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Neotrance and the Psychedelic Festival

Graham St John

Dancecult January 1, 2009 DOI: 10.12801/1947-5403.2009.01.01.03 via OpenAlex

Summary

AI-generated from the abstract

Psytrance music culture, particularly at events like Portugal's Boom Festival, exhibits religio-spiritual characteristics through three trajectories: ecstatic self-transcendence, performative self-expression, and reflexive engagement with conscious alternatives. The article examines neotrance within contemporary trance events, the countercultural inheritance of 'tribal' psytrance festivals, and how participants' 'ultimate concerns' are dramatized within the festival framework. These elements together offer insights into the spiritual and communal dimensions of psychedelic festival culture.

Study at a glance

Characteristics Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed
Keywords Visual arts Psychology
Citations 38
Key finding Psytrance festivals dramatize participants' ultimate concerns through ecstatic, performative, and reflexive trajectories, revealing religio-spiritual characteristics within the music culture.

Abstract

is article explores the religio-spiritual characteristics of psytrance (psychedelic trance), attending speci cally to the characteristics of what I call neotrance apparent within the contemporary trance event, the countercultural inheritance of the "tribal" psytrance festival, and the dramatizing of participants' "ultimate concerns" within the festival framework. An exploration of the psychedelic festival offers insights on ecstatic (selftranscendent), performative (self-expressive) and re exive (conscious alternative) trajectories within psytrance music culture. I address this dynamic with reference to Portugal's Boom Festival.

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