Detroit's famed techno community gathered in the thirteenth floor auditorium of Detroit's Coleman A. Young/City-County building on Monday morning for the unveiling of the first annual Detroit Electronic Music Festival. The DEMF, scheduled to take place Memorial Day weekend (May 27-29) on three stages on Hart Plaza (which sits on the banks of the Detroit River), is the first such large-scale event undertaken in Detroit, an early hotbed for such legendary techno artists as Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson and Derrick May. The lineup, assembled by DEMF Artistic Director/electronic music artist/producer/label head Carl Craig, has been a closely guarded secret since the festival was announced in January, so, to say there's been a buzz would be an understatement.
Craig, via an e-mail exchange from Brussels projected on a ten-foot screen is coy at first, joking, "I don't know if it's a good time to tell." The chuckles of amusement gave way to expressions of approval as he typed in each scheduled performer, one-by-one. When all the e-mails had been exchanged, all of the above names were indeed scheduled to perform. But the eclectic nature of the festival was also revealed, as hip-hop outfits the Roots and Mos Def, avant-funky turntable theorist DJ Spooky, dancefloor faves A Guy Called Gerald and Laurent Garnier were also confirmed to perform.
But the bulk of the lineup is dominated, appropriately and predictably, by such Detroit artists as Richie Hawtin, the Detroit Grand Pubahs (who recently signed with Jive Records to release a remix of their sure-to-be-summer-hit "Sandwiches"), booty DJs Assault and Godfather, techno-jazz artist Recloose (who releases records on Craig's Planet E label), turntablist Len Swan and dozens of others who have not yet hit the mainstream musical radar.
However, with sets beginning at noon and ending by midnight (a stipulation of the Detroit Recreation Department), this may be one of the mainstream's best opportunities to see the much-ballyhooed electronic music revolution in action. As Detroit Recreation Department representative Alberta Wilburn said, "I go back to Sam Cooke and beyond, and if this music can get my arthritic knees moving..."
Or, as promoter Carol Marvin summed up the event, "The goal is to have people dancing non-stop for three days."
For the full Detroit Electronic Music Festival lineup, visit www.demf.net.
CHRIS HANDYSIDE
(May 2, 2000)