美国国家公共电台 NPR--'Throughline,' NPR's history podcast, digs into the origins of house music

'Throughline,' NPR's history podcast, digs into the origins of house music

Transcript¹

Since Beyoncé's Renaissance² album dropped last summer, house music has found its way back to mainstream³ audiences. Some are asking, "Is House back?" The truth is it never went away.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

House music is having a moment. That was clear at the Grammys last month, where Beyonce picked up multiple awards for her album "Renaissance." Here's part of her acceptance speech.

(SOUNDBITE OF THE 65TH ANNUAL GRAMMY AWARDS)

BEYONCE: I'd like to thank the queer community for your love...

(CHEERING)

BEYONCE: ...And for inventing the genre⁴.

INSKEEP: She was paying tribute to people in Chicago in the 1970s and '80s who created house music and underground clubs that were all their own. From NPR's history podcast, Throughline, here are Ramtin Arablouei and Rund Abdelfatah.

RAMTIN ARABLOUEI, BYLINE⁵: Inside a lone⁶ industrial building in Chicago, Ill., people dance intensely in a sea of fog. A figure emerges from the mist. Behind a set of turntables, surrounded by crates⁷ full of records, his arms move back and forth⁸ to the rhythm of the music.

LADY D: Frantic⁹, frenetic movement.

FREDERICK DUNSON: I mean, just dancing like he had no tomorrow to come his way.

ARABLOUEI: The DJ controls the party and the dancers like a conductor.

LORI BRANCH: Move your body.

VINCE LAWRENCE: This really magical place.

ARABLOUEI: Welcome to The Warehouse¹⁰.

DUNSON: The Warehouse was an after-hours private club...

BRANCH: I felt like I was Alice in Wonderland.

DUNSON: ...So you had to know somebody to get an invite in or to even attend.

RUND ABDELFATAH, BYLINE: The Warehouse, or The House, was a home for people who wanted a safe place to party. It's also what many consider the birthplace of house music.

BRANCH: It was like a story. You know, like, there's a beginning in the middle and a end. You just wanted to be there for the whole thing.

LADY D: Frantic, frenetic movement.

BRANCH: I remember the feeling more than I remember the music.

LAWRENCE: We can all be free.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

ARABLOUEI: Chicago house music, like all music, is hard to describe, but it usually has a beat kind of like this.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

ARABLOUEI: It's funky¹¹, repetitive and is generally around 120 beats per minute, kind of like your heart rate when you're dancing.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

ARABLOUEI: That repetition, that beat causes an almost ritualistic feeling of being perfectly¹² in sync with other people. It mimics¹³ the feeling of love, of letting go.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

UNIDENTIFIED MUSICAL ARTIST: (Singing) Well, well, well. Oh.

DUNSON: I guess if you had to describe it, you could say it was akin¹⁴ to gospel dance music.

ARABLOUEI: Gospel dance music. That's Frederick Dunson. He was at those early house-music shows in the 1980s, dancing all night until the sun came up.

BRANCH: There was no pause, that you just experienced it all night.

ABDELFATAH: And DJ Lori Branch, a Chicago-born house music historian and DJ who grew up sneaking¹⁵ into The Warehouse.

BRANCH: I was, like, trying to find my life. And I found this community that just felt like home.

DUNSON: We all accept each other, and we all love each other.

ABDELFATAH: For both Lori and Frederick, house music provided more than just a good time. It was a lifeline, a means of claiming space in a city that could often feel too small.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

ARABLOUEI: Chicago in the 1980s was one of the most segregated¹⁶ cities in America. Black and white communities lived in different neighborhoods, different parts of the city. So if you were Black, there were clubs and parties you just didn't have access to. And if you were Black and gay, there were even less.

DUNSON: The reason that the underground clubs evolved was because most of the gay clubs gave most of the minorities a really hard time in getting in.

ABDELFATAH: While a white patron might be asked to show one form of ID...

DUNSON: When it got to me, they'd ask me for three or four.

ABDELFATAH: ...A clear sign to Frederick, a Black man, that he was not welcome.

DUNSON: And so as a result of that, people just said, oh, well, we can do our own thing and start doing underground parties. It was a solution to a situation that wasn't getting any better.

ABDELFATAH: Frederick says that was why The Warehouse was necessary and why it was so beloved. It was a sanctuary¹⁷, a place for both Black and gay people to feel welcome and safe, where the music and dancing created community.

DUNSON: It gave you the strength to carry on, to make it from week to week, because, you know, people would look forward to - oh, God, next Saturday; see you next Saturday; see you next Saturday, 'cause it was their release.

ARABLOUEI: The Warehouse was like a dance church, a place to refuel and be in community, to be seen, to be loved, to dance away the pain and embrace the beauty, no matter how fleeting¹⁸.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

ABDELFATAH: But house music didn't stay in Chicago's underground club culture for long. It became a global phenomenon in the late '80s and '90s, helping¹⁹ spark rave²⁰ culture in the U.K. and Europe and sparking the growth of electronic dance music, or EDM.

DUNSON: House music was the foundation on which EDM's legs stand.

ABDELFATAH: Today EDM is one of the most popular and profitable genres²¹ of music. There are DJs and festivals that make millions and millions of dollars every year. And Frederick Dunson says that success has obscured our view of the people and places that inspired it all.

DUNSON: For new musicians to say, oh, well, we created this; we created that - that's not - that wouldn't be right. That's not giving credit to the people who actually put the work in.

ABDELFATAH: Which is why he and DJ Lori Branch...

BRANCH: I think that history gets erased²² often. And we are just now starting to claim that.

ABDELFATAH: ...Are committed to keeping the history of house music alive. They want to make sure the Chicago Black and gay origins of house music and electronic dance music are not forgotten.

BRANCH: It is a Chicago product, made by Chicagoans, made by Black and brown, queer, straight folk. And if you want to understand a genre, if you want to understand a people, there's no better place. The intersection²³ of races and, you know, the different cultures that have come together to create it is what made it special and, I think, what made it international.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

INSKEEP: The voice of DJ Lori Branch there. The hosts of Throughline, the awesome²⁴ podcast, are Rund Abdelfatah and Ramtin Arablouei. You can hear the whole episode by finding Throughline wherever you get your podcasts.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 renaissance   

n.复活，复兴，文艺复兴

参考例句：

• The Renaissance was an epoch of unparalleled cultural achievement.文艺复兴是一个文化上取得空前成就的时代。
• The theme of the conference is renaissance Europe.大会的主题是文艺复兴时期的欧洲。

3 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

4 genre   

n.(文学、艺术等的)类型，体裁，风格

参考例句：

• My favorite music genre is blues.我最喜欢的音乐种类是布鲁斯音乐。
• Superficially,this Shakespeare's work seems to fit into the same genre.从表面上看， 莎士比亚的这个剧本似乎属于同一类型。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 lone   

adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的

参考例句：

• A lone sea gull flew across the sky.一只孤独的海鸥在空中飞过。
• She could see a lone figure on the deserted beach.她在空旷的海滩上能看到一个孤独的身影。

7 crates   

n. 板条箱, 篓子, 旧汽车 vt. 装进纸条箱

参考例句：

• We were using crates as seats. 我们用大木箱作为座位。
• Thousands of crates compacted in a warehouse. 数以千计的板条箱堆放在仓库里。

8 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

9 frantic   

adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的

参考例句：

• I've had a frantic rush to get my work done.我急急忙忙地赶完工作。
• He made frantic dash for the departing train.他发疯似地冲向正开出的火车。

10 warehouse   

n.仓库；vt.存入仓库

参考例句：

• We freighted the goods to the warehouse by truck.我们用卡车把货物运到仓库。
• The manager wants to clear off the old stocks in the warehouse.经理想把仓库里积压的存货处理掉。

11 funky   

adj.畏缩的，怯懦的，霉臭的；adj.新式的，时髦的

参考例句：

• The kitchen smelled really funky.这个厨房有一股霉味。
• It is a funky restaurant with very interesting art on the walls.那是一家墙上挂着很有意思的绘画的新潮餐馆。

12 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

13 mimics   

n.模仿名人言行的娱乐演员，滑稽剧演员( mimic的名词复数 )；善于模仿的人或物v.（尤指为了逗乐而）模仿( mimic的第三人称单数 )；酷似

参考例句：

• Methods:Models were generate by CT scan,Mimics software and Abaqus software. 方法：采用CT扫描，Mimics软件和Abaqus软件的CAD进行三维有限元模型的创建。 来自互联网
• Relaxing the mind and body mimics the effect that some blood-pressure pills would have. 放松身心会产生某些降压药才能产生的效果。 来自辞典例句

14 akin   

adj.同族的，类似的

参考例句：

• She painted flowers and birds pictures akin to those of earlier feminine painters.她画一些同早期女画家类似的花鸟画。
• Listening to his life story is akin to reading a good adventure novel.听他的人生故事犹如阅读一本精彩的冒险小说。

15 sneaking   

a.秘密的，不公开的

参考例句：

• She had always had a sneaking affection for him. 以前她一直暗暗倾心于他。
• She ducked the interviewers by sneaking out the back door. 她从后门偷偷溜走，躲开采访者。

16 segregated   

分开的； 被隔离的

参考例句：

• a culture in which women are segregated from men 妇女受到隔离歧视的文化
• The doctor segregated the child sick with scarlet fever. 大夫把患猩红热的孩子隔离起来。

17 sanctuary   

n.圣所，圣堂，寺庙；禁猎区，保护区

参考例句：

• There was a sanctuary of political refugees behind the hospital.医院后面有一个政治难民的避难所。
• Most countries refuse to give sanctuary to people who hijack aeroplanes.大多数国家拒绝对劫机者提供庇护。

18 fleeting   

adj.短暂的，飞逝的

参考例句：

• The girls caught only a fleeting glimpse of the driver.女孩们只匆匆瞥了一眼司机。
• Knowing the life fleeting,she set herself to enjoy if as best as she could.她知道这种日子转瞬即逝，于是让自已尽情地享受。

19 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

20 rave   

vi.胡言乱语；热衷谈论；n.热情赞扬

参考例句：

• The drunkard began to rave again.这酒鬼又开始胡言乱语了。
• Now I understand why readers rave about this book.我现明白读者为何对这本书赞不绝口了。

21 genres   

（文学、艺术等的）类型，体裁，风格( genre的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Novel and short story are different genres. 长篇小说和短篇小说是不同的类别。
• But confusions over the two genres have a long history. 但是类型的混淆，古已有之。 来自汉英文学 - 散文英译

22 erased   

v.擦掉( erase的过去式和过去分词 )；抹去；清除

参考例句：

• He erased the wrong answer and wrote in the right one. 他擦去了错误答案，写上了正确答案。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He removed the dogmatism from politics; he erased the party line. 他根除了政治中的教条主义，消除了政党界限。 来自《简明英汉词典》

23 intersection   

n.交集，十字路口，交叉点；[计算机] 交集

参考例句：

• There is a stop sign at an intersection.在交叉路口处有停车标志。
• Bridges are used to avoid the intersection of a railway and a highway.桥用来避免铁路和公路直接交叉。

24 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.