Under One Rhythm.
Nature connection isn't only ecology. On a city dancefloor, rhythm, people and spirit lead the way back to a sacredness we thought we'd lost.
We always talk about nature connection. What that means in the city. A deep, fundamental need to relate to the earth, to a wild that can sometimes feel we have left behind. When I was growing up, in the grey streets of north London, it was just a park of dog shit turf that was the only bit of “nature” locally. I found a different type of nature through music. Connecting through rhythm, people and spirit in parties and night clubs as I moved through drum and bass, garage and then into the most beautiful of them all, house music. In the soulful house scene DJs woke me up to the sacredness of the sounds they played and the people that joined, together. They would take us deep when we needed to, and lift us high, far above the mundanity of the modern worlds outside.
Some twenty years later I'm having a rediscovery of the house scene. I'm finding it alive and well. Beautiful experiences, magical and spiritual, a warmth of welcome. It draws me back into the excitement of spontaneity, when life can sometimes feel so repetitive. You never know really where we are heading when you turn up to the dj and the crowd. For me it's where the best DJs can act like modern shamans and take us to places within that are so hard to usually find an outlet. These times are tough and heavy and it's easy to feel our are hands tied. It's easy to feel separated and blocked. But house music in this city offers a way back to a wilder way. Now more than ever, we need to come together and dance it out.
Nature connection doesn't just mean a relationship with ecology. It's how we find our way back to a sacredness we have lost, and how we can redefine it in a modern context.