Goa Gil: Trance Music's Spiritual Father
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Musician, DJ, party organizer, and one of the founding fathers of the Goa Trance movement, Goa Gil, or Babaji, is widely known among fans of electronic music. At 71 years old, he is one of the oldest DJs in the world, and a legend at that.
Goa Gil was born Gilbert Levey in 1951 in San Rafael, California. He was one of the original hippies in Haight-Ashbury. He used to put up posters for a living at a time when the rock genre was at its peak and grew up surrounded by musical icons such as Steve Miller, Jimi Hendrix, and Janis Joplin.
By 1969, the psychedelic culture in San Francisco started dying, and Gil decided to go on a “world dope tour” to the cannabis capitals of the world. He bought a ticket to Amsterdam and travelled Europe, North Africa, and a lot of Asia, ending up in Goa in India, the state which would eventually give him his alias.
Gil also spent his time visiting holy places with an Aghori Baba who spoke English. On a trip to Kashmir, he became a disciple of a guru who later made him a sadhu named Baba Mangalanand Giri. He learned Hindu spirituality and embraced the sadhu life.
It was at the Kumbh Mela that Gil got the idea of blending devotional music and psy beats. He started DJing in the early ‘80s. On one of his trips to Goa, Gil met Ariane in 1985, who later became his partner for life.
At the Kumbh Mela, Gil got the idea of blending devotional music with Psy beats. He often did 24-hour sets in Goa.
It wasn’t long before the Goa trance became a global phenomenon and became known as psychedelic trance.
Also read: The history of Electronic dance music
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