By Danny Usher & Pieter Vorster Translated by Iva Huang

Since the dawn of man, tribes have gathered to celebrate life through dance and the beat of the drum. Since the 1920s, every generation has had its underground music and dance culture. All have been frowned upon by the powers that be, but embraced by youth. From rhythm and blues and swing, to rock and punk, these subcultures have grown and shaped the world we live in. And, since the early 1990s, electronic music has been winning a worldwide audience.

Ten years later, electronic music and the DJing culture can be seen and heard everywhere. Like it or hate it, you can't escape electronic beats and drum loops. Turn on the TV and you're bombarded with it. Whether it's in the background of commercials, providing the beat to pop stars, or part of a Hollywood soundtrack, it is there. Recently on a Discovery Channel nature documentary, a well-produced Drum & Bass track provided the background music to a cheetah chasing down its prey. Even the grassy plains of Africa are no stranger to the electronic sound.

"It all sounds the same!" This is the most common complaint of the uninitiated. Unfortunately, most people only ever hear commercial music, which has been butchered--like every other art which falls victim to the global marketing machine.

In reality, electronic music often resembles its classical cousin. Not unlike the great composers of the past, the producers of electronic music start with a simple beat, build, and evolve it into a symphony of sound.

There are at least 50 different subgenres of electronic music. A person well versed in DJ culture can instantly tell you which of the subgenres it is by listening. Likewise, DJing has become so stylized, and so personal, that it is possible to tell which DJ is playing by the way he mixes two records together.

In 1999, DJ turntables became the first instrument in a century to outsell the guitar. Now they outsell every kind of guitar by a ratio of two to one. A turntable in the hands of professional DJ is an instrument with unprecedented potential. The most common argument is that DJs play other people's music. This is true for around 80 percent of DJs. However, the other 20 percent are taking pieces of other people's art, and creating something completely different with it.

The pieces of music they manipulate are usually found on vinyl (a record). Vinyl is still the preferred medium of the DJ, but new CD technology is allowing DJs to do everything they could with a record and more.

TURNTABLE: Also known as a "deck," this is the tool of a DJ. It is a technologically-advanced record player with a more powerful motor, pitch control to speed up or slow down a record, and special needles to allow the record to be pulled backwards while playing.

MIXER: The basic DJ set up consists of two turntables, headphones and a mixer. The mixer is placed in between the two turntables and allows a DJ to mix two records together, manipulate the sound and volume of the records, and seamlessly change from one to the next.

BPM: Beats per minute.

BEAT MATCH: The process of lining up two or more music tracks together so the BPM are completely in sync. If it is a good beat match, both records will be playing but it will sound like only one is.

TRAIN WRECK: One of many terms given to explain a bad beat match. It is named this because it often sounds like a train crashing down the tracks, or someone's shoes tumbling around in a dryer.

SCRATCHING: The very difficult process of sliding a record back and forth under the turntable needle, while manipulating the DJ mixer to create a specific sound.

BEAT BOXING: Making sounds and music with only one's mouth and a microphone.

BEAT JUGGLING: Creating a new drum pattern using parts of separate drumbeats played on each turntable while maintaining a consistent tempo.