Ritual and liminality context electronic dance music in İzmir

Electronic Dance Music, which has gradually became a mainstream culture since the mid 80s, transformed into a field which diverse disciplines have developed interest in. Along with the emergence of England Acid House and Rave phenomenon, it has also become the latest musical practice regarding the youth since Punk. From the underground practice to the most prominent mainstream music culture, the transition of Electronic Dance Music has given rise to an academic interest that includes a wide range of disipline such as from anthropology to sociology, theology to musicology. This study analyzes İzmir scene on the basis of data collected in the field study by being subject to theoretical I analysis based on the technique a methods of the disipline I have been following. The first part focuses on the historical adventure of Electronic Dance Music. An the second part, by defining the recent polysemic and variable structure of ritual concept, which also constitutes the climax (roof) of this study, I also emphasize rites of passage elaborated by Van Gennep and Victor Turner to analyze ritual concepts as operant and symbolic components of the ritual like music, dance and Trance. Next topic, highlights spaces where ritualized activities are held by using the scene concept to analyze the structure of İzmir, which is peculiar to its unique identity. In the conclusion part, I depict a case study which reveals the phases that have occurred on the stage of Electronic Dance Music, being matched with theoretical field data. Keywords: EDM, liminalite, ritual, communitas, scene