Music can express emotion, capture powerful messages, and unite those who share their enjoyment of it. Popular music festivals in America today, such as Firefly, Made in America, and Lollapalooza do just that. A relatively new genre of music is becoming more and more dominant at these festivals: electronic dance music, or EDM. EDM involves a wide variety of instruments, programs, and technology. Thousands crowd around a grand stage where one DJ plays their live mixes, full of bass drops and catchy choruses. Americans cannot get enough of this music genre, but something that many might not know is that most EDM artists are actually from other parts of the world.

The U.S. is undoubtedly home to some of the most lively and entertaining music festivals out there. Eleanor Napoli ’16 commented, “Music festivals, Made in America in particular, are really fun because everyone is so enthusiastic about being there and seeing their favorite artists perform live. Music is the international language for teenagers especially, and kids from all over the world see and listen to their favorite artists despite the language barrier.” EDM dominates festivals including Tomorrowland in Belgium, Sensation in Amsterdam, and Stereosonic in Australia.

While EDM is a fairly new genre of music, with all of the modern technology available today, its roots actually originate from the 70’s and 80’s. Disco, with funk and soul influences, was typically played in clubs, accompanied by dancing and bright lights. These elements are equally prevalent at modern-day EDM shows. Another genre of music that influenced today’s EDM is Electro, which uses bass and electronic musical instruments called polyphonic synthesizers. Using keyboards, Electro musicians create multiple different notes with unique sounds. One of the earliest electronic musical instruments, the “Theremin,” was created by Russian inventor, León Theremin in 1928. While the U.S. claims the name “EDM”, the roots of Electronic music lie in other countries.

Many of the most popular EDM artists are indeed European. Producer and DJ, Zedd, one of the few headliners at last year’s Firefly Music Festival, is from Saratov, Russia. Jack Prendergast ’16 shares his experience: “I attended Firefly last year and thought that Zedd was very good. Everyone was dancing along to the music and really enjoyed his performance.” Prendergast was surprised to learn that Zedd is Russian. On the subject of foreign EDM artists, Head of the Computer Science Department, Jenks Whittenberg, commented, “One of my favorite EDM artists is Aphex Twin, who is from England. It’s important to understand an artist’s roots when learning about the history of music.” Kygo, known as the king of the electronic “tropical house” genre, caught the attention of EDM listeners with remixes of songs by Ed Sheeran, Of Monsters and Men, and The Weeknd. His original tracks, such as, “Firestone”, “Stole the Show”, and “Here for You” were also instant hits upon their release. While Kygo and the Tropical House genre have become a hit in the U.S., Kygo’s unique sound is selling out shows around the world. Kyrre Gørvell-Dahll, or Kygo, brings his talent from Bergen, Norway.  Other foreign champions of Electronic music include Calvin Harris from Dumfries, Scotland, Felix Jaehn from Hamburg, Germany, and Tiesto from Breda, Netherlands.

EDM artists, increasingly innovative with their technology use, now easily compete with popular rap and pop singers for the top slots on global music charts. However, it proves true that not many people know the origin of their favorite music. The rise of EDM music will undoubtedly continue in America, and around the world.