GOA GIL, THE UNBELIEVABLE STORY OF TRANCE MUSIC'S SPIRITUAL FATHER

Last weekend, thousands let them themselves go to the music at the Ozora festival, in a 24 hours long ceremonial opening by Goa Gil. The man is an electronic music legend yet his story is mostly unknown. From San Fransisco to the Indian beaches, he wandered on a long troublesome but spiritually enriching path. The guy we nickname “music baba” is the founding father of a rave philosophy that is still spreading.

Last weekend, thousands let them themselves go to the music at the Ozora festival, in a 24 hours long ceremonial opening by Goa Gil. The man is an electronic music legend yet his story is mostly unknown. From San Fransisco to the Indian beaches, he wandered on a long troublesome but spiritually enriching path. The guy we nickname “music baba” is the founding father of a rave philosophy that is still spreading.

Translated by Antonin Pruvot

At 64 years old, Goa Gil is an historical figure: one the oldest DJs in the world but also one of the most effective. His speciality: hallucinating twenty four hours sets, on tape, using hi-tech, dark psy and all the craziest sounds in psytrance music. The last one was the Ozora opening performance on July 30th, this picture probably describes it better than any words. The artist – who is also a sâdhu (a saint in sanskrit) – dedicated his life to “raise awareness through music”. It is in that quest, between the 70s and the 90s, that he and his companions shaped the spirit of the modern rave in the continuity of the hippy movements. Their model was an inspiration for many, like the Boom Festival, Burning Man and legions of other ravers around the world. Let's start smoothly with a seven hours mix recorded in Goa in 2000.

Goa Gil's story begins in San Fransisco in the 50s but his adventure really starts in 1967. He is 17, his name is Gilbert Levey and he is putting up posters for a living. He does that for a legendary gig in San Fransisco: the Family Dog, where groups such as Santana, Velvet Underground, Jefferson Airplane or Grateful Dead used to perform. He lives in that 60s/70s rock universe, surrounded by artists like Steve Miller, Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles or Janis Joplin - “who was a good friend”, amongst many others. "I was in the right place at the right time, as I got to see most of the well-known musical artists of the time performing live, from The Beatles, The Sone, Pink Floyd and Sid Barrett, and on and on and on... All of that is part of my history, and part of who I am. It also helped to shape my musical tastes".