Garold Fowler boogierepublic@yahoo.com
The EVOLUTION & INFLUENCE OF FUNK & DISCO
from Sly & the Family Stone to today's artists
Boogie Republic’s theater and educational programming explores the evolution of funk and disco and their influence on popular music from the 1970s to the present.
Rather than treating these genres as isolated musical styles, Boogie Republic's repertoire examines the ways in which funk & disco's rhythmic, harmonic, instrumental and production characteristics crossed genre boundaries and influenced rock, punk, new wave, pop, R&B and contemporary dance music.
A Research-Based Approach to Repertoire
Boogie Republic’s repertoire is intentionally curated rather than assembled solely as a collection of popular songs. Selection is informed by consideration of musical lineage, historical context, stylistic characteristics and the influence of funk and disco on artists working outside those genres.
Through the juxtaposition of songs from different periods and musical traditions, the program allows audiences to hear these relationships directly. A song performed by a rock artist, for example, may reveal rhythmic, harmonic or production characteristics associated with the disco movement, while contemporary artists demonstrate how those same musical ideas have been absorbed, transformed and reinterpreted for new generations.
Case Studies in Musical Influence
The Rolling Stones – Miss You
A landmark example of disco's influence entering the vocabulary of rock. The recording incorporates rhythmic and instrumental characteristics associated with contemporary disco while maintaining the Stones' established rock identity.
Blondie – Heart of Glass
A punk/new-wave band incorporating disco-oriented rhythms and production into a crossover recording, demonstrating the increasingly fluid boundaries between rock and dance music in the late 1970s.
Duran Duran
Funk, disco and R&B influenced rhythm section mixed with Giorgio Moroder influenced keyboards, and rock inspired guitar became important components of the New Romantic and new-wave movements.
Daft Punk
A contemporary example of artists intentionally drawing upon the harmonic, rhythmic and production aesthetics of earlier disco and funk recordings.
Bruno Mars
A modern artist whose work demonstrates the continued relevance of funk, soul and disco vocabulary within contemporary popular music.