I watched a discussion panel organised by my favourite London club Fold, touching upon the roots of electronic music and clubbing and how the scene could improve its inclusivity towards ethnic minorities and educate people about the origins of the movement. The electronic music scene (techno in particular) is often considered “white”, as the vast majority of club promoters and performers are white and male. Therefore, those nights attract a predominately white crowd and, even though the scene is getting more and more inclusive, there is still a great lot to do to make it a safe space for those excluded groups. 

Panellists are discussing the historical and social context of electronic music and its condition now, particularly across Europe and the UK in comparison to the USA. As members of both – the black and club scene communities, NIKS, Jordan Hallpike and Charles Olisankewu discuss the history and social aspect of electronic music, their own experiences in the industry and the ideas of expanding its accessibility and inclusivity. Tokenism is one of the topics that hasn’t been talked about enough, and which affects the majority of artists coming from ethnic minorities. While techno music was born in working-class black and queer communities, it is clear that nowadays those groups have limited access to it, whether we’re talking about participating in those events as an audience or being an artist. There are more and more people from these groups that belong to the scene, but it is still dominated by white cis males. 

This panel opened up my interest in the topic of decolonising electronic music. It is incredibly bizarre that a large number of the audience has no idea what are they listening to, and at the same time spends loads of money, going to electronic music events. Money that fills the pockets of people who are benefiting from culture and music that does not belong to them and cease to educate their audience or recognise the artists. People, who colonised electronic music just as their ancestors colonised foreign lands years back.