Non-Shop-Records is now proud to be able to present a new recording, Non-Shop-Recordings #18, with the Swedish performer and conceptual artist Olof Olsson.
Olof Olsson visited Non-Shop-Records the 11th of December 2011, when the non-shop was still located at Vesterbrogade 101 in Copenhagen, and delivered his dj-lecture The History of Disco - A totally groovy performance with the following background:
As a young teenager Olof Olsson lost his heart to disco. It was a very cold night in January, 1979. He lived in small town in Sweden, where there wasn’t much entertainment.
That winter night, a bit past midnight, Olof discovered a local pirate radio station. And for the first time in his life he heard songs like ‘Le Freak’ and ‘In the Bush’. It was a completely overwhelming cultural experience.
In his talk, Olof outlines the history of disco and explains what makes disco ‘disco’ and how it succeeds to be so seductive, and he claims that disco’s original message of love was politically charged – demanding equality, freedom and fun for everyone.
The recording of the lecture, Non-Shop-Recordings #18, follows immediately below this post and is followed by documentation of the performance in the form of photos, text and links with relation to different aspects of the talk.
“Callin’ out around the world, are you ready for a brand new beat? Summer’s here and the time is right for dancin’ in the street. Dancin’ in Chicago. Down in New Orleans. In New York City. All we need is music, sweet music, There’ll be music everywhere, There’ll be swingin’ swayin’, and records playin, Dancin’ in the street”
The original cover and label for the 1964 single release of Dancing in the Streets with Martha & The Vandellas, recorded at Motown’s Studio A June 19, 1964, and released on Gordy Records.
This is not Disco…[but] there are a lot of things in this song (-Dancing in the Streets) which is leading us towards disco…one very special thing about disco is that it’s the first kind of music which is refering to it self, not only as music, because we had that before…but in a broughter way disco, the disco music, the lyrics of disco music is also refering to it self as a social experience, disco as a social phaenomenon, and, that’s not really happening in this song but again we are on our way, we are not in a disco, we are in the street…but a lot of the sensibility of disco is already here…it’s danceable, it’s Motown”
A tour around the first Motown Studio, Motown Studio A, located at 2648 West Grand Boulevard in Detroit, also known as Hitsville U.S.A. Today the place is functioning as a museum, The Motown Museum.
The legendary studio, also known as “The Snake Pit”, was working as the motor in the Motown hit machine from 1959 to 1972.
“…this [next track] is not disco, it’s reggae from 1973 and it’s with the Upsetters and the album is called Blackboard Jungle, but it touches on something very important then we are talking about disco and that is using the studio as an instrument…the way reggae used studio had a big influence on disco production, and disco mixing…”
Short clip from a documentary about the Black Ark recording studio which Lee Perry build in 1973 in Kingston Jamaica and used untill he deliberately burned it down to the ground in 1979.
![This is not Disco…[but] there are a lot of things in this song (-Dancing in the Streets) which is leading us towards disco…one very special thing about disco is that it’s the first kind of music which is refering to it self, not only as music, because we had that before…but in a broughter way disco, the disco music, the lyrics of disco music is also refering to it self as a social experience, disco as a social phaenomenon, and, that’s not really happening in this song but again we are on our way, we are not in a disco, we are in the street…but a lot of the sensibility of disco is already here…it’s danceable, it’s Motown”](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3did9GOl71r5i2tao1_r1_1280.jpg "This is not Disco…[but] there are a lot of things in this song (-Dancing in the Streets) which is leading us towards disco…one very special thing about disco is that it’s the first kind of music which is refering to it self, not only as music, because we had that before…but in a broughter way disco, the disco music, the lyrics of disco music is also refering to it self as a social experience, disco as a social phaenomenon, and, that’s not really happening in this song but again we are on our way, we are not in a disco, we are in the street…but a lot of the sensibility of disco is already here…it’s danceable, it’s Motown”")
![“…this [next track] is not disco, it’s reggae from 1973 and it’s with the Upsetters and the album is called Blackboard Jungle, but it touches on something very important then we are talking about disco and that is using the studio as an instrument…the way reggae used studio had a big influence on disco production, and disco mixing…”](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3dc7f8Dl31r5i2tao1_1280.jpg "“…this [next track] is not disco, it’s reggae from 1973 and it’s with the Upsetters and the album is called Blackboard Jungle, but it touches on something very important then we are talking about disco and that is using the studio as an instrument…the way reggae used studio had a big influence on disco production, and disco mixing…”")
