Fusion Music

Although the range of music suitable for Fusion is quite wide, we can set some boundaries and choose some tendencies that help undestand what is and isn't suitable for Fusion.

What is Fusion Music

Fusion is a dance, so when we talk about the music we should always keep in mind how it would be danced, not only how it sounds.

Fusion music tends to be melody-oriented, multi-layered, providing the dancers with a choice of which musicality layer to follow:

• the front layer of music, like vocal or leading instrument (guitar, violin, piano, harmonica, synth, saxophone, etc).

• base layer of music, like bass part or rhythm section

• some well-heard meta-rhytm produced by combination of above

Music speed should preferrably be in range from 55 to 95 bpm.

Good Fusion music usually belongs to genres like Pop, Jazz, Modern Classics. Some times it could be Modern Blues, Soul Funk, Neo-Tango or even Bossa Nova if it follows the rules above.

The length of the song usually should be around 3 minutes and generally not supersede 5-6 minutes.

What is not Fusion Music

Freedom of Fusion should not lead to misundestanding that any music is Fusion music. There are boundaries and limits that should not be crossed.

These types of music below are generally not suitable for Fusion dancing.

By style:

• Folk music, like traditional Irish, Breton or polkas

• Electronic techno-trans

• Heavily focused on basic rhythm: bachata, salsa, reggaeton, kizomba

• 60-s rock, disco funk, heavy metal

• Rap and hip-hop

By other parameters:

• speed more than 110 bpm should be considered fast. Fast music usually doesn't fit Fusion with rare exceptions, and the faster it goes, the farther it is from Fusion. Note that real speed is sometimes 1/2 of bpm that makes it acceptable.

• emphasizing the weak beat, like 1-2-3-4 in Reggae

• with rhythm 2/2 instead of 4/4 like polka or march

• containing long (guitar) solos without another music layer to follow

Specific music styles that have their own dance styles are also not Fusion.

Tango, Blues, Zouk or Forro, etc are quite compatible with Fusion, but they have their own dance styles to be respected. They could blend well with Fusion, but should be used with precautions and comply to general rules listed in What is Fusion Music.

With a heavy heart I've listed here a lot of music that I really love to listen and sometimes it's nice to dance to some old heart-touching blues or feel inspired by hip-hop energy. But generally they're not a good choice for Fusion and should be excluded, with rare exceptions.

Tips for creating playlists

Remember, Fusion is about dancing it, not only listening. To the dancer's ear, the following parameters are important:

• speed

• intensity / saturation

• character / mood (fun, calm, dramatic, passionate, relaxing, etc.)

• voice type (men's/women's, high/low key)

• music genre (style) and epoch

• leading instrument (guitar/piano/saxophone/violin/etc.)

The playlist should be at the same time diverse, but have some smooth logical transitions from one song to another. An example of good sequence is:

1. man vocal, guitar, dramatic, medium (85 bpm)

2. man vocal, guitar, calm, slow (65 bpm)

3. man vocal, guitar, dramatic, slow (75 bpm)

4. woman vocal, guitar, passionate, medium (85 bpm)

5. instrumental, violin, inspiring, slow (85 bpm) but high-saturated

6. woman vocal, voice, passionate, fast (95 bpm)

7. man vocal, voice, relaxing, medium (90 bpm) ...

The idea is to build playlists that:

• follow some general idea or topic (Guitar music, Electronic synthetic music, French music, whatever)

• do not 'jump' from song to song by changing many parameters at once too often

• create some contrasts by changing several parameters at once about 1 time in 3 songs in order no to be too monotonous

Some playlists are good with contrasts and are emotionally intensive, and dancers need a break each 2-3 songs. Some are letting dancers to get deep into the flow and dance 5-7 songs in a row without making a break.

Fusion is diverse, so the sample above is just a single sample among many possible ways. It always depends on experience and musical choices of the Selector DJ if the playlist would be good or not. Environment is also a very important factor, the Selector should always consider where and to whom he's going to play.

But I really hope this article anwers some most common questions on what is and what is not good Fusion music set.