Trance is music of demons, should be banned: Palienkar

In a bizarre statement, former Fisheries Minister and sitting Opposition MLA Vinod Palienkar on Saturday said that trance music, an electronic genre which is popular in Goa, was the favourite music of demons, which helped them defeat the Gods in the mythical sagar manthan contest.

Addressing a press conference in Panaji, the Goa Forward MLA also demanded a ban on all trance music parties in Goa, which he said, were hubs of drug sale and added that he had sent Prime Minister Narendra Modi “secret information” about drug sale in his Assembly constituency of Siolim, a hub of trance music and narco-tourism.

“Trance music is the music of demons. Why is the Goa government promoting the music of demons which is being played in my constituency throughout the night?” Palienkar said.

“The demons won the sagar manthan challenge and defeated the gods because the music which was playing during the contest was trance music,” Palienkar also said, while referring to the mythological event in which demons and gods battled to gain control of the 'amrut' (elixir) at the bottom of the ocean.

Goa has been the home of trance music parties, often colloquially referred to as rave parties, since the late 1960s. In fact, the beaches of Anjuna, located in Palienkar’s Assembly constituency, is known as the birthplace of the genre ‘Goa Trance’.

Demanding a ban on all trance parties in his constituency, including Sunburn, one of the biggest electronic dance music festival, held regularly in Goa, Palienkar also said, that such parties were hubs of drug sale and narcotics abuse and claimed that he had written to Modi giving him secret information about the narcotics trade in his constituency.