Suns of Arqa - Solar Activity: 1979-2001

Suns of Arqa have been led by founder Michael Wadada since the release of the group's 1979 debut LP 'Revenge of the Mozabites', some 200 members from across the globe have passed through its ranks, many of them met by Wadada during his extensive travels and sharing his interest in indigenous, tribal, folk and classical music traditions.

In addition to subsequent albums, including 1980's Wadada Magic, 1982's India? and 1984's Ark of the Arqans, the Suns of Arqa regularly backed reggae legend Prince Far I, even performing at his final concert (captured on the Live with Prince Far-I LP). With the masterful Land of a Thousand Churches, Wadada began issuing the group's material on his own Arka Sound label, a flurry of releases followed, among them Alap-Joe-Jhala, Jaggernaut (Whirling Dub) and Shabda.

If you've even brushed up alongside the electronica or UK festi-scenes, you will have heard them. Still, listening to Suns of Arqa now, there is a certain magic to their sound that sets them apart from other similar bands. Michael Wadada and his collaborators are the best at what they do, and it shows in the quality of the music they release.
Solar Activity was released in 2001, 22 years after the band was established, this sprawling two-disc anthology collects some of the brightest moments from the deep and varied Suns of Arqa catalog. Those who love experimental worldbeat fusion, the Asian underground, and avant dub in general will want to seek out most, if not all, of the many titles represented here.

Suns of Arqa - Solar Activity: 1979-2001
Disc one / Disc two

Disc: 1
1. Cosmic Jagaband
2. Radha Krsna
3. The Lama Geshe
4. Jagnath Bhaikavi
5. There Is No Danger Here
6. La Pacelle d'Orleans
7. The Truth Lies There In
8. Paradisum In Dub
9. Basant Alap
10. Basant Dhrupad
11. Acid Tabla Dub
12. World Peace A.D
Disc: 2
1. Tomorrow Never Knows
2. Kadir the Whirling Durvesh
3. The Sky Shall Vanish
4. Govinda's Dream
5. Govinda Go
6. Inca Man
7. Whirling Forest
8. Cosmic Jugalbandi
9. Durga Dub
10. Deep Journey

Track origins:
[1-01] from "Cosmic Jugalbandi"
[1-02] edited from "Suns Of Arqa Meet The Gayan Uttejak Orchestra"
[1-03] edited from "Un1-verse- City"
[1-04] edited from "Jaggernaut Whirling Dub"
[1-05] from "Shabda"
[1-06] from "Seven"
[1-07] edited from "Seven"
[1-08] from "Seven"
[1-09] from "Shabda"
[1-10] edited from "Shabda"
[1-11] from "Revenge Of The Mozabites"
[1-12] from "Revenge Of The Mozabites"
[2-01] from "Shabda"
[2-02] from "Un1-verse- City"
[2-03] from "Suns Of Arqa Meet The Gayan Uttejak Orchestra"
[2-04] from "Govinda's House In The City Of Nine Gates"
[2-05] edited from "Govinda's House In The City Of Nine Gates"
[2-06] from "Total Eclipse Of The Suns"
[2-07] from "Tribal Futures" (a benefit compilation for Survival International)
[2-08] from "Animan"
[2-09] edited from "Technomor (Remixes Volume 4)"
[2-10] from "Aberglaube (Remixes Volume 3)"
[2-11] from "Cosmic Jugalbandi"
[2-12] from "Kokoromochi"

[2-13] from "Land Of A Thousand Churches"

buy direct from the Suns of Arqa website here
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Near Worms Head, Rhossili, Wales

Jilala - Jilala

The JILALA, like other religious brotherhoods of Morocco, is probably rooted in pre-Islamic ritual and celebration, but it is at the same time definitely a part of the great Sufi tradition of the Middle East. An offshoot of the Kadiree order which was begun in Baghdad in the twelfth century by Moulay Ahdelkader Ghailani or Jilali as he is often called in the Maghreb. The Jilala is an order of dervish musicians known for their practice of trance dancing and spiritual healing. They are called upon to exorcise evil spirits and to purify the heart. Incense, special foods and drinks help establish the mood, while the shebaba (reed flute) states the theme. Bendir (hand drum) tempos rise and fall, as intricate percussion from double castanets, together with chanting and vocalizations, drives the dancers on.

Jilala is a collection of early Sufi trance-music recordings undertaken by Swiss painter Brion Gysin and writer Paul Bowles in 1965. The music is rhythmic and stark,a few drums, three flutes, a pair of castanets, and the voices of the followers are all you'll hear on these 8 untitled tracks and the sound quality renders an experience imperfectly dimmed by the years. Yet this vivid sonic portrait of the Sufi mystical sect of Jilala captures the musical essence of a culture jubilantly seizing the soul of their worship. A glimpse into the unknown which radiates with an undeniable enlightenment.

Jilala - Jilala
Klik on the above cover to read Texts by Ira Cohen

Bachir Attar HERE

Lights in a Fat City - Somewhere. (these records)

Lights in a Fat City was a collaboration between Eddy Sayer, percussion, hybrid harp; Kenneth Newby, sulings, p'iri, samples; and Stephen Kent, didgeridoo, animal horns.

Lights In A Fat City released three albums - "Somewhere" (1988), "Sound Column" (1993) and "Memory Ground" (1999).

Thier unique sound is an amalgamation of deep textures, rich drones (thanks to the expansive sound of the didgerdoo) and a fondness for tribal atmospherics.
''we’d go down to Camden Lock Market in north London and set up our instruments on a magic carpet, Eddy would put a bunch of hand percussion and a couple of small drums and I would have my didj and a selection of rattles, cymbals and sticks. We’d play, sometimes all day, for fun and put out the hat. In 1985 we hung out with Kenneth Newby and recorded our market jams''

Lights In A Fat City - Somewhere

. When I Go up (I Feel Like Shouting)

2. Thunder

3. Valley of the Winds

4. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZP!

5. Tjilpi

6. Dolphin Dreaming

7. Vee Dee Vu

8. Guboo

Ira Cohen & DJ Cheb I Sabbah - The Majoon Traveler

Ira Cohen is a seminal figure in the consciousness-raising, mind-altering counter-culture movement that began in the 1960s. Over the past five decades, he has produced a wide-ranging body of work that includes poetry, audio recordings, photographs, and experimental and documentary films. Influenced by the many years he spent in North Africa, India, and Nepal with several other key figures of the counterculture, Cohen captures in his work transcendent moments filled with potential and being, embodiments of the Sanskrit word Akash, meaning “ether” or “timeless thoughts.”In New York in the late 1960s, Cohen created his Mylar Chamber, a room covered with bendable, distorting mirrors in which he produced psychedelic photographs of shamans, divas, the rock stars Jimi Hendrix and Noel Redding, and the legendary filmmaker Jack Smith. These melting, vibrant images are featured in his film The Invasion of Thunderbolt Pagoda (1968). An extraordinary visual trip into a mythical land populated by wizards, sorcerers, dreaming plants, and magical animals, with an accompanying soundtrack by Velvet Underground drummer Angus McLise, the film epitomizes the hallucinogenic experiences of the psychedelic era, melding image with sound, color, movement, and light.In his poetry, Cohen shies away from ornamentation, favoring a style more akin to collage, in which fragments are brought together to create a unified whole. For Cohen, the most important aspect of his poetry remains the subject matter, which is taken from lived experience, not from the imagination. In “Something I’ve Been Thinking a Lot About” (2005), he ruminates on the possible exploitation of tsunami victims, the uncounted dead in Iraq, and the rapidity with which these events can be glossed over and forgotten. In “Cornucopion” (2004), he reflects, after discovering long-forgotten flower petals embedded in the last pages of his notebook, on the passage of time.Cohen’s engagement with poetry is not limited to the written word, for, following in the tradition of Dylan Thomas and others, he remains deeply invested in the power of reading his poetry out loud. Through this performative act, he gains a deeper connection to the poem and to his audience, a connection that reaffirms a universal consciousness of being as conveyed through image and word.The Majoon Traveler was released in 1994 by Sub Rosa, It is subtitled The Poetry Of Ira Cohen With DJ Cheb I Sabbah's Cut Up Mix Of Don Cherry, Ornette Coleman, Angus MacLise, Lights In A Fat City, Jilala"

Ira Cohen & DJ Cheb I Sabbah - The Majoon Traveler.

1. Blind Violinist
2. Imagine Jean Cocteau
3. Song to Nothing/Letter to Caliban/End of a Line
4. Kathmandu Dream Piece
5. Cembalism
6. Tangier Telegram from the Majoon Traveler/From the Moroccan ...
7. Allah Moulana
8. Even the King of the Ginza Must Sometimes Sleep for Yamaguchi Kenjiro
9. Ornette Comes Home
10. This Is Real Timing
11. Djemaa el Fna

Tracks 1, 6 and 11 recorded by Ira Cohen in Marrakesh, 1987.
Kumbh Mela recording on track 4 by Ira Cohen and Ira Landgarten, Hardwar 1986.
Track 7 recorded by Paul Bowles and Brion Gysin for Ira Cohen, Tangier 1961.
Don Cherry recorded at Earwax by Hans Christian Reumschussel.
Ira Cohen's voice on tracks 4, 6, 8 and 9 recorded by Bill Laswell.
Ira Cohen's voice on tracks 2, 3 and 10 recorded by Naut Humon.
Steven Kent recorded by Naut Humon.
All tracks engineered and assisted by Naut Humon at Bloody Angle Studios.
Produced by DJ Cheb I Sabbah.

ira cohen at the october gallery
excellent website

Kathmandu Portfolio + 1
biography
jacket mag interview

Poet's brains prove to be useful!
6 poems by Ira Cohen
Exquisite Corpse/Ira Cohen & The Night A Fried Egg Went to the Whitney
a phone conversation with blastitude

HASHISHEEN;THE END OF LAW HERE

T.A.A.

Depth Charge - Nine Deadly Venoms

DJ/producer J. Saul Kane has been one of the more consistent and innovative forces on the U.K. dance scene since the late '80s, Some six years before hip hop had been tripped out and de-vocalized by Bristol and Mo Wax, Kane was in a West London studio working on his vision of weird-ed out, instrumental-ized 'film genre' hip hop, something he describes as 'mono-syllabic club music'

He took the fruits of his labor to Vinyl Solution, a local record store and label, who subsequently released it as the Han Do Jin 12" in 1989. As the first Depth Charge release, Han Do Jin introduced the world to Kane's brand of stripped down, sonar blip hip hop; a unique take on of the genre instantly recognizable on account of his production style and use of esoteric kung fu dialogue samples. Additionally, Kane's two labels, D.C. (trip-hop and dub) and Electron Industries (electro and techno), have been responsible for some of the more memorable moments in mid-'90s underground dance music.
Nine Deadly Venoms was originally released in 1994 and collects some of the best of Kane's earlier (1989-1994) Depth Charge 12'' tracks together for the first time.
Depth Charge - Nine Deadly Venoms

	Shaolin Buddha Finger (6:47)
	Dead By Dawn (Edit) (5:04)
	Bounty Killers (Edit) (5:24)
	Depth Charge (Han Do Jin)(Edit) (5:47)
	Bastard Swordsmen (4:37)
	Bounty Killers II (Edit) (3:49)
	Daughters Of Darkness (5:28)
	Goal (Edit) (3:59)
	Hubba Hubba Hubba (What's In The Bag Man?) (4:10)
	Hubba Hubba Hubba (Knife In The Bag) (5:56)
	Number 9 (5:55)
	The Guide (3:45)

dcrecordings

TACK>>HEAD - Friendly As A Hand Grenade

Tackhead (aka The Maffia /Fats Comet) are an industrial hip-hop group that were most active during the 1980s and early 1990s, and briefly reformed in 2004 for a tour. Their music occupies the territory where funk, dub, industrial music and electronica intersect. The core members are Doug Wimbish (bass), Keith Leblanc (percussion) and Skip McDonald (guitar) and producer & mixologist Adrian Sherwood.

Despite being short-lived as band, the legacy and output of this group of musicians has been prodigious, they have collaborated with artists as diverse as Lee Scratch Perry, Bim Sherman, Junior Delgado, African Head Charge, Prince Far I, Little Annie, Gary Clail, Mark Stewart +Maffia, The Slits, Neneh Cherry, Jalal, Sex Pistols, Dub Syndicate,The Rolling Stones, Jeff Beck, Joe Satriani, Annie Lennox, Carly Simon, Madonna, R.E.M., Seal, James Brown, George Clinton, Bernie Worrell, B.B. King, Yoko Ono, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Sly & Robbie, Herbie Hancock, Herb Alpert, Brooklyn Funk Essentials, Bruce Springsteen, David Sancious, Depeche Mode, The Cure, Jello Biafra, Living Colour, Little Axe, Nine Inch Nails, Tarja Turunen, Mos Def,
Ghetto Priest, Jesse Rae...

TACK>>HEAD - Friendly As A Hand Grenade

. Ska Trek

2. Tell Me the Hurt

3. Mind and Movement

4. Stealing

5. Airborn Ranger

6. Body to Burn

7. Demolition House

8. Free South Africa

9. Ticking Time Bomb

10. Ska Trek

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