Balearic trance

This article is about the trance music subgenre. For the house music subgenre that emerged in the mid-1980s in Ibiza, see Balearic beat.

Balearic trance, also known as Ibiza trance is a trance music subgenre which evolved from Balearic beat. The earliest known Balearic trance compositions date back to a few years after the emergence of Balearic beat in the 1990s.

Balearic trance
Stylistic origins	Trance Balearic beat electronic Mediterranean music
Cultural origins	1990s, Balearic Islands, Spain
Typical instruments	Synthesizer drum machine sequencer sampler keyboard PC
Other topics
Tropical house

History

It came out of Balearic house in the 1980s, and named after the Balearic island of Ibiza. Inconsistently, the style name has always been connected to trance and Balearic beat.

Style

Balearic trance keeps the same "Balearic" timbre as Balearic beat, while Balearic trance is characterized by a higher tempo of around 125 bpm to 145 bpm, typically around 130 bpm. Being based in Spain, it is often derived from Latin music. It has a primary focus on atmosphere, making it similar in many regards to dream trance.

"This music seems to capture the mood of a soft, Mediterranean sunset perfectly, maybe because of its use of string instruments, like Spanish guitars and mandolins and things associated with the Mediterranean, like oceans, birds, and other things borrowed from ambient trance."

See also

• Balearic beat
• Progressive house

External links

• An interview with Faruk Gandji about the Ku on Ibiza (part 2) - "the birth of the Balearic Trance"
• Ibiza Trance - Description