The fact that the house music scene is currently living hard times nowadays is nuttin' of a phantasy, although history would tend to show that it has always more or less been the case, except during that 1988-93 period where the major companies had some commitment on it. Since then, much has been written about why house music has never reached the level of notoriety that R&B and hip hop have gained by the same time, despite its numerous talents. Could this be that house music has to face this situation in order to keep on being trully alive, as those so called cursed poets in France in the XV° Century ? Elements of response thereafter from various observations + contributions from people we've recently interviewed…

Once again, I come to remember this question that was regularly asked to me Stateside back in the days about why Coda Magazine, which I had been writing for since 1995 never managed to have an English written version. A situation that to me was quite illustrative of the cruel lack of exposure that the house music scene was facing despite the existence of a prolific press in UK. And U know what ? I was not too suprised about it, judging by the editorial choices of those mags financed by a growing amount of night promoters focused on the way to make fast money by any means necessary with all such a situation suggests ; not to mention that tabloid culture that most of them have progressively adopted, leaving the sole Nicky Trax having a real interesting column about house music on Blues & Soul at the time !!! All on all, some of you may say that house DJ's have nothing to complain about ; something you might hear from Frankie Feliciano for instance, happy to be paid to travel worlwide for doing what he loves, but what do his earnings represent compared to the £ 60 000 that some UK DJ has made for spinning for 2 hours in London during last New Year's Eve ??? On the other hand, how to explain the differences of rates from what US DJ's get offered in their countries and what they're asking for abroad (that could sometimes be multiplied up to 20 times !!!). Well, the value of something is nothing but what we're ready to pay for getting it ! In other words, the law of the market…

On the other hand, seing what some others have done for being "commercially" accepted makes me tend to think that the best things come from the underground, where people tend to give their very best from their own sufferings, although what's considered as good reminds the prerogative of each of us, regarding our personal tastes, as confirmed by Dimitri from Paris. It's mainly up to you to be accepted whatever you may do and there's nothing to say about this as it's the public who's got the final word at the end of the day. Another interesting observation comes from the mouth of Baltimore diva Ultra Naté, pointing out the fact that things usually go into circles. (Good) house music was around some 15 years ago and no doubt should resurface within a short period time. Something that we oughta compare with Norman Jay's sayings  For our UK vet, the fact that you may be under or outside the spotlights varies from a period to another with the successive arrivals of new generations that have to get to know you.

One thing for sure is the fact that there will always be good music around, should it be underground or not ; the problem residing in the fact for the crowd to be aware of its existence and hopefully Internet looks like the ideal tool for music searchers, even though tons of things reminds to be done for it to be considered as a viable medium. Is this possible ? Only time will tell, although you may be assured of the fact that we're gonna our very best to reach this status. MFSB