Animist Downbeat | Electronica | Leftfield 4 Items

Taraf is the name of this album, and represents the concept of resonance. In India tarafs are the sympathetic or resonating strings on instruments like the sitar, sarod and sarangi. They are tuned in the raga (scale/composition) that is performed. When the performer plays on the main strings, the tones of the raga are emphasized because the tarafs only resonate with those tones. Hiss Sound is the new project of Dutch musician Olivier Schreuder, who is also behind the Thai-Dutch collective Apichat Pakwan. For this first album he collaborated with four Dutch musicians who specialize in North-Indian classic music. Like Apichat Pakwan the music is at the crossroads of Western, electronic and Asian music, with influences of dub, hiphop and electro. Besides Indian instruments like the sarod, bansuri, sitar & tabla there are also electric and acoustic guitars, bassguitar and drums. In each track they interact in a different way with a wide range of synthesizers and drummachines, like the vintage analog Formanta Polivoks and the 909, to form gritty, bassheavy dancefloor-oriented grooves that move between traditional raga-structures, contemporary electronic music and comprovisations

Apichat Pakwan is a music collective put together by Olivier Schreuder, an Amsterdam-based musician, DJ & producer.

Together they produce “Isantronics” - a hybrid approach to blending Molam (folkmusic of the ethnic Lao, of whom the largest population is living in Isan, another name for Northeast-Thailand), electronic music, Dub & Hip Hop.

Apichat Pakwan consists of Olivier Schreuder (electronics, production, percussion), Pongsapon Upani (Kaen), Artit Krajangsree (Phin, bass), Robin Koek (drums), Angkanang Pimwankum (percussion) and is based in Amsterdam (the Netherlands) and Khon Kaen (Thailand). TIP!!!

The Soninke collective consciousness finds its origins in a founding myth, a blood pact: the legend of Biida and the decadence of the empire of Ghana or Wagadu (evoked by Léopold Sédar Senghor as a land of plenty in his poem Le Kaya Magan). From the 3rd century AD, gathered in the region of Sahel, on the edge of the Sahara desert, the Soninko ruled over their kingdom and its capital Kumbi Saleh. According to folklore, they were blessed with abundant rain and nuggets of gold could be picked directly from the ground. They owed this prosperity to a providential but cruel protector: the Wagadu Biida, a seven-headed serpent who lived at the bottom of the Kumbi well. Every year, as a reward for his favours, the Biida demanded an offering: the life of the most beautiful virgin woman in the community. Sacrifices took place for generations, until the 13th century AD, when fate chose Siya Yatabéré, Maamadi Sehedunxote's sweetheart... Centuries later in 1977, Gaye Mody Camara, a young Soninke raised in Mali's Kayes region, settled in France to found his own empire. Initially selling wax, kola nuts and other goods in his Parisian outlets, he rapidly started distributing cassette tapes and eventually producing a multitude of recordings for his own label: Camara Production. Crossing paths and collaborating over the next four decades with legendary artists, griots and industry moguls like Boncana Maïga, Jean-Philippe Rykiel, Ganda Fadiga, Diaby Doua or Ibrahima Sylla, Camara became one of the great independent music producers of his generation, and a pilar of the Parisian Soninke diaspora. Released in close collaboration with Gaye Camara and with the assistance of Daouda N'diaye, one of A.P.S' (Association pour la Promotion de la langue et de la culture Soninké) historical members, this selection of songs and accompanying notes aim to shed a light on an intricate culture and its modern music, injustifiably unknown outside of West Africa and the various Soninko diasporas around the world. From Malian Zouk to Mauritanian Reggae and other psychedelic groovers originally released on cassettes or digitally, we have given the utmost attention to bringing this music to a new format. It has been carefully remastered and pressed on a couple of 180g vinyls, with riso printed liner notes.

Only one copy per customer!

Martinique is an island in the Lesser Antilles, a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea found between the Greater Antilles (Jamaica, Cuba, and Puerto Rica) to the north-west and the continent of South America to the south. Martinique is one of the eighteen regions of France (there are five overseas regions) and an integral part of the French Republic. As part of France, Martinique is also part of the European Union, and its currency is the Euro. The official language is French, and virtually the entire population speaks Antillean Creole. It was first claimed by France in 1635 under the reign of King Louis XIII.

Located geographically closer to the United States than to Europe, the Antilles absorbed jazz and mixed it with the traditional rhythms of their islands: the Biguine, Gwo Ka, Tumbélé. Many artists over the years have explored this uniquely affecting mix: D’Alexandre Stellio, Jean-Claude Montredon, Al Lirvat, Acques Coursil and Mario Caning. But one of the best exemplars of this fusing of American jazz and the Antillean musical tradition was pianist and composer Marius Cultier.
Marius Cultier was born in 1942 in Fort-de-France, Martinique. A precocious talent for an early age, at nine he conducted with the L'Office de Radiodiffusion-Télévision Fançaise, the French national public broadcasting organisation.

As a young man, Cultier hosted a radio show, ‘Punch en Musique,’ which proved a hit with the public and his name and reputation slowly built. Tragedy struck him at 14 when he was orphaned and he was looked after by this elder sister.

As tragic as 1956 proved for Cultier, it was to be a watershed year for another reason - it was the year he discovered jazz. It wasn’t long before he was fusing the musical styles and language of the West Indies with jazz and he began live performances at the Hôtel l’Impératrice.

Very quickly Cultier became an in-demand concert attraction in Martinique and venue owners soon began to book him across the island. His reputation grew and before long he was also performing across the Caribbean.

As his stature grew, he began to receive accolades and prizes, including the International Piano Conquest prize in Puerto Rico for his performance of "Round Midnight”.
He went to Canada in 1966 - initially for a few weeks - where he stayed for several years. Whilst there he met and played with established jazz artists before continuing his journey in the United States, and then Europe, where he played in Paris at the Palais des Congrès at the invitation of the then President, Valérie Giscard D’Estaing, before returning to Martinique in 1973.

This release is pressed on heavyweight vinyl. The cover is presented on original glued prints on thick cardboard in a PVC outer sleeve.