soul and moves my spirit...
Cheerz!
