Discophonia: Dance Music for Listening. A Contribution to the Early History of Electronic Music in Lithuania
Discophonia: Dance Music for Listening. A Contribution to the Early History of Electronic Music in Lithuania

Summary/Abstract: Discophonia is the title of the debut album by the Lithuanian band Argo, one of the pioneering electronic music ensembles in the Soviet Union. It was released in 1981 by the Melodia pressing plant in Rīga and reached a run of around one million copies. The acclaim of Argo was evident and proved by the fact that in 1979–1986 the band performed around 50 concerts per year, touring around socialist states and taking part in TV shows. The title of the discussed album is prominent: “disco” is a short term for “discotheque” and “phonia” defines disco as an aural experience. The ambitions of the ensemble are materialized not only on the vinyl record’s envelope. Profound composi- tional ideas become evident when considering merits of the creative founder and lead- er of the band, Giedrius Kuprevičius. A prominent academic music composer himself, Kuprevičius mentions the composition technique of The Beatles, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Isao Tomita, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull and Yes as influential and important for Argo next to Bach, Mozart, Berio and Stockhausen.The music analysis of the album’s ontologically “thick” sonic material and manuscripts reveals the true purpose of the endeavor of the Argonauts. The article will display cre- ative musical means by which Argo urged the audience to perceive their music as one to which they can dance, but also listen.

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