A Technoparade (the word is German) is a parade of vehicles equipped with strong loudspeakers and amplifiers, along the streets of a municipality, which are closed down for this purpose. It resembles a carnival parade, but the vehicles are less elaborately decorated and the music -- usually, but not always, techno -- comes from DJ's sound systems. Also, a technoparade doesn't share the carnival parade tradition of bombarding the spectators with sweets. However, the revelers do occasionally throw confetti (usually larger and more sparkly than that in a carnival parade) and spray foam from the vehicles onto the crowd. See also: Carnival Corporation, Carnival Cruise Lines, Carnivàle Swabian-Alemannic carnival clowns in Wolfach, Germany A carnival parade is a public celebration, combining some elements of a circus and public street party, generally during the Carnival Season. ... Techno is a form of electronic music that emerged in the mid-1980s and primarily refers to a particular style developed in and around Detroit and subsequently adopted by European producers. ... DJ or dj may stand for Disc jockey, dinner jacket The DeadJournal website, or Djibouti. ... Confetti is made up of small pieces of paper or plastic which are usually thrown at celebrations, espescially weddings. ...

Nearly all of the vehicles are converted trucks. In order to power the amplifiers, the trucks are frequently equipped with an additional generator. The theoretical possibility of using overhead tram wires in some cities has never been put into practice: as a rule such overhead current-delivery systems are switched off during the gathering for safety reasons. Likewise for safety reasons, horse-drawn floats are never used in technoparades: there would be a danger of horses panicking from the noise and chaos. However, there are occasional human-drawn floats equipped with generators, record players, amplifiers and loudspeakers. Some of the vehicles allow people to ride along, for a fee. For those on the sidelines, or travelling alongside on foot or bicycles, attendance is free. The driver of a car transporter truck prepares to offload Skoda Octavia cars in Cardiff, Wales For further uses of the word truck, see Truck (disambiguation). ... Generator redirects here. ... Street cars in New Orleans A modern tram in the Töölö district of Helsinki, Finland For modern innovations aimed at increasing the capacity and speed of tramway systems, see light rail. ...

Official program

The official program of a technoparade is usually not as important as what happens informally. In contrast to a carnival parade, the vehicles are little more than flatbed trucks with sound equipment, rather than elaborately decorated floats. There are usually no fireworks or other traditional elements of large celebrations. Technoparades are rarely linked to anniversaries of historical events: they usually simply take place in the summer to take advantage of the good weather. The Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House illuminated under New Years Eve Fireworks 2005 A fireworks event (fireworks display, fireworks show) is a spectacular display of the effects produced by firework devices on various occasions. ...

What happens at a technoparade?

Technoparades generally have a carnival atmosphere, where social rules (and some laws, or at least their enforcement) are at least loosened, and sometimes broken outright. An atmosphere of chaos and tolerance prevails as bystanders dance to the shifting sounds of successive vehicles rolling by them: the music blasting from one vehicle blends into that from another, which can mean a sudden change of dance style in the area where the spheres of influence overlap. The music coming from two sound trucks overlaps with approximately equal intensity, and people can dance to either of two competing rhythms. In the technoparade subculture they call this the Verwirrungsgebiet ("overlap zone") by analogy to a concept in radio frequency engineering. Rhythm (Greek ρυθμός = tempo) is the variation of the duration of sounds or other events over time. ... Radio frequency engineering is the analysis and design of circuits at frequencies were transmission lines are comparable to the wavelength. ...

The street allows for a type of dancing that would be literally impossible in cramped German discotheques, and the breadth of some people's dancing is further exaggerated as they throw their clothes outwards. Some in the crowd generally climb up to any high point that can possibly be scaled, more and more as the event continues. The spirit is usually continued at after-parties in the local discotheques, sometimes including unofficial after-parties at discotheques having no official connection to the parade. Discothèque redirects here. ...

Problems

Technoparades are not without problems:

• They are regarded by some participants as a license to consume illegal drugs.
• A few technoparades have been exploited by makers of pornographic films.
• There is also an inherent danger of accidents as people climb on and off of moving vehicles.
• Technoparades usually have big crowds and few toilets, especially because the companies that rent out chemical toilets will not happily rent to technoparades: the crowds tend to climb on the roofs of the toilet structures, which are not built to withstand the weight. There are usually some well-constructed toilets around, but it seems never enough, leading to a lot of public urination.

A drug is any substance that can be used to modify a chemical process or processes in the body, for example to treat an illness, relieve a symptom, enhance a performance or ability, or to alter states of mind. ... Pornography (from Greek πορνογραφια pornographia — literally writing about or drawings of harlots) (also informally referred to as porn or porno) is the representation of the human body or human sexual behaviour with the goal of sexual arousal, similar to, but (according to some) distinct from, erotica. ... A chemical toilet is a toilet using chemicals to disinfect the waste instead of simply storing it in a hole, or piping it away to a sewage treatment plant. ...

Major Technoparades

Technoparades generally take place in large cities. In Germany, the most important Technoparades (past and present) are:

• Love Parade, Berlin (1989 - 2003)
• Fuckparade, Berlin (1997 - ...)
• G-move, Hamburg
• Union Move, Munich (until 2001)
• Reincarnation, Hanover

There also are smaller Technoparades in Heilbronn (until 2001 as Houseparade), in Empfingen, and other towns. Siegessäule, Love Parade 2001 Dancer, Love Parade 2001 The Love Parade is a popular one-weekend techno festival taking place in Berlins Tiergarten Park every summer since 1989. ...   Berlin? (pronounced: , German ) is the capital of Germany and its largest city, with 3,426,000 inhabitants (as of January 2005); down from 4. ... The Fuckparade is a techno demonstration in Berlin. ...   Berlin? (pronounced: , German ) is the capital of Germany and its largest city, with 3,426,000 inhabitants (as of January 2005); down from 4. ... Position of Hamburg in Germany Hamburgs central broadway Jungfernstieg at the Alster lake, between 1900 and 1914 This article is about the city in Germany. ... Munich: Frauenkirche and Town Hall steeple Munich (German: München (pronounced listen) is the state capital of the German state of Bavaria. ... Map of Germany showing Hanover Hanover (German: Hannover [haˈnoːfɐ]), on the river Leine, is the capital of the state of Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen), Germany. ... Categories: Germany-related stubs | Cities in Germany | Towns in Baden-Württemberg ... Empfingen is a municipality received in the district joy city in Baden-Wuerttemberg with the local parts Wiesenstetten and Dommelsberg. ...

In Switzerland the most important Technoparades are:

• Street Parade, Zurich
• Lakeparade, Geneva

In other European countries: The Street Parade is a technoparade in Zurich, comparable to Berlins Love Parade. ... General view showing Grossmünster church. ... Geneva (French: Genève) is the second-most populous city in Switzerland located where Lake Geneva (French: Lac Léman, but the Genevois are fond of calling it Lac de Genève) empties into the Rhône River. ...

• FFWD Heineken Dance Parade, Rotterdam, Netherlands, in August, since 1996: http://www.ffwdheinekendanceparade.nl/
• Cityparade, alternately in Ghent and Liège, Belgium, in June, since 2001: http://www.cityparade.be/
• Paris Techno Parade, Paris, France, organised by not-for-profit corporation Technopol, in September, since 1998: http://www.technopol.net/

Heineken (or Heineken Brouwerijen) is a Dutch beer brewer, established in 1864 when Gerard Adriaan Heineken purchased a brewery in Amsterdam. ... Rotterdam is the second largest city in the Netherlands (after Amsterdam), located in the province of South Holland. ... This page is about the Belgian city. ... Liège (Dutch: Luik, German: Lüttich) is a major city located in the Belgian province of Liège, of which it is the capital. ... The Eiffel Tower has become a symbol of Paris throughout the world. ... A Not-for-profit corporation is a corporation created by statute, government or judicial authority that does not issue stock. ...

Reference

This article is based on the corresponding article in the German-language Wikipedia.