DISCO turns 50 – #2 The Peak

This programme is held in Hungarian.

Disco, as a musical genre and achievement of the 1970s, reached its peak fifty years ago, in 1976, sweeping everything before it and dominating the musical world for several years, and it has been constantly renewing and returning ever since. The discotheque, as a synonym for clubs, has an even longer history, and the two are closely intertwined. In our four-part series we follow the path of the genre; the multimedia presentation is completed by period music materials, bibliographical curiosities, archival content and numerous music excerpts. On site, a DJ presents the music live: the lecture is preceded by an atmosphere-setting warm-up, and the evening concludes with a special music mix that also foreshadows the next stages of the series. The second part, titled The Peak, presents the global domination of the genre.

In the second part of the series we return to disco’s most successful period, the years between 1977 and 1979, focusing primarily on key events and musical centers in the United States.

Isaac Hayes, Barry White and George McCrae had already prepared the rise of the genre in the first half of the seventies, and Van McCoy’s 1975 success then gave disco new momentum. Within a few years, the style evolved from the world of clubs into one of the most important currents in popular culture. The best-known symbol of this period was Studio 54 in Manhattan, which, during its brief operation, became the defining club of the era and a legend of New York nightlife.
During the presentation we also recall those cult record labels that fundamentally shaped the disco sound of the late decade. Among others, we will talk about the releases, performers and producers of Casablanca, Salsoul, Philadelphia International, Buddah, T.K. Disco, SAM Records and Fantasy.
We will explore disco’s peak years through notable clubs, musicians, DJs, producers and the stories connected to them. We will also present those iconic films that contributed to shaping the genre’s visual world and its social perception, including Shaft, Saturday Night Fever, Thank God It’s Friday and Xanadu.

Special attention will be given to the complex relationship between rock and disco: how the well-known rock artists of the era reacted to disco’s overwhelming success, and how they incorporated its rhythms and soundscape into their own music. In addition, we will touch on the early years of the parallelly emerging hip-hop subculture, and on how this new trend became connected to club life, DJ culture and the New York music scene.
The one-and-a-half-hour multimedia lecture is completed by period music releases, archival materials, bibliographical curiosities and numerous music excerpts. Once again, a DJ will present the recordings live: the evening is preceded by an atmosphere-setting warm-up, and the lecture is closed by a special music mix.

The musical and music-historical journey through the peak years of disco also serves as an introduction to the next part of the series, which will present the world of European disco, electronic and space disco, as well as 1980s eurodisco and italo disco.

During the evening, among others, seminal recordings by Tom Moulton, Nile Rodgers, Chic, Donna Summer, Bee Gees, Tavares, Village People, Earth, Wind & Fire, Gloria Gaynor, Sylvester, Sister Sledge, The Ritchie Family, Commodores, Meco, Gary’s Gang, The Trammps, Grandmaster Flash, Lipps Inc., Odyssey, Dan Hartman, Michael Jackson, Candido, The Salsoul Orchestra and many more artists will be played.

The full playlist will be published after the event.