Goa Gil

'The Godfather Of Psytrance'

American born Gilbert Levey is the man best known as Goa Gil. Musician, producer, dj, party organiser and Sadhu, he is one of the founders of the entire Goa trance/psytrance scene and is considered and affectionately thought of as ‘the Godfather of psytrance’.

Gil was born in 1951 and raised in San Francisco, California. His psychedelic roots are deep, he was there when the hippie movement first began and acid rock started to appear and he was also a member of the Sons of Champlon and Family Dog ‘freak collectives’. However, in ’69 he felt that the music scene in San Fran was self destructing itself and took off in search of something new, first visiting Amsterdam and then moving on to India where he finally settled in ‘hippie central’, Goa, hence the name, Goa Gil!

It was whilst there that he first learned of the Sadhus, holy men who wandered the surrounding areas covered in ash, living off the forest and drinking the elixir of the Gods.

Gil was fascinated and enthralled by these incredible men and eventually became a Sadhu of the Juna Akhara order himself and was given the name of Baba Mangalanand.

At the beginning of the ‘80’s a great number of the Goa hippies were becoming increasingly interested with the new electronic music that was beginning to surface in the form of acts such as Kraftwerk. Soon afterwards Gil and some of his friends got hold of some djing equipment and began having all night music parties on the beaches of Goa. It was essentially this combination of Eastern mysticism, spirituality and outdoor electronic music parties that came to define the psytrance scene.

In ’85 Gil met Ariane MacAvoy who is now his wife. Ariane is particularly interested with traditional West African dance and African djembe drumming. As well as performing as Goa Gil, Gil and Ariane produce music together under the name ‘The Nommos’.

Gil looks upon dance as an active form of meditation and therapy, as it was in the ancient ‘trance dance’ rituals. In his own words he says:

“Since the beginning of time mankind has used music and dance to communicate with the Spirit of Nature and The Spirit of the universe. We are trying to use trance music and the trance dance experience to set off a chain reaction within consciousness. Through the trance dance experience we hope people will become more sensitive and aware of themselves, their surroundings, the crossroads of humanity and the needs of the planet. With this awareness comes understanding and compassion. That is the need of the hour and the true Goa state of mind.” Essentially his aim, again in his own words, is to “redefine the ancient tribal ritual for the 21st century”. Trying to use trance parties and the trance dance experience as a whole as a tool to uplift and expand the consciousnesses of the people involved.

These days Gil still has a home base in Goa and resides there for several months of each year. The remainder of his time is spent travelling the globe and hosting parties, more often than not in Northern California.