THE UNTOLD STORY OF RAREGROOVE • Curtis Benjamin • Veteran Manchester clubber

Описание: Raw exclusive unedited rushes from the cutting room floor that begin to reveal the Untold Story Of Raregroove from the perspective of the people who were there busting moves and creating shapes on the dancefloor... Raregroove.com in conjunction with the RAREGROOVES channel on youtube, document their experiences, their recollections and their stories...

In Apr 2022 raregroove.com met up with Jeff Durrant.

Background to the Interview:
While promoting The May London Raregroove Party old school style, handing out fliers to dancers around London, I bump in to Curtis Benjamin, veteran clubber from Manchester.

Curtis brings an interesting perspective to the unfolding story, but we have to respectfully agree to disagree that Northern Soul and Manchester was where it all started when it came to Raregroove. There were certainly pioneering DJs like Keb Darge originating from the Northern Soul scene who were instrumental in discovering very rare funk tracks during his early warehouse travels through America while looking for obscure and long forgotten records on independent American labels... but the Raregroove scene centred around music that had multiple origins – not just soul – and was music that spanned a fusion of genres – again, not just limited to soul.

In fact tracks that were strictly on the 'funk' tip were very often rejected or missed by Northern Soul collectors who were only looking for music that had a pounding fast 4-4 beat characterised by the sound of the uptempo Motown classics. The records that Northern Soul fans were specifically looking for were the unknowns on smaller labels and tracks sung by lesser known artists.

The Northern Soul scene was mainly built around the 'cult' of the rare seven inch single and although Northern Soul shares this rarity element in the evolution of its scene, the raregroove playout box was never limited by format. Raregroove DJs were happy to play album tracks, 12"s and sevens... it was not about the prestige of finding rare seven inches, it was about finding records that had the right 'groove' to swing a party... hence the word 'groove' being so important when finding a term that best described the music being rediscovered and played during that era.

I point out to Curtis that the scene was a far cry from the Northern Soul scene where a galloping underlying 4-4 beat kept dancers in an aerobic workout all night long. Raregroove was about the 'ride'... taking the dancers on a journey through different tempos, rhythms and moods.

Raregroove came about as an antidote to the commercial production sound of contemporary 1980's club-soul that was being pushed nationally by the majors. There was a generation of up and coming DJs who rejected this sound and retrospectively used back catalogues to dig for music that had a raw funky feel.

Going back to the archives and the vinyl pressings of a previous generation was escapism... playing this body of music as opposed to contemporary releases of the day allowed the dancers to escape the confines of the hard metronome beats of the contemporary soul sound and dance to looser freer cross rhythms which were the feature of many 1970s funk and soul productions. This was a scene that was not being retro for the sake of being 'on trend'... it was a scene run by DJs that recognised that this particular style of music gave more space for the dancers to get funky on the dancefloor.

The Raregroove scene was fuelled by the dancefloor's reaction to the music at the 80's warehouse parties and at clubs like the Wag and Africa Centre. The dancers appreciation at those mid 1980's clubs and events inspired the up and coming DJs searching for party music to dig even deeper and broaden the textures being played while still focusing on finding tracks that retained a 'funky' feel.

As Curtis rightly pinpoints the original Raregroove scene was more of a party scene than a genre dedicated to playing a specific kind of music – and that's why the spectrum is so broad.

However we find some common ground and we can agree on a couple of things – 'This little Island has the music, the style, the vibe, for partying' and we also agree that Northern Soul and Raregroove are part of the UK's rich heritage of underground dance scenes supported by the DJs that dug for the music and most importantly the dancers who brought their energy to the dancefloor.

As part of our mission to get the full story heard we hope to interview as many clubbers, promoters and DJs as possible. If you know someone who has lived and breathed the music please leave a comment below or get in touch with us via facebook to get involved and document the unfolding 'untold' story. Whatever your take, your frank experience or story, it's important that we get it documented to create a 360 narrative.

Keep up with the story anytime by typing 'raregroove.com' into your browser address bar or by searching youtube for 'THE UNTOLD STORY OF RAREGROOVE'.

© Stephen Rumney, 2022.