POP MUSIC : London’s Shamen Make the Mainstream Theirs

For many pop groups, mainstream is a nasty word.

For the London-based Shamen, the mainstream is the perfect place for its eclectic music, which borrows from a range of dance-music subspecies: house, techno, hip-hop and Manchester dance-rock.

“Without this kind of music you would have blacks going to hip-hop jams, Hispanics going to Latin-hip hop jams and whites going to rock jams,” says the Shamen’s rapper Mr. C. “It’s the music that prods these people to come together.”

Indeed, the Shamen’s techno-style hit “Move Any Mountain” has crossed over from No. 1 on the Billboard dance chart to the Top 40 in the more competitive pop chart--making it the most successful song yet to emerge from the burgeoning “rave” dance-party scene.

“Mountain’s” appeal to a wider audience is due in part to its pairing of singing with techno, a dry, heavy beats-based sound that uses sparse, sampled vocals. Unlike most rave-oriented groups, the Shamen began six years ago as a guitar-oriented rock band. “We’re totally unique,” Scottish lead singer Colin Angus told Melody Maker magazine. “We’re in touch with the mainstreams of both rock and dance cultures.”

The hit, actually a remix of the Shamen’s successful 1990 dance single “Pro-Gen,” has been joined on the dance charts by “Make It Mine,” a thumping jam from the Shamen’s album “En-Tact.” (See Gotta Dance, Page 64).

And while other club groups promote grooves for dancing, the Shamen promote their beats as drum-rhythm therapy and a cure for violence, according to Mr. C’s interpretation of the ancient Northeast Asian religion of shamanism.

The two members of the Shamen say the message that accompanies their beats is one of unity and individual empowerment. “The Shamen’s lyrics used to be political,” says C, “Now, rather than make protests, they teach about the self.”