World Techno Day Date in the current year: December 9, 2024

Techno is a genre of dance music characterized by the central rhythm in common time (4/4) and tempo varying between 120 and 150 bpm (beats per minute). It evolved from house music, but house emphasizes the 2th and 4th beat where techno uses a straight beat, as well as has a lower tempo range. Techno artists widely use electronic instruments to create and play music.

Techno is one of the many genres of EDM, alongside post-disco, electro, house music, acid house, rave, trance, breakbeat hardcore, jungle, drum and bass, dubstep, electro house, and many others. It originated in Germany in the early 1980s and became the techno we all know and love today thanks to musicians from Detroit, Michigan.

The first person to use the word “techno” to describe artists such as Depeche Mode and Kraftwerk was German DJ Talla 2XLC in 1982. He used the term as a shorthand for dance music created with technological means. DJ Talla 2XLC further popularized it by founding a club in Frankfurt and naming it Technoclub.

The term “techno” may have originated in Germany, but it is American musicians who are credited with making techno music what it is today. One of the people credited with establishing techno as an EDM genre in its own right is American DJ and record producer Juan Atkins from Detroit. Atkins, along with Kevin Saunderson and Derrick May (collectively referred to as The Belleville Three), started what is now known as the first wave of Detroit techno.

The origins of World Techno Day aren’t particularly clear, but the holiday has been around since at least the early 2000s. Some sources claim that its date, December 9, was chosen to commemorate the birthday of Juan Atkins. However, Atkins’s Wikipedia page states that he was born on September 12, 1962, so these claims seem to be erroneous.

Be that as it may, World Techno Day is definitely an occasion worth celebrating, regardless of whether you’ve been a fan of techno for ages or are just beginning to discover this music genre. Of course, the best way to experience techno in all its glory is to attend a techno party or festival and dance the night away. But if there are no techno events near you, you can throw a party of your own or just dance in your bedroom, listening to techno in your headphones so that you don’t disturb your neighbors.

Other ways to celebrate this amazing holiday include introducing your friends to techno by creating a playlist of your favorite tracks and sharing it with them, trying to create your own music (there is an impressive variety of tools and free tutorials available for this very purpose), reading about famous techno DJs and record producers, watching a documentary about the history of EDM or a fiction film featuring techno music, and spreading the word about the holiday on social media using the hashtags #WorldTechnoDay and #TechnoDay.