It was played at the Warehouse and now it sits in the Library of Congress: Chicago spends four days celebrating itself as the birthplace of house

From 27 to 30 August, Chicago is holding the Chicago House Music Festival & Conference — four days of free sets, talks and dance battles in the middle of the city. The occasion is something that had never happened before: the record that started the city’s house scene was added this spring to the National Recording Registry of the United States.

The programme, the venues and the hour-by-hour schedule were published by the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events of the City of Chicago.

The record is Your Love, Jamie Principle’s 1986 single. Alongside it, the registry took the remix made in 1987 by Frankie Knuckles. Twenty-five recordings are chosen each year as «culturally, historically or aesthetically significant» to life in the United States; the list now runs to about seven hundred entries — next to Martin Luther King’s «I Have a Dream».

How a record went from a basement to a state archive

The idea for Your Love dates back to 1982, and the lyrics grew out of a poem the author wrote for his girlfriend. He handed the track to his friend Louie Gomez, who remixed it and passed the recording to Frankie Knuckles. Knuckles started playing it at his Chicago clubs — the Warehouse and the Power Plant — and from there it spread first through the underground and then across the world.

All three people in that story are on this year’s bill. On Thursday evening Jamie Principle gave a separate conversation in Preston Bradley Hall, in partnership with S&S Chicago — that is, Steve «Silk» Hurley and Shannon «Skip» Syas. And Louie Gomez, the man whose remix set the whole thing off, plays the main stage on Saturday at three in the afternoon.

Knuckles has been gone since 2014, but his name holds the whole structure together: the Library of Congress registry recorded his version next to the original.

What else is on

The conference at the Chicago Cultural Center gathered panels of a kind dance festivals rarely hold: on independent labels and artist visibility in a crowded market, on distribution, publishing and the return of vinyl, and on the economics of nightlife. The last of these was moderated by DJ Heather, with Wayne Williams, head of the Chosen Few DJs, among the panellists.

In parallel, the Chicago House Dance Summit returned: an all-ages masterclass, a screening of Dr. ShaDawn Battle’s documentary «Place, Space, Werks» with a talkback, the panel «Chicago House Dance: Roots & Branches» and a tournament with qualifying rounds.

It all closes on Sunday on the Chicago Riverwalk, at the point where the three branches of the river meet. From one to five, Sandra Suave, El Caveman, Lee Farmer and Mark Grant play there; the organisers suggest bringing blankets.

We wrote earlier about how Ralf GUM brought his weekly mix to a four-digit episode number — another way house keeps its own chronicle.