As I am sure many of you know, we at Kagenmi are huge trance fans. This sub-genre of electronic music is one that can completely change your mood and now satisfies people all around the world with hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people attending concerts to listen to acid trance, progressive trance, psychedelic trance, uplifting trance and many more of the sub-genres of trance.

As with any music type, trance has a beginning and a huge growth to where it is now. In this article we will show you how trance has grown to become one of the most popular genres in the modern world.

Testing the Water

80s – 90s

Some people say that trance music began in the early 80s with albums such as Neil Young’s Trans clearly showing some roots of the genre. There only really began to be a re-emergence of the music in the early 1990s where German artists began to include very emotional electronic music.

The developments in DJ technology and equipment and the emergence of the ‘drug culture’ certainly contributed to a development and popularity in an electronic genre that allowed listeners to ‘lose’ themselves mentally and go into a separate state-of-mind, away from external influences.

Paul van Dyk’s remix of Humate’s Love Simulation in 1993 clearly shows some evidence of trance, and as we all know, also created a world famous trance artist.

Also, Cafe del Mar is another great example of an early trance song. The first release, below, recorded by Energy 52 was so popular that it has been remixed several times by all different DJs and was a key contributor to the increasing popularity in Ibiza, where Cafe del Mar is located.

Netherlands: The Electronic Music Superpower

Late 90s – mid 00s

From its origin in ‘underground’ nightclubs in Germany, it’s neighbour, the Netherlands, emerged into an electronic music ‘superpower’. Now many of the world’s top DJs come from this small European nation and it is the early 00s that saw them really shine.

In the beginnings, Djs like Armin van Buuren and Tiesto experimented with trance and it quickly became apparent how successful it can be for them. Tiesto became the DJ Mag #1 DJ from 2002-2004 and trance really took off with other international artists like Sasha and Paul Oakenfold becoming the ‘heavyweights’ of trance.

Encore Une Fois was recorded in 1997 and is a classic example of trance when it became more internationally famous.

The Armin Years

2005 – Present

Armin van Buuren is undoubtedly one of the biggest and most famous trance artists of the present day. Since taking the title of DJ Mag #1 DJ in 2007 he went on to win it another 3 times. Since 2005 he has released three successful albums, Shivers, Imagine and Mirage and his popular podcats, A State of Trance, now claims to have 15 million listeners worldwide.

Along with Armin, trance has produced superstars like Markus Schulz, Ferry Corsten, Orjan Nilsen, Above & Beyond, Gareth Emery and many more. These DJs all bring their own style to the genre and performance styles.

For fans there are plenty of concerts and podcasts to keep you entertained and in touch with trance. Sensation is possibly the biggest trance event, held in Amsterdam every year. Gatecrasher (Birmingham, UK), Sunburn (Goa, India) and Tomorrowland (Boom, Belgium) are some other huge trance-specific festivals.

For more information about podcasts you can download click the button below.

Podcast Mania

For more information about festivals and events around the world click the button below.

Kagenmi’s 2012 Festival Calendar

To round up the article, we’d like to leave you with Prelude by Above & Beyond, with whom we saw in the new year and are avid fans of their podcast, Trance Around The World.