Playground magazine

Donna Summer was planning to go on tour in the coming weeks, playing her greatest hits during what promised to be spectacular holy masses of disco. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen anymore. At 63, she lost her battle against cancer, and on 17th May - a black day for pop music - one of the Queens of the golden age of disco and synth funk said goodbye to us forever, leaving behind a string of unforgettable hits. Her name was LeDonna Andrea Gaines, but we'll always remember her as Donna Summer, and for songs like the ones we're highlighting for you here, as a homage to a universal icon of hedonism and free love. It's only ten songs, but it could have been two hundred.

Of course, “I Feel Love”, the highlight of her collaboration with Giorgio Moroder. Over ten minutes of synth mantra, in its longest version (the Patrick Cowley remix went past the 15-minute line), repeated endlessly, in search of ecstasy on the dance floor. The rhythm, the central arpeggio - it has become the real genome of computer disco, prolonged over 35 years with reverential efficiency. The vocal part is simple, but immortal: few times so much passion has been expressed with so few resources.