Sub Berlin – The Story of Tresor

Release Date: June, 2012


ベルリンの壁崩壊後のエネルギーの爆発

ベルリン・テクノの総本山とも言われる、Tresorの旧クラブの歴史をCDとDVDでまとめたのが本作。ベルリンのハード・テクノのレーベルで知られるTresorは東西冷戦の終結時にベルリンの壁が崩壊した直後、主にテクノを流す「地下クラブ」として登場した。本作DVDには、そのクラブTresorについて、かつてそこでプレイした有名DJや創立メンバーなどのインタビューや、当時の映像を交えたドキュメンタリー映像が収録されている。

旧東ドイツ側にあった、1920年代に爆撃により焼け出された百貨店の地下室。コンクリートで塗り固められた金庫のような空間には、鉄格子やロッカーのようなものがたくさん、そあった。Tresor創立メンバーは、初めてその場所を見つけたときの廃墟感や無法地帯的な空気に圧倒されて、その雰囲気をそのまま残すような形で（そこには、現在のTresorのロゴマークと同じような形の古い鍵穴もあったという）、そこにアンダーグラウンドな音楽の「巣」を作ろうと決めたと言っている。確かに、当時のドイツは東西入り乱れ、東側で放棄された建物の多くは廃墟同然で、所有者もいない状態だったのだろう。そこで何をしても、当局の人間は何も言わなかったらしい。そういうこともあり、酸素が薄くなり誰が踊り死んでもおかしくないような地下室で、好き放題、爆音で音楽をかけることができたのだから、すごい世界である。また、そもそもTresorの前進はアシッド系のクラブ「U.F.O.」ということだが、そのアシッドの流れから、ハードなテクノがガンガン流されるようになったということは理解にかなうものだが、何がTresorを他の地のクラブと違うものにしたかというと、それは、やはりベルリンの壁の崩壊という一大パラダイムの転換にあると思われる。それまでドイツ人が閉じ込められていた東西に仕切られていた箱が全て崩壊した後、混沌の暗闇が生まれ、そこから新しい世界を切り開く途方もない爆発のパワーを無法地帯で炸裂されるには、テクノが一番適していたと誰もが映像で語っている。アヴァンギャルドで、アンダーグラウンドで、テクノロジーを活用する音楽、それが、当時のドイツ人には一番合っていたという証言もあった。ただ、Tresorがその場所で持つ地場（≒磁場）は、タイミングを良くしてデトロイト・テクノやイギリスのハウスをも強力に引き寄せ、寛容に受け入れた。東西ドイツの行き場を失ったパワーを吸い込んだ無法地帯が、大きなうねりを探し求めていたアメリカとイギリスの音楽をも吸い込んだという形なのだろうか。

Juan Atkins、Jeff Mills、Blake Baxter、Richie Hawtin、Sven Vath、Chris Liebingなどの証言や、ライブ映像なども収録されている映像と、そのサウンドトラックとしては、InfinitiやX-101のクラシックスまでをCDに収録。ベルリン・テクノが好きな人にとっては、必見＆必聴。ドキュメンタリー映像は、日本語字幕でも見られるので、ぜひ。





The Explosion of Energy After the Fall Down of the Berlin Walls

Here, the history of the first Tresor club known as ‘the Techno Base’ located in Berlin is being illustrated in CD and DVD formats. Tresor is now well known worldwide as a hard Techno label, but its origin lies back in the years right after the end of the Cold War when the Berlin Wall has collapsed, and Tresor has started as an ‘underground club’ which played Techno music all day. The interviews of DJs who have performed in Tresor and the founders of the club, together with old footages from the club’s events are well arranged to create a documentary video for the DVD.

The place was found in East German area of Berlin, and it is said that the place had been a basement of a department store which had been bombed out in the 1920’s. The underground space was surrounded by thick concrete walls, and old lockers and iron bars were found there. The place’s ruined and lawless atmosphere appeared to be so striking that everyone thought that all of the stuffs including the junks must be left as it is, for the club in which their underground music would be played (even the shape of the place’s keyhole is being left as it had been, and is being adopted for the shape of Tresor’s logo sign). It should be said that East and West Germany were all mixed in disorder at that time, and most of the constructions located in the east area were abandoned ruins. It is also said that authorities did not have any time caring about such abandoned properties. For such reasons, nothing really mattered there; how much loud the music would be, or even you dying off dancing out of oxygen in the windowless basement did not matter at all. It is not difficult to imagine that hard Techno Music was favored much to be played in Tresor, given that it is a successor of an Acid House club called “U.F.O.”. However, there is one thing that made different about Tresor when compared with clubs of other places of that time; that is the fact that a change in paradigm has taken place in Berlin due to the collapse of the Wall. I think that for German people, it had been something like being locked in to separate boxes of East and West, during the period of the Cold War. And in the video, many mention that Techno was the best music for its explosive power to break out from the lawless and dark mixture of confusion after the Wall’s fall down. I have found someone saying that avant-garde, underground, and technology are the key words that well describe the music needed for the German people of that time. Moreover, some kind of a local power – such like that of a magnetic field – has worked well and being quite timely also, to draw in Detroit Techno and U.K. House music to Tresor’s field; and the audience of Tresor has absorbed them well. Likewise the case that energies of East and West Germany all mixed up and having no way to go have gathered to the basement club, Tresor which is free of borders and restrictions, American and English House Music in search for a bigger wave may have chosen their way to be swallowed in to it.

In the DVD, you can see Juan Atkins, Jeff Mills, Blake Baxter, Richie Hawtin, Sven Vath, Chris Liebing, and many other talking about Tresor, together with few live scene footages. The accompanying CD consists of classic tracks by Infiniti, X-101, and others. I would say, it is a must buy item for everyone who loves Berlin Techno.