For twenty years since the birth and subsequent worldwide
spread of the experimentally oriented genre of downtempo electronic,
SUNS OF ARQA has been one of the greatest behind-the-scenes pioneers.
Their music is the sum of a vast and widely variable equation of
musical connection and imagination.
The Arqa story begins in 1979 in Manchester, England, with a man
named Michael Wadada, who was destined to mastermind one of the
most obscure yet influential acts in the genre to date. Three years
after his musical beginnings, Wadada attracted notice from Peter
Gabriel, and performed alongside, such varied inventive geniuses
as poet John Cooper Clarke, linguist Professor Stanley Unwin, flautist
Tim Wheater, Adrian Sherwood and the legendary Jamaican DJ, Prince
Far-I, as well as many others.
Just over half a decade later, Wadada produced "Land of a
Thousand Churches" featuring many of his old musical friends
as well as new ones, such as James Young, Helen Watson and afro-jazz
star Feso Trombone. This album was in many ways a fusion of the
two seemingly different musical and spiritual spheres of the Celtic
and Hindu. The results were deemed by many as revolutionary within
music and quickly came to be identified with Wadada's pioneering
musical style.
By the mid-nineties, SUNS OF ARQA was in full swing, having begun
to delve into the emerging electronic genres of drum and bass and
jungle, dub and others, working with names such as Guy Called Gerald,
808 State, Zion Train, John Leckie, Youth, Muslim Gauze and the
infamous Astralasia. The Arqa stage setup was more diverse and worldly
than ever before, encompassing sounds of Scottish bagpipes, hurdy
gurdy,Indian strings and vocals, reggae percussion, just to name
a few.
Today, Michael Wadada is still hard at work under the Arqa banner,
this time in the studio, delving deeper into the musically yet-unperceived.
Having released a slew of albums under various labels, exposing
and promoting styles from every corner of the globe into one harmonious
amalgam. SUNS OF ARQA’S latest release, a dual disc compilation
is compiled TomFu (Liquid Records), who is a very well respected
DJ in the UK scene for many years in the downtempo and ethnic scene.
The 2 CD compilation contains a mixtures of the sounds which span
and define their career to now, all seamlessly blended into a globetrotting
safari of eclectic musical fusions and collusions. After almost
thirty years of innovations that have truly set this name onto its
own level, the future can hold nothing but limitless potential for
the genre-bending and genre-forging vehicle known as SUNS OF ARQA.
Track By Track:
CD1
Mongolian Lullaby
Khoomii throat singing and exotic strings and flutes take you
to a place far removed from the stresses of your current latitude,
longitude, and elevation. Soothe your mind and lull into the energy
of musical gifts from ancient cultures for the modern time.
Lama Geshe
Your journey continues as the lazily rhythmic drum beats kick
in. You sink ever deeper into the sonic folds of mystical chanting
and peaceful string layers. Bells signal the approach of deep,
earthy dub bass and infusions of synth effects into a nice cool
marriage of acoustic harmony.
Magiczna Mitose
Like a lotus blossom, the audio atmosphere opens up into a middle-eastern
hip shaker that makes you want to reach for your hookah and Turkish
tea set. Prepare for a magic carpet ride through the sounds of
times both long gone and yet to pass. Suns of Arqa charm you like
a cobra moving your mind to their hypnotic beat.
Lamudia Dub
Things start to get a tad bit surreal at the onset of this track.
Waves both analogue and digital mix together like colliding cloud
layers, and conspire to lift you up to their elevation. Groovy
reggae beats tap out staccato rhythms, helping you keep a foot
on the ground. The masterful musical progression here makes this
musical trip a pleasant inevitability.
Off to Pluto
Here's musical originality at its finest with Professor Stanley
Unwin providing the narrative genius, pure spaced out brilliance!
The bansuri, narration, flutes and dub beats make for unlikely
bedfellows, but it works. "Pluto" is one to remember,
a conglomeration that'll make you snort and chuckle with giddy
pleasure.
Tarang
Before you realise what's just happened, you're immersed in a
funhouse of tribal percussion beats, each one playing your neurones
like just another instrument in this cornucopia of sound, with
thick, gnarly bass conveying you into your future.
Govinda's House
A brief sargasso of synthesized sound gives you a breather before
the next waveform storm. Jamaican-styled beats and rhymes duo
with sitars and song from the East, fused together by a gritty
industrial bassline. Frequent change-ups keep the sounds fresh
and the energy pulsating.
Basant Dhrupad
Soupy bass and richly filtered, SUNS OF ARQA’s live sound
ticks along like a clock while tampura drones and raga vocals
melt away its temporal integrity. Each layer of sound seems purely
handmade and comfortably organic, indeed, to label it as "electronic"
does these sounds an injustice.
Durga Dub
The woodwind section of this eclectic ensemble joins in to give
the audience a moment of reflection as these acoustic rivers bend,
taking you to another plane of sound. Relax a moment, close your
eyes, and appreciate the cool waters of the flutes, reedy drones
and methodical, hypnotic drumming.
Rosin + Reed
Sample for a moment a bit of gypsy violin... Before long we're
greeted by a folksy house beat enriched by plucks and clucks of
handmade woodblocks, as our flautist paints a pretty sonic skyscape.
Windy oscillations across the panorama juggle your mind about
for a moment before the return of sweet Celtic melodies.
Through The Gate We Go (Bhairavi
Alap intro)
A minute's respite to the tune of a string soloist draws the fore
curtain for a nighttime outdoor groover. Eerie fae whisperings
and Arabian violin form the meat of the melody while a troupe
of skilled percussionists lay down an energy collecting framework
sewn together by knee-grinding bass lines. This twelve minute
voyage has a lot to offer... subtle breakbeat changeups launch
what was a chillout space into sexy puddles of hip-grinding mayhem,
making this one an energy builder obviously made by true professionals.
Misra Pahvadi
This downtempo tea party continues with blends of flutes and strings
set to a poppy, minimalistic bassbeat fit for induction of visions
from behind closed eyelids. Listen and drift along through the
waters of seemingly effortlessly calm improvisation masterfully
arranged by SUNS OF ARQA.
Tomorrow Never Knows
Yes it’s the Beatles classic from the Revolver LP! Brit-rock
mixes with sounds from the subcontinent and warbled digital pads
to reproduce the revolutionary moods of psychedelia and love rooted
in our recent past. ‘ARQA gives this seed of retroism their
signature futuristic twist and adds enough organic material to
make you feel like you're hearing it live.
CD2
Cradle
Diaphanous quavering of antediluvian arpeggios drift through ethereal
layers of iaminate stringed instruments. Feelings of hot tea sipped
in a sunrise shadowed by the minarets of the Hagia Sophia coalesce
in your imagination, while harmony holds your ears in rapture
and soothes your stress-ridden brainwaves into calm relaxation.
Ageng Mimansa
Leisurely composed flute nestles amongst subtle synth pads and
sweeps. Cool electric piano chords add touches of atmospheric
blues every few moments. The skill and artistry is free flowing
in this as in other tracks on the SUNS' latest album odyssey.
Cowbellish percussive elements contribute to a sound that makes
you forget your current environs.
Durga Dub
Palatial pagodic tonalities flitter delicately through the background
during a cozy drum beat and slightly filtered, alleviating flutes.
Old timey stand-up bass plucks away a happy foundation for this
eleven minute piece of laid back, mood lightening music. Chilled
out to the max, this one's end will leave you reluctant to leave
your seat.
Whirling Full
"Whirling" makes quite a few changeups from the musically
drawn out moods before it.This one is all about pitch-bent, cascading
synth riffs running the spectral range and scaled to an attenuated,
uptempo beat. Energies rise as more musical layers join the circle,
including a pillowy dance kick, jazzy flutes, and retro digital
effects that are easy yet interesting upon the ears.
Bha Ravi (Bharavi Dub intro)
Straight to the humid tropics of the subcontinent we go, to bear
witness to eerily exotic soloings inducing seldom felt mood changes.
Simplistically complex percussion fits right in, making the cluttering
of ambiguously every day noises seem so much more surreal. The
fusion of seemingly opposite ends of the musical gamut prop open
cranial doors to remind you that your hookah has been bugging
you for a repack. Drums of barely recognizable origin tilt the
musical panorama for a greater perspective of this otherworldly
audio tour.
Cosmic Jugalbandi remixes (He Did
Not Die intro)
SUNS OF ARQA presents us on this double CD four different iterations
of their esteemed Cosmic Jugalbandi session, with an acquaintive
intro appropriate for all takes. Each one is a different slice
of sublime divinity and oneness made from the same cosmic batter
of sonic elements, arranged and performed to be experienced as
one journey through a quartet of digital and acoustic outlooks.
Kalavati Alap (Fomorian intro)
The SUNS OF ARQA wind down this impressive dual-disc compilation
of some of the finest musical expressions, interpretations, and
improvisations ever heard in a genre that the group itself began
forging three decades ago. A triplet of stringed and blown instrumentals
return you gently like a giant invisible motherly hand into your
noggin, leaving you relaxed, loose, and refreshed, and reflective
upon the whole auditory actuality.
Exclusive
worldwide distribution through Arabesque
| www.arabesque.co.uk
| mark.bedford@arab.co.uk
|
