With Black Techno Matters, Bernard Farley Uses Music To Fuel Revolution
"I thought, 'I'm not afraid of you, what are you going to do?'" Bernard Farley recalled of the moment he was shot. "Watching this film changed me because I saw something in myself that I had never seen before."
In the days that followed, Farley marched in DC to a techno music soundtrack produced by black musicians. He remembers one track in particular, Bonaventure's "Dominion" — with its "Inception-like" sound, metallic synths and Sister Souljah samples — bouncing off buildings while protesters chanted "Black Lives Matter" and "Car Streets." ? on our streets."
"That's when I realized that [techno] is more than just a party, you know? We want to change the way society works, especially the way black people are respected and honored," he said.
These exciting moments of summer 2020 crystallized the mission Farley, a multi-talent who produces and DJs under the names OutputMessage and B_X_R_N_X_R_D, was already thinking about protests before the pandemic. The Black Techno Matters organization he founded was formed after a Google search of black techno artists turned up little information on artists making that sound in the 1980s.
Black Techno Matters aims to reclaim techno as an expression of blackness in the URL and IRL space. For much of the onset of the pandemic, the company had to forgo private parties to highlight black techno artists around the world through its Instagram page and Spotify playlists. With the return of live events, Team Techno organized at Meridian Hill Park and planned a big celebration on June 19, 2022.
In addition to DC, Black Techno Matters, which now has eight members, has held events in San Francisco and Los Angeles, with more cities planned for 2023. Two Martin Luther King Jr. Day events in DC and San Francisco aim to continue King's work. New Ways: Towards a future shaped by colonized communities and dance floors.
"I use this idea of 'black fire,' and that's how I see it," Farley said of the growing Black Techno Matters movement. "I just want her to feel out of control."
On January 15 at 10:00 p.m., look for a ticket announcement in a secret location. eventbrite.com . 30 dollars
correction
In an earlier version of this story, Martin Luther King Jr. gave an incorrect location for one of the two events associated with that day. The story has been corrected.
