Bogota?

Bogota?

15 January, 2009 | 1.31PM

• Written by: Phillip O
• Filed under: Music News : bogota

Click through for a short tale about a city, how our scene has evolved throughout the years and how external factors can affect something so intangible as a music scene…

Bogota is a City of around 10 M people, it is the capital city of Colombia, in the north tip of South America.

During the past 11 years the Dance Music scene has been growing to the point of having several international names playing in different venues the same day. In the early days, mid 90’s, the only way to see an international Dj was on these raves outside the city, during a time where the mayor had dictated the law for nightclubs to close at 1 AM. (1997)

Everything was sort of underground in those days, the music, the Djs, the vibe, it wasn’t until 2001 when the promoter company called “Morrocco” brought Dave Seaman, after this, everything changed, no more old houses and underground Dj’s, now it was the time for bigger stages and well known Dj’s.

Brands like Renaissance, Perfectoand Global Underground were flooding the cities with their logos printed on Flyers, gradually the parties went from 500 people to 10 thousand attendees (in some parties) in a matter of 4 years, there was even a yearly “Love Parade Tribute” going on for a few years (they even brought Dr Motte and Westbam once!)

As the nights became more massive, they became more unsuitable for the regulars, annoyed by the amount of mobsters “being hype” at the raves and other external facts, like having to drive back into town, which of course generated an increase of the accidents in the city and the alert of the authorities.

While all this was happening, another mayor changed the law and put it till 3 am for bars and establishments alike, but some smart club owners were already applying for a law not many knew about, the social club law, it allowed establishments to remain open for as long as desired, so by tweaking the bureaucracy, the club scene saw its return into the big metropolis, now reinforced with new adepts who found in the Clubs a perfect solution for their weekend affairs, big names now playing in town, no need to drive on big highways, strong filters in their doors…

Its been a nice ride since then, hundreds of Djs and brands like MoS, Hed Kandi, Cadenza, M-Nus, GU, Nokia Trends, Soul Heaven, among many, shook Bogota’s best dance floors, such as Cinema, Cha Cha and Gotica. not to mention the increase of new talent emerging every day, for example people like Alex Young whose tracks get played by names such as Richie Hawtin and James Zabiela, Zur Face, Dj AX and Johhnie House-in

In the past weeks the media started announcing the new measure, the current mayor decided to take away the granted permission for Clubs to operate after 3 am…

which brings a bunch of new questions; will the new law bring back the old days of the big raves on the countryside?
how will this affect the scene? will it grow? is the city ready?

only time will tell.

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