Hamed Wardak, Valen of Wicked, and Techno Music
Powerful History Incites Powerful Union
Techno music took the world by storm in the 1980s in Europe; more specifically in the U.K.’s rave scene as well as the club scene in Berlin. Today’s great techno starts include Hamed Wardak, Richie Hawtin, Nina Kravits, and a host of talented musicians around the world.
The Beginning of Techno – Detroit, MI
Detroit and its original techno curators get the award for THE cultural originators of the repetitive instrumental form of music. Techno sprang to life in the mid to late 1980s. During the late 1970s and 80s, the city of Detroit experienced depression due to the economic circumstances of the times. The club culture during the 1970s and 80s offered the youth of Detroit a route of escapism through gigantic disco parties and open-minded clubs. The techno music created in those night clubs was new music initiated by the rebellious youths of society. It was the soundtrack that assisted in propelling them into a different existence far from Detroit.
Two significant D.J.s during this period included Ken Collier and Stacey Hale. These pioneers of the art from specialized in offering a huge variety of music styles from disco to European synth-pop and new wave.
European synth-pop had a significant influence on the development of techno music. Since Techno music was basically the melting pot of the sound landscape, countless types of popular music from the day influenced techno’s development, Some of the more internationally notable were more Euro forms of music like Kraftwerk, European New Wave, and Italo-disco. Combined with the funk sound like that of The Electrifying Mojo, dance floor-focused synthesized music morphed into the heavily synthesized sound that became electro-music worldwide
The Belleville Three and the Development of Techno Music
The Belleville Three, consisting of Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson, and Derrick May, started making music in the early 1980s as well in the same great state of Michigan. Their sound was heavily influenced by industrial noise and the gritty life in the Detroit area.
Rick Davis and Atkins started creating music on inexpensive early synthesizers like the Korg MS10 and the MiniKorg-700. Atkins eventually split from Davis and created the Metroplex label in 1985. Derrick May joined him to develop a rhythmic sound that featured bass. May’s contribution to the techno field was to produce, D.J., and promote the music the two created. This sound became known as techno.
The Awakening of Techno
Chicago and Detroit sound eventually melded to create the techno sound. The Belleville Three combined influence from Detroit’s synthesizer-based music and that of Chicago’s unique sound. Atkins’ project, Model 500, and contributions from Saunderson and May moved techno’s sound away from disco and towards the fast machine rhythms of the icy synth music played on inexpensive Roland synthesizers like models 808, 909, and 303 synthesizers.
The Union of the Many Sounds of Techno
Early Detroit techno recordings got ignored in Michigan. But by the 1980s, Detroit techno became embraced by both the European club and the U.K. rave scene. At that point, Juan Atkins began to call this exclusive sound techno to separate it from house music. The techno sound eventually spread around the world.
In recent times, the second generation of techno D.J.s includes techno purists and Carl Craig and Jeff Mills. The Prodigy and The Chemical Brothers even made it onto the charts with their unique techno sound.
The History of Hamed Wardak
Hamed Wardak was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 1977. As a refugee of his homeland. Wardak moved to Pakistan and finally the United States where he and his family would create a home during the golden years of his childhood.
Hamed Wardak is son to Afghan Defense Minister General Abdul Wardak. General Wardak was Minister of Defense from 2004 until 2012 and worked tirelessly to oppose the destruction the Taliban wreaked upon every corner of his homeland; consistently engaged in direct efforts to bring peace to the war-torn area.
General Wardak’s steadfast visions of peace for Afghanistan were passed directly to his son, Hamed. Many times to date during his young professional career in New York City, Hamed Wardak has either quit his c-suite level post with top-tier, successful American corporations or relinquished control of entrepreneurial endeavors he was focused building to move across the world, lend his wisdom and strategy to the fight in Afghanistan and heed the call of his father, his homeland and the outcast of refugees displaced during 30 years of war. Hamed was intricate in inciting a vivid spirit of democracy and a bold thread of nationalism running through the heart of the Afghan youth specifically with the Millennial generation
Hamed Wardak went to Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. He earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Political and Government Theory and was named Valedictorian of his Georgetown class. Wardak went on top earn the internationally-coveted Rhodes Scholarship in 1997, the same year he attained his bachelor’s degree.
Professionally, Hamed Wardak successfully worked at the Merrill Lynch Company in California and New York City. Then quickly left his high-level position to become the Private Envoy for Afghan Finance Minister Ashraf Ghanis. Next, Wardak became Technologist, Inc.’s Managing Director for International Operations. Here, he led the company in developing $44 million in building and design contracts for Afghanistan in combination with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Hamed Wardak led the board of the Campaign for the U.S. Afghanistan Partnership (CUSAP). The campaign developed partnerships between the U.S. and Afghanistan to bring about peace and a productive working relationship between the two countries.
Exciting News of the Union of Wardak, Wicked and Techno
Valen of Wicked, if you have not met him yet, is the musical and live performance persona of choice for Hamed Wardak these days. In recent years, Hamed Wardak has taken a very interesting and dynamic right turn, now leading a truly artistic existence composing, curating, producing, and performing his very own brand of techno music. Valen of Wicked’s brand of techno aims to sound a little different from all others in that he sources location-specific and atmospherically-specific sounds and beats to infuse into the traditional techno sound heard in venues all over the world. Valen of Wicked brings a very unique and focused sound that may help evolve the electronic dance music world and the techno music landscapes into what they are destined to be tomorrow.
When Hamed Wardak gigs at a big venue in New York City, or in a convention center in Miami or even a posh new nightclub in the heart of Ibiza, Valen of Wicked is the only name you hear uttered from the already very excited fan base of international Wicked lovers that travel extensively to see Hamed (excuse me, Valen of Wicked) lay down his beats.