AlphaTheta releases "We Become One" documentary

AlphaTheta releases detailed documentary on the power of shared musical experiences: “We Become One”. The 60-minute film explores why and how we connect through music. Lead contributor Kikelomo Oludemi searches for answers on 3 continents with industry-leading neuroscientists, psychologists, and revered artists sharing their wisdom

AlphaTheta announces the release of “We Become One”, a new documentary film exploring the power of shared musical experiences. AlphaTheta’s mission, One Through Music, is based on a passionate belief that music has the profound power to unite people. From dancefloors to festivals, music has an undeniable ability to create shared experiences, dissolve boundaries, and bring us into a collective state of flow. But why does this happen? What is it about music that connects us so deeply?

“We Become One” follows DJ/producer/curator Kikelomo Oludemi as she goes on a journey to learn why people choose music as a vehicle to connect with others, appreciating it as a universal "language" that speaks to everyone. And how the human brain harnesses sound to evoke euphoria and reduce stress.

In “We Become One”, Kikelomo travels to the USA, Ghana, South Africa, Germany, the UK, and France to talk with industry-leading scientists and researchers, and legendary artists. In California, she meets Daniel Levitin, a globally revered cognitive psychologist, neuroscientist, musician, and record producer, who explains how neurons in the human brain are fired synchronously with a beat, creating a wave-like phenomenon of electrical impulses. “Why are they sending out electricity?” Levitin ponders. “They’re trying to spur the production and release of different chemicals. These different brain states characterize different states of consciousness.”

Moodymann, DJ and Producer, said within the documentary: “It’s universal. Everybody knows a good rhythm when they hear a good rhythm, you know? You don’t need to be educated. You don’t need to be dumb or smart. Anybody can catch a rhythm. You can go to clubs nowadays and there’s everybody in there which is beautiful.”

Another expert who talks about the way music triggers electrical activity in the brain is Dr. Julia C. Basso, neuroscientist and director of the Embodied Brain Lab. She explains how, when people are dancing to the same music together, specific parts of their brains are stimulated simultaneously, creating a feeling of unity among the crowd. “That whole social network of brain areas is lighting up, firing together, so there’s a lot of inter-brain synchrony that’s happening,” says Basso.

Where there’s music and dancing, there are usually lights too, and in “We Become One” we hear from Dan Ghenacia, a respected DJ and member of production trio Apollonia, who’s also the creator of the Alpha Wave Experience. Inspired by Brion Gysin’s Dream Machine, and backed by neuroscience, the experience uses a machine that combines flashing lights with music to create brain entrainment and induce people into different brain states, such as psychedelic or meditative ones. “Clubbing is an old form of shamanism – using rhythms and drums to put people in ecstatic states,” says psychologist Francisco Teixeira, who works with Ghenacia on the project. “Sound and music is a non-semantic [form of] communication, so you can communicate your emotions even to someone who doesn’t speak your language. I think that’s why even people with completely different experiences somehow feel the same emotions at the same time [when on the dancefloor]… Sound is the unifying form of communicating emotions.”

Daniel Levitin, Cognitive Psychologist, Neuroscientist, Musician, and Record Producer, also said within the documentary: “There's this thing called the flow state, and it's characterized by focused attention, a loss of a sense of self, a loss of a sense of time, and, really, the focused attention is a special kind where you're not really aware of yourself or what you're doing. You're outside yourself, and electronic music is really great at inducing it, which is why so many raves and so many parties and even therapeutic uses of music involve the repetitiveness. That repetition allows you to enter a meditative state, and you can close off the inner chatter of your brain and the inner dialogue and just be, and when you can relax into that state of here and now, that's when the trance can come.”

On her travels, Kikelomo also visits Oroko Radio and Vibrate Studios, both in Accra, Ghana, to discover how electronic music can help bridge sociological division on and off the dancefloor. And by the end of her journey, Kikelomo shares with the viewer a greater understanding of what clubbing and shared musical experiences can do for us from a neurological, racial, gender, sexual orientation, spiritual, and human perspective. So, it seems that AlphaTheta’s vision of One Through Music is shared by many. As legendary DJ Moodymann says in the film, while talking about his Soul Skate parties where people enjoy music and dancing while roller skating: “When we get together… we become one.”

Other notable quotes from “We Become One” include:

“In order for music to move us emotionally, to make us feel exhilarated or joyful or relaxed, any of those things require that we surrender to the music. And there’s no greater example of that than the dancefloor.”

Daniel Levitin, Cognitive Psychologist, Neuroscientist, Musician, and Record Producer

“When we listen to music, we’re time traveling. We’re not concerned with concepts or words, but something much more fundamental… Only music gives that to us… Music is our umbilical cord back to Mother Nature.”

Professor Michael Spitzer, Author and Professor of Music at Liverpool University

“What music does is a form of telepathy… Through rhythm, we can share emotion and activity, and we call that dancing. And it’s why dance is such a triumphant, validating human endeavor.”

Professor Michael Spitzer, Author and Professor of Music at Liverpool University

“I think that, when it comes to music, I almost feel as though it's another form of communication. When you're able to bond over a certain track or you realize that you have similar tastes in music, it's a really great foundation because I believe that music really connects you on a soul level.”

Whitney Wei, Journalist and Editor

“In a world where politicians go and weaponize different minorities in this kind of populist world, it's nice to have a safe haven that you remember that actually people are just people and that there is more that unites us than divides us.”

Steve Braines, Co-Founder of He.She.They. Label and Events

The documentary, ‘We Become One’ is out now. Available to watch for free:









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