Long a magnet for the Western counterculture, Goa has undergone something of a revival in recent years helped by a surge of visitors from Israel. Goa's reputation as a haven for nonconformists has been enhanced in part by the media coverage of young Israelis being thrown into Indian jails for using drugs. Unlike house music, which averages around 120 beats per minute, or progressive house, which averages 135 to 140, trance clocks in at a mind-numbing 150. It's less about touching and more about getting in touch with yourself. House is great for getting into the groove.
Trance is much more individual.
Trance first made the jump to Israel in the early 1990's and was embraced by a fledgling group of clubgoers who had experienced the music overseas. Groups with names like Mystica, Pigs in Space and Enlightened Evolution popped up. As a result, even though most albums sold fewer than 5,000 copies at home, trance parties attracted the attention of the police. In 1992, Avi Nissim, the other half of Astral Projection, was arrested while performing as a disk jockey at a party near Tel Aviv at which marijuana was found. Now I see them on the other side.