The Silent Disco History and Origins

Silent Disco History and Origins

The History of the Silent Disco Concept Creation

Who invented the silent disco?

This is the history of Silent Disco before the Silent Disco existed.  Where it came from, why it was created, when and who came up with the idea to make dance parties with headphones.

silentdisco-headphones

The idea of a disco with headphones(silent disco) started long long ago… So, go grab a coffee or a beer. Hope u enjoy this wild story and the Doors remix

To start with, lets demystify somethings about Silent Disco. The original silent disco concept was NOT created to please the animals, the nature or to keep the neighbors happy. It was created to breakfree from discotheques and pubs. To allow dancing/partying anywhere and anytime. To give everyone the chance to own their own discotheque.

All this beautiful arguments you hear from every single silent disco operator about how you can party with headphones without disturbing the neighbors, misses the much bigger aim and benefit of the silent disco. TO PARTY ANYWHERE & WHENEVER YOU LIKE. In other words, the Silent Disco was created as disco killer :)) Yes, that was the diesel powering the concept. To kill the disco!

If you read the story to the end, you will see why that was a big motivator.

Background

Cisco Sa grew up in Portugal. Back when he was growing up, Portugal was a very conservative society and in many ways it still is. It was like the world before the 60s. No sex, no drugs and no rock&roll. 

Actually the 60s of Portugal happened in the 90s but with a little difference. Yes to drugs and still no sex and no rock&roll. In the 90s Portugal grabbed spot number 1 in heroine addiction. A true heroine pandemic took hold of the Portuguese society, where almost every single family had an heroin addict. 

At least that was the impression and it sure left its marks. Most probably thanks to this devastating heroine pandemic, Portugal became the first country in the world to decriminalize the consumption of all drugs.

In the early 80’s as a teenager, from 15 to 17 years old and long before this heroine pandemic hit Portugal, Cisco  became the most famous human being in town and surroundings. Everyone knew who Xyko Maf!a was. Very popular or unpopular, basically depending on the age of the people. 

For the young generation, Cisco was a hero, a legend. While for the older generation there was not enough critique, bad mouthing… what a terrible kid, they thought. 

Even inside his own family, were the opinions widely different. Mama was worried but fine with it. She sort of encourage him by saying, its your life, do as you like. While papa could not stand it and ordered him to go cut his hair or else :)). Or else what? Xyko Maf!a only became wilder Born To Be Wild – Steppenwolf

Cisco became that famous because of nothing. Really, there was absolutely nothing special about him besides acting just a little bit differently than what that society expected and demanded you to be or act like. Probably just because Portuguese mentality was so damn… pfff how to define it? Backwards, chained to traditions, conservative… just too normal for a real wild child.

He was not a rock star or any other type of star. No special skills, no special actions or work… absolutely nothing! His only talent was being a little bit rebellious, if that is a talent. Well i guess not.

It goes without saying that being a little rebel was something easily achieved between so many sheeps, conservative, traditional mentality. In other countries he probably would be just a normal invisible thing. But in that Portuguese town, his name and fame just blow out of proportions and the bigger it became, the more defiant became his actions and attitude. They were feeding eachother, the fame feeded Cisco and Cisco feeded the fame. The Rebel King Xyko Maf!a was born :))

To cut a long story short (I lost my mind) Spandau Ballet – To Cut A Long Story Short, let’s go back to the silent disco origins. As a teenager, Cisco was constantly denied entry in discotheques, dancing pubs or parties. And if anyhow he found a way to get in, it would not last long that he would get thrown out, simply because of his wild dancing or dressing or fame. 

Oh boy! this guy would get wings and fly through the music tunes. He would make a true wild dance spectacle without any choreography, just pure and raw material attached to insane invisible wings.

Here is an example of how backwards that Portuguese place, mentality was, maybe still is. One of this town’s discotheques, did organize a prize competition to find who was the wildest kid and craziest dancer in town. The first prize was a trip to the Portuguese Azores islands. 

Well you can imagine that this would be easy for Cisco to win, right? a piece of cake! Wrong, because when he came to the disco door, he was refused entry. And the reason he was denied entry to a competition for the wildest one in town? He was just too wild to participate… Unbelievable but true!

The winner of the competition, a school friend of Cisco, came out of the disco to tell him that she won and that she was happy he could not come ín because if he did, she was sure Cisco would win.  Thanks for the info bitch!

Of course he would win, everyone knew that. Even you that never met Cisco, know that he would win

Who invented the silent disco?

This is the history of Silent Disco before the Silent Disco existed. Where it came from, why it was created, when and who came up with the idea to make dance parties with headphones.

The Silent Disco Origins

Cisco and the Walkman

Not being able to enjoy a party with your friends, going to the disco, not being able to dance… NOT COOL!  So Cisco found a solution, he would grab his Walkman and walk through the streets, sometimes screaming out to the songs of The Doors or jumping around to the beat as if nobody was watching him. Does it remind you of something? Silent disco, here i come.

Well, not so fast… while he would like others to join him in the Walkman dance party, only a couple of crazy boys would dare to jump around  for a little bit. Just to crazy and ridiculous they thought! You can’t blame them… Remember when the dance floor is empty and nobody dares to go on the dancefloor? Only if the lights are off, they slowly start dancing as if they are afraid of breaking eggs…what a group  of sheeps :))). Actually those walkman dances with a couple friends in the mid80s, were Cisco’s first silent discos and where his idea came from to have a headphone disco. Wait a moment, is it a silent disco when a couple of teenagers jump around to the sound of their own cassette Walkman, listening to their own favorite song? No, a couple of kids jumping around with their Walkmans is not it? so what the fuck is a silent disco anyway? House Of Pain – Jump Around

At 17 years old,, a big transformation in his life was about to take place. He abandon school, grabbed 2 and 0,5 euro, said bye to family and hitchhiked his way to France, where he knew nobody and he did not speak the language. One of the reasons to go away? To run away from so much fame that he accumulated in that town as Xyko Maf!a… Being famous is cool, until it is not cool anymore. Enough of being the little town superstar and be just a normal thing. The problem is that becoming a normal thing was really not in his DNA or destiny and far to reach. If the normal thing was to be wild, why fight against your true nature?

Outside Portugal he became automatically sort of an illegal alien, after a period of 3 months, in any country he went to. No right to work or whatever. By consequence, Cisco became an European nomad, hitchhiking and living all across Europe. Most of the time, no work, no money, no home and no direction at all – Road to Nowhere – Talking Heads. Sometimes it was literally just jumping on a merchandise train without knowing where the train was going or hitchhiking to wherever the driver was going. By the end of this nomad way of life, he managed to get kicked out and banned entry/return in 6 European countries for simply being illegal. This country’s authorities would leave a nasty stamp on his passport as if he was a big criminal. He would rip off those passport pages, so the next country authorities would not get alerted from those not so funny country expulsion/ban stamps. That passport was getting thinner by the day. Not to forget that this passport sabotage had to be performed in no man’s land, between two country’s customs controls. Luckily they never count passport pages, I guess they all assume there are no crazy people out there ripping off passport pages… just too crazy for anyone to think of doing it. Well, its normal that illegal people do illegal things, what else or what do you expect? Even breathing is illegal for illegal people. The air coming in and out of illegal people is that legal? Really, no kidding… what the fuck, all those illegal aliens coming to my country to breath my country’s air. Get out of here!

Then finally, after around 10 nomad years, Portugal became a member of the European Union Schengen Area(European countries that have officially abolished all passport and all other types of border control at their mutual borders.). At last, now he could find a normal and legal job. and have a normal life… You think? Well, a little too late to put society chains on that little wild boy. Actually now not only was he no longer a little town rebel, he was a real wild one with a real rebel diploma. A diploma earned from surviving all those Illegal nomad years across Europe. Yes, its a worthless diploma but it was a hell of a fun study. Probably more fun, terrifying, spicy, exciting, challenging, dangerous than spending those 10 years in school. What do you think? Not satisfied with his rebel masters diploma, he went on to get his wild vagabond doctorate degree :)) Pink Floyd – Another Brick In The Wall.

Pippi Autoloze Zondag

Having a normal job, a profession was not written in the stars. Profession? What the hell is that?? Nothing a diplomed doctorate rebel nomad vagabond is dreaming about.

Cisco created an action group Pippi Autoloze Zondag(Pippi Sunday Car Free), named after his big hero, Pippi Longstocking, the biggest rebel of the entire universe and its surroundings. A project to fight climate change, pollution and save the planet. In the 90s, fighting global warming???, Who the fuck was out of their minds so early? Pippi organized monthly illegal street actions to take over the streets and stop the cars. After blocking the streets, there would be parties, picknicks, kids playing, rollerskate on the motorway, street painting and music artists playing. The police would break the party down and make arrests.  Thanks to his Pippi actions, a couple Dutch national political parties adopted the goal to achieve car free days and the public opinion for car free days gained lots of support. Nowadays there is a World Car Free Day, not sure if that World Car Free Days is thanks to his actions, what is sure is that he fought the fight for car free days when nobody else was doing it. Pippi was demanding car free days for the whole nation/world. We all know that Pippi could lift a horse or 2 with her own arms. What we did not know is that she also could stop all the cars in the World at once. That was Pippi’s goal. What a strong little girl!

It was great fun to organize illegal actions and demos to close streets to cars, to have picnics, parties and let the kids play freely on the streets, rollerskate on the motorway, to fight the police and fuck the rules(probably the most fun part of them all). I fought the law – The Clash

Those actions did not bring any money in and a regular job was out of the question, so what to do? What those actions did, was earn Cisco the nickname Pippi and bring back from the past, his teenage idea of a disco with headphones. It was in those actions that Cisco got introduced to little pirate radios. Yes, a radio transmitter just like the ones silent disco uses. Those pirate radios(read: illegal radio stations), as we used to call them, were the key to get his headphone disco going.

But where to get or buy these headphones without any damn money?? At this point in time, he was living in a Rotterdam squat without gas and stolen electricity and a couple of illegal guys(by now Cisco was probably the only one legal at home). One of this days, an illegal alien roommate, turned to Cisco and complained – Man i really dont know how you do it, you got no money but you always find 50 Guldens in your pocket, what the fuck!?!? Any empty building in town was a potential victim of becomíng Cisco’s home and more often than not, he would squat a place for someone else, so that they too could have their home. He was a fearless squatter, highly skilled in opening, occupying any type of real estate empty property. Breaking a window, knocking a door down, blowing up the door lock… Climbing to the upper building levels like a monkey, was his preferable method. Entering through the building roof was a piece of cake(scaling walls without ropes or any other type of protection was one of his hobbys). A professional squater, If you can call that a profession, that was his. A Skill that got him a roof over his head, anywhere in Europe. Why pay rent if you could live in a place for free?

pippi autoloze zondag

Who invented the silent disco?

This is the history of Silent Disco before the Silent Disco existed. Where it came from, why it was created, when and who came up with the idea to make dance parties with headphones.

The Silent Disco Origins

moringa miracle tree

… and the Silent Disco idea was stolen while the concept creator was looking for a partner, investor.

Around the year 2000, 2002, the plan to get people dancing in a headphone disco, again took hold of Cisco’s brain cells. Break free from discotheques and being able to party whenever and wherever he liked. Why the hell dance in a discotheque when its possible to dance and party with headphones, anywhere and anytime? On top of it, you don’t have to pay entry and you cant be denied entry. Problem solved :))

Cisco told about his plan to a couple of friends. And every time the reaction was a variation of – man you crazy. WHAT??? a discotheque with headphones? that does not exist, get the hell out of here, only possible in your head,, you really crazy man, just get real do you, get a real job… Get A Haircut – George Thorogood

Yes, exactly because it did not exist and was soooo out of this planet, he wanted to create it. What the hell was wrong with these people… Why could they not see it?

One day, a friend told him that if he wanted a partner or investor, he should go talk with a certain guy. Cisco did not look back. He approached this guy in a bar in Rotterdam and explained the concept word by word, how cool a disco with headphones could be and its great advantages. That he already had a pirate radio and just needed someone to partner and invest in the headphones. Nico boy obviously got impressed and inspired… You can guess what happened next.

When Cisco was still busy trying to find an investor or partner for his radical, crazy project, he took notice of the Silent Disco happening  just 300 meters from where he was living. What the fuck! Thanks to Cisco’s girlfriend at the time, Nico boy got lucky not to get a broken neck.

The guy that Cisco thought could inspire to be a partner in his headphone disco project was NIco Okkerse. Exactly the same guy that went around the World claiming that it was his brain child and later created the silentdisco.com. That was the only time Cisco spoke with mister Nico boy… Bah, it tastes really bad, can you taste it? Yes, I can hear you saying that it was stupid, talking openly to strangers about the idea or project. On the other hand, the question is how will you get it going if you don’t reveal the plan to potential investors or partners?

The Dutch DJs Nico Okkerse and Michael Minton have been described as “the pioneers and the legends of silent disco” because they started their silent disco events in 2002. This Dutch boys claim to be the originators and creators of the Silent Disco Concept. They did travel all over the planet with this project and at every opportunity they made people believe that silent disco was their brain child. They just forgot to tell everyone that they robbed Cisco’s idea, project, concept and put their label on it. They are thieves of the worst kind. The kind that has no respect, no values. See, there are different types of thieves. Cisco sometimes had to beg and steal for food, to stay alive. What Nico boy did is the lowest class of thieves… No class!

The concept of a disco where people dance to music listened to on headphones is the brainchild of Cisco Sa. Not as the World came to believe it originated from this classless Dutch thief. His brain child is a deceiving false story. Here a link to the archieved page where silentdisco .com claims obviously there’s  only 1 original Silent Disco! Ja right! My hairy ass is original too. What a shamelessness! Some people are not as original as they claim to be. Ladies and gentleman, this are the same people that asked Cisco why dont he create something original in place of using their silent disco label. The same people that advised Cisco(by email) and i Quote ‘Next time don’t just talk but realize it… Cisco talked to you about it because he wanted to realize it, because you had the money and he did not. He did not came talk to you because of your beautiful face, as far as i know he is not gay. BITCH! The Stranglers – Peaches

Around 2009,  after losing his home in Netherland and all the money he had invested in New York stock exchange, Cisco moved to Berlin. Again living on the streets or if you like in a hippie T3 volkswagen transporter. A friend lend him money to buy his first headphones to start his first silent disco and be able to earn his living . By then there was still not much going on with silent disco. Silent disco was still in its baby steps and practically unknown. The silent disco business in Berlin was going from bad to worse and the cold Berlin winters did not help, specially if you have to live in a van with 200 headphones… damn cold!

Cisco decided to contact  the same Nico Okkerse that robbed his silent disco concept. Gently checking to see if anything could come out of Nico’s. But Nico boy was having nothing of it and in place of accepting the truth or help in any way, Nico boy was threatening him with serious consequences if he would use his Silent Disco label. That Cisco should stay out of the danger zone and better shut his mouth about the true origins of the Silent disco concept. Wait a moment, you say what??? BETTER STAY OUT OF THE DANGER ZONE OR EXPECT SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES?? Mister Nico boy was very concerned that Cisco would damage his reputation with his story and told Cisco to stop or else… Seriously, this guy in place of being thankful, expressing any gratitude or give any help, he thought it was better to deny everything, intimidate and make threats. Hahaha funny that this Nico boy was trying to scare a diplomed wild rebel, with serious consequences. That intimidation game did not go well for Nico boy. In place of getting scared from mister Nico’s intimidation tactics, Cisco lost his cool after a couple threats. The last drop came when mister Nico wrote in an email that he would not kill Cisco in this life but he would kill him in the next life. More threats?? Are you kidding me? Really? After abducting his baby and travel all the World with it, this Nico bitch has clearly signaling intention to inflict pain, injury, damage, or other hostile action.  Cisco brain cells flipped out! He stopped playing nice and called his bluff. Cisco to Nico – Listen here mister Nico boy, or you unleash your dogs on me or you better stop your damn silly threats because if you dont, i know exactly where your house lives. Cisco never saw Nico’s mad dogs(lawyers) and in case he gets killed in the next life, it does no worry him that much because he probably is already dead by then. It might sound funny or innocent now but Nico boy was not making jokes back then. That bitch intention was clear intimidation, he just knocked on the wrong door.

We understand that mister Nico does not want to accept the truth, don’t we? Because the truth hurts and destroys the big lie he has been living since 2002. The truth destroys all the praise and ass kissing he got for being the silent disco legend. After all he had a very, very long time to spread his big lie, unchallenged… and the lie had a long, long, time to create roots and grow, and grow… Of course Nico boy is a little desperate and concerned about his reputation when Cisco came out of nowhere to claim back his baby. But to the point of making threats?

How to erase a lie that you repeat over and over and was amplified back to you, through the media and news from all over the world? Nico boy probably suffers from pseudologia fantastica – An account of exploits that is false but that the teller believes to be true.

Facts dont lie… Nico knows who Cisco is and he already admitted(by email)  that he did not like Cisco’s face when they met for the first and only time around the year 2000/2002.  They met for not more than 20 – 30 minutes in a bar full of people and Nico boy remembers that face 20 years after the meeting. Impressive dont you think? Nico must have a very special type of memory so that he remembers Cisco’s face and completely forgot every single thing they talked about. If i understood well, Cisco was not performing any wild dance that day… So, lets check this again. This Nico boy forgot that Cisco introduced and inspired him to his discotheque with headphones(Silent Disco) concept but then a couple of months later, he came out with the same headphone disco concept? What type of rare fuckedup Alzheimer is this guy suffering from?

So just one more time for the record and to erase any possible confusion. Nico Okkerse did not create the silent disco concept, he created the label silent disco to put onto Cisco’s headphone disco idea. Yes, it is Nico boy that  made it happen and realise the concept, but that is only because he had the money and conditions to make it possible. Not because it was his brainchild….

In case there are still doubts of who came up with this headphone disco concept. Maybe it helps to mention that Cisco had many other crazy ideas. For example, with an unrelated concept he won the ASN Bank World Prize (ASN Bank Wereldprijs) for the best idea/project ‘For the World of Tomorrow‘. With that project and prize, Cisco help pioneering the promotion, planting and use of the moringa tree all over the planet, to fight malnutrition and mitigate climate change consequences, by donating and distributing many 1000s of the moringa tree seeds. When he started his moringa project, there were no images or videos of moringa on the internet, NONE, NIX, ZERO, NADA. He assumed that moringa was a green tree but the fact is that he hadn’t any clue of  its color or shape. Take a look at it now, moringa tree is growing all over the internet… who knows moringa might soon grow on Mars. Why not? Cisco is already searching for the tel number of Elon Musk and give him some moringa seeds, to send in his next Mars spaceship  :)). Lets face it! Elon Musk’s crazy original Earthling ideas, compared with out of this planet stuff that Cisco comes up with, its nothing special. I bet Elon Musk never invented a God, while Cisco already invented one… Kyamites Kati(Kati – meaning in Greek – something or anything) – Kyamites the God of the Beans, mostly known as Something. The most believed and followed God in the whole World. Just ask anyone if they believe in Something. Be that someone with Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Confucianism, Christianity, Taoism or Judaism backgrounds, i guaranty you that most people will say yes, i believe in Something(Kyamites Kati).  Even the most Atheists, if not all, will say they believe in something. It’s truly out of this world :)), you can walk to any atheist and ask if they believe in something and they probably will answer of course i believe in something, you have to believe in something, how can you live without believing in something? Let’s leave the God of the Beans story for another time but one important thing you need know  about Kyamites Kati is that he-she is Pippi Langstoking on steroids.

When Cisco told his mother that he was distributing seeds of a miracle tree all over the world, she was worried he was selling drugs and would end up in jail. After all Cisco, like the rest of the internet freaks, he had never seen the color of this magic tree either. He was maybe selling false fantasies, drugs… Who the hell believed in a miraculous tree that could cure or prevent so many diseases, feed the hungry and combat climate change? Just too crazy for normal people to think about and absolutely insane to believe in such craze impossible missions. Cisco was not afraid to be labeled as ridiculous, crazy or insane in the menbrain. To prove it, he would hit the dancefloor like no one else could, with is unchained invisible wild wings. The Real Wild One – Iggy Pop

Other people did try to abduct is crazy concepts when they reveal to be a success…. When the car free day project actions hit the news, a Dutch priest showed up claiming that he should have the credits for such initiative. Sounds familiar??? That he was the car free day initiator, the great creator and thinker of the car free day. Probably because he was in communication with God himself? Well, If Cisco was God, that could be possible because this priest(Peter Dullaert) got inspired by Cisco’s actions and not by an imaginary God from out of this planet. BTW, which God would be so crazy to think about stopping cars, unless he too believes in miracles?? Peter the Priest, knows who Cisco is. When they met for the first time, Peter the Priest gave 100 Guldens to Cisco for his car free actions(and because Cisco never had money, not even to have a hair cut). This meeting took place long before mister Peter the Priest moved a finger to fight for car free days. If anyhow he was talking to some God in his prayers, they must have been so silent that even the big Gods radar ears could not capture it.

Guess what the headphone disco, car free day and moringa tree projects have all in common? Yes, nowadays they all seem just normal stuff and widespread but at the beginning, they were regarded as crazy ideas, ridiculous projects, impossible goals to realize, just too radical for the normal, too extreme to even think about, too ridiculous ideas to even share with friends, what to say if trying to accomplish them? And then after the path is made and there is a red carpet, a guy with money or well positioned in the grace of God, comes along and grabs the spotlight! Inshallah (if God wills) one day the God of the Beans most known as God Something, will rule the God’s World and create better human beans!

How did Nico boy come up with such a crazy solution to breakfree from discotheques? From where did come that urge or necessity to organise parties with headphones? How come that this Nico boy had the exact same idea as Cisco? Not someone else in New York, Moscow, Amsterdam or any other fucking place, but exactly in the same city where they lived and at about the same time? Let me repeat that again – 2 boys in the same city at the same time, came up with the same insane, ridiculous concept from another planet and only one of them is insane in the brain Cypress Hill – Insane in the Membrane, Oh boy, so many coincidences, i think its harder than to put together the numbers of a winning lottery ticket.

Cisco bets he still can find some people in Rotterdam that were aware of his wild, insane and exotic headphone disco plans, several months/year before Nico boy came out with his abducted, stolen project … Wanna bet? What about you Nico boy, wanna make my day?

Oh yes Nico boy, its  hard to give up such ass kissing media stories like this  Silent Disco is the brainchild of…   or this one  Nico “No DJ” Okkerse and Michael “DJ Od” Minten, came up with the concept… What a mountain of garbage! This is a masterful craftsman deceiving story that nico boy fabricated.  Creating the silent disco name and creating the concept is not the same but by mashing up, blending both of them, Nico boy masterfully  fabricated a big lie with an half truth.

“A lie that is half-truth is the darkest of all lies.”― Alfred Tennyson. “

“A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”― Mark Twain.

The slickest way to lie is to tell the right amount of truth–then shut up.” ― Robert A. Heinlein.

Who invented the silent disco?

This is the history of Silent Disco before the Silent Disco existed. Where it came from, why it was created, when and who came up with the idea to make dance parties with headphones.

The Silent Disco Origins

Cisco and his little moringas

15 years in Rotterdam, he never went to a hair dresser in town. 2 mirror helpt in this simple operation

Why spend money if you can do it for free?

xiko s moringa tree

Silent Disco Origins and History

The history of silent disco – What is silent disco & when did it start?

Headphone party, silent party, silent disco. Many names – one idea for an event and party. Create your own discotheque on the beach, in the office, in a gallery or in a park or  forest, wherever and whenever you like – the stage belongs to you!

Silent disco is a unique way of experiencing music together apart