Born from extensive international research, Global Tribe documents a
little understood global dance culture that has mushroomed all over the
world since its beginnings in diverse psychedelic music scenes
flourishing in Goa, India, in the 1970s and 1980s. From small parties to
major international events such as Portugal's Boom Festival, the
paramount expression of this movement has been the festival. Via
first-hand accounts of the scenes, festivals and music of psychedelic
trance (psytrance) in Australia, Israel, Italy, the UK, the US, Germany,
Turkey and other places, the author explores this transnational movement
with attention to its diverse aesthetic roots, national translations and
internal controversies. As a thoroughly engaging multi-sited ethnography
and an intimate examination of the digital, chemical, cyber and media
assemblage of psytrance, Global Tribe studies the integrated role of
technology and spirituality in the formation of this visionary arts
movement. The book demonstrates how the event-culture of psytrance
accommodates rites of risk and consciousness, a complex circumstance
demanding revision of existing approaches to ritual, music and culture.