Remember It All: Continuation of Movement

From April to December 2006, within the framework of the tribute festival 'Remember It All,' four parties featuring iconic Russian DJs—immediate participants of the most vibrant and interesting events in Moscow's club scene from 1986 to 2006—will take place.

Yesterday
In 2006, the Russian dance movement is celebrating its twentieth anniversary. The starting point of this history can be considered the formation in Moscow in the winter of 1986 of the creative union 'Disco-Workshop,' uniting the first 'Komsomol discos' and independent sound systems. At the same time, in St. Petersburg, in the famous squat on Fontanka, private parties were taking place, introducing Russia to the new sound of British acid house. Currently, the dance culture in Russia is experiencing a rebirth. Weekly, around two hundred parties of various formats are held in Moscow alone—ranging from small private parties for friends to giant raves. Top DJs and musicians regularly perform in the city, specialized magazines are published, and dozens of club internet portals are operating. Dance music is actively making its way onto the radio and TV. The circulation of legal CDs with DJ mixes is steadily growing. Sociologists estimate that the total club audience in Moscow today numbers around 200,000 people.

Today
Twenty years is a decent enough period to acquire its own historiography, its memoirists, and cult figures. Unfortunately, there is no connected history of the two dance decades. There is neither an accurate chronology of events, nor photo archives, nor detailed memoirs of immediate event participants. This gap is what the project 'Remember It All' aims to correct. Its goal is to sum up these twenty years, create a detailed chronicle of events, and revive the most vivid moments of this movement in memory. Since December 2005, we have been collecting factual material and memoirs from the actual participants of the described events. DJs and promoters, key figures of Moscow's nightlife in 1986-2006, share their memories on the air of the 'Signs' program on radio station 'Dynamite FM,' in the pages of the magazine 'Ne Spat!,' and on the internet portal www.44100.com. The project already involves Vladimir Fonarev (DJ Fonar, one of the first Moscow DJs and radio hosts), AK Troitsky (music critic and ideologist of the first Moscow raves), Vladimir Trapeznikov (DJ Volodya, from the promo groups 4Rest Division and Now&Wow), Igor Shulinsky (journalist and promoter, founder of the club 'Ptuch'), Oleg Tsodikov (organizer of the 'Gagarin party' and promoter of the club 'Titanic'). Next in line are memoirs of Andrey Bartenev, Alexey Gorobiy, Gari Chaglyan, Timur Mamedov, DJs Gruva, Fish, Zorkin, and many others.

At the same time, a special mini-site 'XX Years of Movement' is being launched on the portal www.44100.com, where anyone can publish their own version of the described events and become a member of the virtual club 'Remember It All.' The project's ultimate goal is to create a community of people who 'remember it all,' united based on a common interest in dance music.

Tomorrow
Throughout 2006, within the framework of this project, four conceptual parties are planned, each of which will explore a specific layer of dance culture from 1986 to 2006. The first event of this series, the party 'Baikonur,' designed for three thousand people, will take place at 'Gaudi' on April 8. It will feature truly iconic DJs and musicians—Fonar, Kolya, Fish, Volodya, Kompas-Vrubel, Kubikov, and the project Radiotrance. The next party of the 'Remember It All' festival will be held on June 18 in the format of a beachside open-air and will be dedicated to the 'Russian Ibiza.' Two events are planned for the autumn of 2006; they will take place at 'Gaudi' on September 22 and November 17.