The Fraught Life Cycle of Regional Music Trends

a.k.a. Raptor house, baile funk and the thoughtless way that Europeans and Americans often engage with scenes and sounds from other parts of the world.

In last week’s First Floor digest, I mentioned the release of Changa Fusion, a new archival EP from Venezuela’s DJ Yirvin. That name likely won’t ring familiar to many readers, but during the early 2000s, he was one of the key figures in Caracas’ miniteca (mobile soundsystem) circuit, and though his contemporary DJ Babatr is generally credited as the originator of the city’s distinctive raptor house sound (which also came to be known as changa tuki), Yirvin was working right alongside him, and produced some of the era’s most defining tunes.

In the grand scheme of electronic music history, this is admittedly a relatively niche tale, but Yirvin is someone whose work appears ripe for re-evaluation, especially considering the wave of attention that’s been showered on DJ Babatr during the past two years. After the latter contributed to Nick León’s 2022 breakout “Xtasis”—a song that was named the track of the year by both Resident Advisor and Crack, and also effectively put the TraTraTrax label on the map—the industry last year rushed to celebrate DJ Babatr’s legacy, conveniently glossing over the fact that his music had been all but ignored for decades by the press and club / festival bookers alike. Within a span of six months, he played at Primavera Sound, Unsound and a PAN night at Berghain (the same one that had Skrillex on the lineup), was the subject of a glowing feature in DJ Mag, was given his own monthly NTS show and also released a collaborative single with avant-pop diva (and fellow Venezuelan) Arca. (That track ended up on Resident Advisor’s Best Tracks of 2023 list.)

All of that is great, and is honestly somewhat remarkable. DJ Babatr deserves his flowers, and while they arguably arrived decades too late, it’s nonetheless encouraging to see electronic music working to acknowledge the contributions of a Black, working-class innovator from outside of Europe and North America who was ignored for far too long. Moreover, his newfound success should theoretically open the door for other Latin artists, past and present, especially during a time when the industry continues to vocally assert its dedication to diversity, and the elevation of Latin rhythms in particular.

Given that, this archival record from DJ Yirvin seems like an obvious candidate for media attention. Not only is the man a literal contemporary of DJ Babatr, but his Changa Fusion EP came out on ACA, the exact same label that helped stoke interest in DJ Babatr last year with The Tribe (Baila), an archival EP compiling some of his best material from the early 2000s. (Surfacing in March of 2023, the record was basically the first major release with Babatr’s name on it after the hype around “Xtasis” reached its peak.) ACA is run jointly by NAP, a Colombian artist who came of age in Canada and currently resides in Mexico City, and Phran, a Venezuelan artist living in Barcelona who also runs the Vimana label and last year put together a very cool zine called Logos of the Venezuelan Minitecas. Their involvement alone should theoretically stir up interest from journalists and the wider industry, but Yirvin also has a much bigger co-sign on his resume: Arca, who sampled his track “Metelo Sacalo” when she was tapped to remix Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande’s “Rain on Me” in 2021—and then gave him a shoutout on social media.

There’s no shortage of potential angles of interest here, and yet, aside from First Floor, the only other English-language press outlet that’s mentioned the DJ Yirvin record is Philip Sherburne’s Futurism Restated newsletter. Granted, Philip and I both have the advantage of living in the same country as ACA co-founder Phran and running in similar social circles as him, but even in a time when the music press is devoting less resources to the generation of news stories, it’s striking that none of the major electronic music publications have dedicated any coverage to this EP. Come to think of it, aside from DJ Babatr, has even one other raptor house artist received serious attention from the press during the past year? Not really. (And for what it’s worth, I haven’t seen much social media chatter on the topic either.)

That’s disappointing, but it isn’t exactly surprising. Although raptor house has become a minor cause célèbre in electronic music, it’s still something that primarily exists outside the genre’s power centers in Europe and North America. The industry—and, frankly, the wider electronic music culture—has developed similar affections during the past two decades for a myriad of regional sounds, many of them from the Global South, and the story always seems to go the same way. Like any good crush, these flare-ups initially burn quite hot, with enthusiasts—many of whom have only a superficial understanding of the music in question, let alone the region it comes from—doling out hyperbolic praise, much of it focused on the perceived novelty and / or authenticity of whatever style / genre / scene they’re talking about. (Exotification definitely comes into play here.) But that passion rarely lasts long, and once the initial thrill wears off, these regional electronic music styles (along with most, if not all, of their key protagonists) are routinely cast aside, making room for whatever next “new” sound is coming down the pike.

Some of this can be chalked up to trends, as the popularity / vitality of particular sounds will always fluctuate over time. In the big picture though, the pattern that emerges looks a lot like extraction, with entire music communities regarded as little more than passing fads—or, even worse, as creative resources whose ideas and innovations can be more effectively exploited by those with more privileged passports. Raptor house may be the latest example, but it certainly isn’t the first, so I decided to go back in time and put together a little accounting of what’s happened with another regional style that electronic music loudly fell in love with 20 years ago: baile funk.