Disco is Our Family Affair

From the underground to our dancefloors

Occasionally someone will ask “is the music all disco?”, and I’m never sure how to answer this question. Sometimes the temptation to bore them with a musical history lesson becomes overwhelming, but for Disco Descendants, this question is existential.

“In the beginning there was disco…”

Disco is club culture’s origin story. I descended from disco, and if you love dancing and dance music, then chances are you did too. The line from disco through to rave culture and modern dancefloors is a bright one: disco is where it started.

The history of disco, both the music and the club culture that supported it, is a story of radical and progressive social change. David Mancuso held his first party at The Loft in New York City on Valentine’s Day, 1970, and named it Love Saves The Day as a direct response to the homophobia and laws which prevented same sex couples from dancing together. His parties set off an incredible cultural shift, both socially and musically. Many DJs who went on to have incredibly influential careers, including Larry Levan, Nicky Siano, and Frankie Knuckles, were Loft party guests.

Disco’s ability to cut across racial, gender, and class divides made it powerful. Nile Rodgers once said disco was “more political than anything I’ve ever been involved in…I walked into a disco and saw all these disparate people getting along, within about an hour I knew I wanted to be a part of that.”

The places where disco was played were spaces of queer liberation, Black liberation, and queer and Black artistry, and as clubs worldwide are closing down, it’s important to recognise what we may be losing. Dancefloors matter, and I want our children, families, and chosen families to continue to embrace them. Modern club culture began with disco, and Disco Descendants attempts to pay homage to these origins and its ethos while passing this lineage down to the next generation. In the words of Honey Dijon: “Dancefloors do what religions and governments can’t, bringing people together from all walks of life.”

From *Dance Your Way Home: A Journey Through the Dancefloor* by Emma Warren.

All Roads Lead to Disco

Disco is sometimes called the “original dance music genre”, which is a fitting description.

There’s a great track that Cyclist played at the Disco Descendants Halloween Rave, Remember Me by Risk Assessment featuring Jemeni G:

I hear how you've married me into

Hip-Hop and Soulful and Trance and Garage

I love that

But don't forget, my maiden name is Disco

So to answer the question about the music, yes, it is all disco, and house, and techno, and pop, and funk because disco is where dance music goes, sooner or later. One day I hope to take Disco Descendants parties on a musical journey, exploring all the different roads that disco goes down.

Like many people, I enjoy dance music across the genres, both old and new. But that disco spirit, that disco ethos remains. It birthed us, it stays with us. To use the parlance of the queens, disco is mother.

From the underground to our dancefloors

All Roads Lead to Disco

Get Your Christmas On!