As part of the Goethe-Institut‘s “Ten Cities” project, in 2020 Spector Books publishes 21 essays by music journalists, DJs and club activists or urbanists. The book tells the history of club music and club cultures of ten urban centers from 1960 to March 2020, from Nairobi, Cairo, Kyiv, Johannesburg, Berlin, Naples, Luanda, Lagos, Bristol and Lisbon. Worldwide clubbing stands still. It’s always time to take a retrospective look at the significance of clubs as experimental fields and protected spaces-even outside Western metropolises.
Ten Cities tells the story of club music and club cultures in ten urban centres across Africa and Europe from 1960 to March 2020. All of them are or have at one stage or another been hubs in the complex networks of a global nexus forged bydance music and its cultures of clubbing. The book looks beyond the North Atlantic locations that are usually assumed to be the main focus of attention and sets out to put together a more inclusive narrative. As nocturnal raving, partying, and clubbing have become a global phenomenon, Ten Cities is an attempt to tell coeval music histories.
The project of the Goethe-Institut was developed in Nairobi and Berlin; from there, the cities were chosen, all of them with a rich subculture and a vibrant political life. They ensured that the cities were a mix of prominent ones alongside rather unsung heroes which counteract the mainstreamclub circuit.
The book accounts the similarities as well as the differences between the club cultures of these ten cities. In doing so the book aims to also draft a perspective on recent social history and practices in these cities. It is not only for local audiences interested in their city’s music history; but also, for audiences in distant places, passionate about club music and its many stories.
