Project: Ravers Name: Sergei Zhiharev Form: 10 Kochkurovo 2015

A rave (from the verb: to rave) is a large party featuring performances by disc jockeys (DJs) and occasionally live performers playing electronic music, particularly electronic dance music (EDM). Music played at raves may include house, acid house, techno, trance, breakbeat hardcore, electro house, dubstep, drum and bass, big beat, breakbeat, hardcore techno, moombahton, gabber, industrial, jumpstyle, hardstyle and other forms of electronic dance music. The music is amplified with a large sound reinforcement system, typically with large subwoofers to produce a deep bass sound. The music is accompanied by laser light shows, projected images, visual effects and smoke machines.

History In the late 1950s in London the term "Rave" was used to describe the "wild bohemian parties" of the Soho beatnik set. In 1958 Buddy Holly recorded the hit "Rave On," citing the madness and frenzy of a feeling and the desire for it to never end. The word "rave" was later used in the burgeoning mod youth culture of the early 1960s as the way to describe any wild party in general. People who were gregarious party animals were described as "ravers". Pop musicians such as Steve Marriott of The Small Faces and Keith Moon of The Who were self-described "ravers".

In the mid to late 1980s a wave of psychedelic and other electronic dance music, most notably acid house-music and Techno, emerged and caught on in the clubs, warehouses, and free-parties first in Manchester in the mid 1980s and then later London. In many ways what would become known as the Rave scene, was influenced by the Northern Soul scene which throughout the late 1960s and through the 1970s and 1980s had involved large groups of mainly working class kids dancing all night to rare US soul records. With the end of the UK's textile industry in the northwest, suddenly large mills and warehouses became empty and unauthorized parties were held in them. The first warehouse parties in Manchester were organized by the group The Stone Roses back in 1985, when to get around the licensing laws they would play a gig and book a line up of DJs under the disused arches of Piccadilly train station.

In the late 1980s, the word "rave" was adopted to describe the subculture that grew out of the acid house movement. Activities were related to the party atmosphere of Ibiza, a Mediterranean island in Spain, frequented by British, Italian, Greek, Irish and German youth on vacation.

Drug use In the U.S., law enforcement agencies have branded the subculture as a purely drug-centric culture, usually drugs such as Marijuana, MDMA, 2CB, LSD, DMT, Amphetamine and Ketamine, similar to the hippie movement of the 1960s. Groups that have addressed alleged drug use at raves include the Electronic Music Defense and Education Fund (EMDEF), The Toronto Raver Info Project, and DanceSafe, all of which advocate harm reduction approaches. In 2005, Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, advocated drug testing on highways as a countermeasure against drug use at raves.