A healthy music culture is essential for any community that hosts events.
It can act as a playground for residents interested in techno, house, and drum and bass music to express themselves freely. A dark room full of flashing lights, music and dancing raves can attract people from all walks of life.
Gabriel Bettey, founder of Dubversified Culture in Victoria, established his event promotion company in 2017 to create more inclusion and representation around the electronic music scene.
“It’s important for harm reduction and consent,” said Bettey. “It’s also important for radical self-expression and fostering community development. It inspires others to grow in their art.”
Attendees and organizers want to transform rave culture and distance it from the connotations of drug use and illegality it has garnered. Today, the underground parties don’t seem so underground anymore. Many rave venues are banning the use of drugs altogether in hopes of “transforming the impression that some may have on what it means to attend a ‘rave,’” Bettey said.
While raves originated in the late 1950s when the term was used to describe “wild bohemian parties” during the Soho beatnik era, today the trend of underground parties has blossomed into something different.
Bettey is a member of the Victoria Rave Squad (VRS), a Facebook group “created to spread the word on local electronic music events and keep in touch with other music lovers. The group promotes all electronic music events in and around Vancouver Island and keeps music lovers in touch.
“We don’t like the term rave. It makes it sound unorganized and illegal,” said Bettey. “We prefer the music scene to be integrated at the same level as a jazz festival or rock.”
While some may quickly associate underground music culture with youth delinquency and drug use, many spiritual and cultural elements of raves and electronic dance music can bring communities together more innocently.
“Rave culture evolved from a fringe and underground movement that was created and led by the LGBTQ+, advocating for their fundamental rights and, slowly, people are expressing themselves more healthily in an open environment,” said Bettey.
With the development of new technologies, lifestyles and understandings of safety, people’s expectations have changed even faster than the rules have. Private underground parties have remained prevalent to this day.
However, gatherings in smaller circles are no longer the norm; larger entertainment companies like Bettey’s emerged and began taking organization more seriously, promoting harm reduction and naloxone education at many of their venues.
Approximately two to three underground music events are scheduled each week in Victoria, most created by event promoters. Vancouver Island has a special makeup for these events with its serene and secluded spots, and temperate weather.
“One can think it is sort of a political movement that aims to empower the population in marginalized minorities,” Bettey said. “It’s a way to regain control over the only thing we do control: ourselves and the people surrounding us.”
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