Tidal raves : rave/club subculture in Malta

Abstract

Within this qualitative study, the objective was to identify factors contingent upon subcultural capital with Malta’s rave/club scene and to examine how this may have changed over time. The research tried to uncover any changes in regards to what Sarah Thornton (1995) considered ‘subcultural capital’. This study also attempts to understand how and why the rave/club scene in Malta flourished at Paceville (Malta’s nightlife hub) during the 1990s, and why the scene was eventually pushed out to the outer limits of Paceville and other areas. Andy Bennett’s (2004) “ebb and flow” concept of music scenes informs the above-mentioned phenomenon. Six participants, such as DJs, event organisers and electronic music producers were chosen using purposive sampling. Using semi-structured interviews the study focused on extracting themes by probing into the participants’ active involvement in Malta’s rave/club subculture. Thematic analysis was used to investigate the data. From the findings, the interviewees expressed similarities to Thornton’s (ibid.) understanding of ‘underground’ vs ‘mainstream’. The findings showed that a pandemic (COVID-19) and technological innovations such as the internet and social media have affected the subculture’s landscape in view of such notions of community, discourse, commercialisation and status.