🌚 New Release: AK'CHAMEL - A Mournful Kingdom Of Sand (LP/DL)
=> https://bit.ly/3FXWVMF

The cabalistic duo Ak’chamel strikes again with a second record called A Mournful Kingdom of Sand. Following the publicly and critically acclaimed The Totemist (AKU1023) released in 2020, this album sucks the listener into another esoteric journey which - according to the band - is a perfect soundtrack for the desertification of our world.

Ak’chamel perform in mystifying outfits with mostly indigenous and homemade instruments. They often play in unusual locations like laundromats and dilapidated buildings, being thrown out by security guards on several occasions. They have garnered journalistic acclaim and received dubious threats by inebriated hipsters. Talk about high praise!

Limited 12'' vinyl printed on reverse cardboard including printed inner (500 only)

AK'CHAMEL: A Mournful Kingdom Of Sand - The Great Saharan-Chihuahuan Assimilation

Akuphone. AKU1031 (CD/Digital)
Official release date : 08/07/2022
Buy here : https://bit.ly/3wMReuR

Kadef Abgi came together in a serendipitous way. Devin Brahja Waldman was walking up St. Laurent borough in Montreal when he heard an otherworldly voice emanating from the venue Divan Orange. He walked in and listened to the singer on stage. When he was done, Devin walked over to him. After a short exchange about playing a house show in a couple of days, Ziad Qoulaii told Devin that he was available for all his projects. Shortly thereafter, Devin and Ziad met up at Mathieu Pelletier-Gagnon’s studio with Anas Jellouf and Hamza Lahmadi. Later on, Anas Hejam, Vicky Mettler and guitarist Sam Shalabi (Shalabi Effect, The Dwarfs Of East Agouza, Karkhana, Land Of Kush…) joined.

The music materialized in a natural, collectively improvised way, without any compositions or ideas discussed beforehand - and without second takes. From there, Waldman began editing and mixing. Ala Dehghan painted the album’s great artwork.

A single composer’s imagination would not have produced Diva Of Deva Loka as it is music created from a collective consciousness unfolding in real time. The album has its roots in each musician’s  sonic experience: this includes Arabic music —including most notably Moroccan Gnawa— as well as rock ‘n‘ roll, jazz and the avant-garde. 

Devin Brahja Waldman is a New York saxophonist, drummer, synthesizer player and composer. He has performed with Patti Smith, Thurston Moore, Lydia Lunch along many other artists. He has also accompanied his aunt, the poet Anne Waldman, since the age of ten. He leads a NYC/Montreal-based band, B R A H J A, performs in Heroes Are Gang Leaders and is a member of Artists For A Free World Marching Band. Along with Anne Waldman and his cousin Ambrose Bye, Waldman co-directs Fast Speaking Music—a still-active music and poetry label which has released the works of Amiri Baraka, Meredith Monk, CA Conrad, and many others.

Kadef Abgi

Buy CD / Digital

Kadef Abgi - Rahma (AKU1031)

🌚 New Release: LEVIOT - Sharav (LP/DL)
=> https://bit.ly/3XmCmQl

Akuphone is proud to present the Jerusalem-based improvisational trio Leviot and its hypnotizing debut album. Leviot (Hebrew for “Lionesses”) is a brainchild of multi-faceted musician and composer Yael Lavie, who’s joined by classically trained percussionist and music teacher Cnaan Canetti, and synth enthusiast Yishay Seroussi. The project is a result of Lavie’s ongoing explorations beyond the restraints of classical kanun playing and fascination with electronic sound and modern composition. Initially started following her experience performing and recording with Spiritczualic Enhancement Center, in Leviot, Yael gives up rehearsed pieces in favour of improvised sets, based on virtuous interpretation by Cnaan and Yishay. The three have been active since 2019, playing their immersive shows in a wide variety of settings, venues and festivals.

The trio’s debut release is a live session, recorded in late 2020 at Mazkeka Studios (Jerusalem) for the lockdown edition of the annual Zikuk Festival. It’s a meditative improv piece in five parts that combines and melts boundaries between the traditional and the experimental, the primal and the futuristic. With setup as the foundation of the piece and Lavie’s graphic score as the road map, Leviot takes off on a cosmic journey between deep drones, whispering chimes, mesmerizing Arab melodies, pulsating rhythms and iridescent ambient patterns.

* Musicians:
- Yael Lavie: kanun and bells
- Yishay Seroussi: synthesizer
- Cnaan canetti: darbuka, congas ,bongos and bells

* Musical arrangement: Yael Lavie
* Recorded at Mazkeka Studios, Jerusalem on December 2020
* Sound engineer: Bar Zaken
* Mix: Aviad Sinemanes
* Mastering: Josh Stevenson at Otic Sound (Canada)
* Graphic design: Michael Cohen
* Biography: Markey Funk

Sharav

LEVIOT: Sharav - Garger (a Tribute To Mahammad Abdo Saleh)

🌚 New Release: EKA FAUNE- Healing Of The Nation (CD/DL)
=> bit.ly/3XmHwfb

(🇬🇧)
Eka Faune offers a surprising mix of Asian cultures, shamanism and post-punk in the form of a record called Healing of the Nation. The band merges dark mantras, hypnotic rhythms, ethnic samples and the acid sounds of Seika Faune. Delphine Poupard's voice and Robin Plastre's sax are added to produce a haunting music, dark and luminous at the same time, alternating dance and trance, taking the listener far inside... Similarly to the other albums by Eka Faune, Seika first recorded his drums and sounds machines as well as his sampler-sequencer in one take. Then he added the instruments and voices. Sax, bass, sarod, tambourine and vocals accompany loops captured on the streets of Delhi, the mountains of Asia or old acid house vinyls.

Eka Faune is a musical project based in Nantes, France, initiated in 2014 by the artist Guyseika. The project evolves under the influence of guitarists, cellists, singers or dancers who join the band for a concert, a recording, a tour - or more. Over the years, Amélie from Breedz Insane, Steph from Modules Étranges, Budwarrior or Vincent Roy, have taken part in the project. Recorded in 2021, the album Healing of the Nation is a deeply thought-out answer to the crisis we are all going through. It offers a way to heal from it: sounds coming straight out of a feverish cave located between the Himalayas and Detroit bewitch us into quite a trip.
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(🇫🇷)
Eka Faune propose avec Healing of the Nation une savoureuse rencontre entre cultures asiatiques, chamanisme et post-punk. Le groupe entremêle mantras ténébreux, rythmes hypnotiques, samples ethniques et sons acides de Seika Faune. S’y ajoutent la voix de Delphine Poupard et le saxo de Robin Plastre pour produire une musique obsédante, sombre et lumineuse à la fois, alternant danse et transe, propulsant l’auditeur loin à l’intérieur... Comme pour les autres albums d’Eka Faune, Seika a d’abord enregistré ses boîtes à sons et rythmes ainsi que son sampler-séquenceur d’un seul bloc, avant d’y ajouter les instruments et voix. Saxo, basse, sarod, tambourin et chant viennent accompagner des boucles capturées dans les rues des Delhi, les montagnes d’Asie ou encore sur de vieux vinyles d’acid house.

Eka Faune est un projet musical nantais, initié en 2014 par l’artiste Guyseika. Le projet évolue au contact des guitaristes, violoncellistes, chanteurs ou danseurs qui rejoignent la formation le temps d’un concert, d’un enregistrement, d’une tournée - ou plus. Au fil des années, Amélie de Breedz Insane, Steph des Modules Étranges, Budwarrior ou encore Vincent Roy, ont pris part au projet. Enregistré en 2021, l’album Healing of the Nation est une réponse longuement réfléchie à la crise que nous traversons. Il nous propose une voie de guérison : des sons tout droit sortis d’une fiévreuse grotte située entre l’Himalaya et Detroit nous invitent à planer dans un envoûtement général.

* Composed and performed by Eka Faune
* Recorded at Sounds from the Cave (Nantes) in 2021
* Mixed by Gerald Nabta, mastered by josh stevenson
* Artwork by Guyseika
---
* Seika: sound n'rythm boxes, tambourin, bass, sarod, vocals
* Delphine Poupard: vocals (1,2,6,7)
* Robin Plastre: saxo (1,2,3)
* Ashkan: vapo breathing (7)

Healing of the Nation

Support/Buy

EKA FAUNE: Healing Of The Nation - Guider Les Fantômes

https://akuphone.bandcamp.com/album/pay-what-you-want-sampler-4

* Leviot - Land
From album « Sharav » (AKU1040)
https://bit.ly/3XmCmQl

* Ak’chamel - The Great Saharan-Chihuahuan Assimilation
From album « A Mournful Kingdom Of Sand » (AKU1039)
https://bit.ly/3FXWVMF

* Kadef Abgi - Mamadou
From album « Diva Of Deva Loka » (AKU1031)
https://bit.ly/3wMReuR

* Jac Berrocal, Vincent Epplay, David Fenech - Noire Est La Nuit Sur Montparnasse
From Album « Transcodex » (AKU1037)
https://bit.ly/3LPkTZR

* Eka Faune - Guider Les Fantômes
From album « Healing Of The Nation » (AKU1041)
https://bit.ly/3XmHwfb

* Tasos Stamou : Balkan Express
From album « Balkan Express » (AKU1038)
https://bit.ly/3PLy15h

* Evan Crankshaw & The Dead Mauriacs - An Expedition Is Born
From album « Expedition » (AKU1035)
https://bit.ly/3unpqNW

* Fuji-Yuki - Scene 4
From album « One Butoh » (AKU1036)
https://bit.ly/3V3C0fQ

* Damo Suzuki & Spiritczualic Enhancement Center - Beja
From album « Arkaoda » (AKU1034)
https://bit.ly/3HmHF9f

* Dada Black Sheep - Sabka Malik Ek
From single « Sabka Malik Ek » (AKU7003)
https://bit.ly/3BFkeJ5

Order & Support here

Akuphone Sampler #4

Buy here : http://bit.ly/40iLNRJ

Swiss/Lebanese experimental duo Praed (Raed Yassin & Paed Conca) is back with a new blast! A band whose musical oeuvre can be described as a mixture of Arabic popular music, free jazz, and electronics.

Following Doomsday Survival Kit previously released in 2019 (Akuphone, AKU1011), Kaf Afrit keeps the listener in suspense by imposing its cataclysmic universe. An album inspired by Shams al-Ma'arif, a 13th century esoteric and magic book from Egypt composed of four furious pieces that don't leave you unscathed. The fantastic artwork is once again made by Raphaelle Macaron.

The CD version includes an extra track.

Previous album on Akuphone Doomsday Survival Kit :
akuphone.bandcamp.com/album/doomsday-survival-kit

Praed is
* Raed Yassin: Synthesizers, Vocals, Electronics, Samples
* Paed Conca: Clarinet, Electric bass, Electronics, Samples

Additional musicians:
* Hans Koch: Bass Clarinet, Soopran and Tenr Saxophones
* Amr Said: Additional Keyboards
* Khalid il Soghayyar : Percussion

Credits:
* Composed, produced, arranged and performed by Praed
* Recorded and edited by Praed in Berlin, Beirut & Biel
* Additional recording by Fadi Tabbal at Tunefork Studio Beirut
* Mixed by Adham Zidan
* Mastering by Heba Kadry, NYC
* Artwork by Raphaelle Macaron
* Design by Melek Zertal
* With the kind support of SüdKulturFonds, Migros-Kulturprozent, SWISS-LOK/Kultur canton of Bern and town of Bern

Praed: Djinn Dance (From new album Kaf Afrit)

Visit: bit.ly/3LJYJKo

KahruMusiqa is a musical retrospective of Badiaa Bouhrizi AKA Neysatu one of the first Tunisian female electronic music producer. Almost eighteen years of music produced in London, Tunis and Paris. She is known as the writer behind protest songs that became hymns of the Tunisian revolution, like Labess. But only a handful knows that she also composed and produced their music.

KahruMusiqa means electronic music, but is never used as such in Arabic to name the genre. The record is a collection of sonic experimentations that started when she first got her hands on music production software in the 2000s. They are based on poems in classical Arabic language or Tunisian dialect written by Badiaa herself or female poets she admires, such as the Palestinians Fadwa Tuqan or Salma Al Jayusi, or the Tunisian poet Noureddine Werghi. Most of the vocal work are improvisations recorded with a computer microphone. A take on the classic Turkish Folk song Muhabbat is almost a modern harmonic rewriting, using only classical guitar, vocals and delays.

The themes present in KahruMusiqa are in line with Badiaa Bouhrizi ideological trajectory. She is a queer woman in the moving sands of Tunesia in the song Transfemale Touness Al Mouta7arrika. She also questions the political contract that led to Balfour and the displacement of millions of Palestinians in 1948, describing a journey between London and Nablus, in Fil Madinatil harima (“In The Old City").

Her metrics, sound scape and melodies are strongly influenced by traditional African and Arabic music.

This lo-fi bedroom album also displays several songs that have become classics of the Arab underground milieu like Ila Selma, and is the first ever record Badiaa Bouhrizi was willing to release.

* Produced and performed by Badiâa Bouhrizi
* Recorded in Tunis/ Paris/London/ Montréal between 2004 and 2011
* Photo by Callum Redfern
* Artwork by Bachir Tayachi

Buy/Support

Badiâa Bouhrizi - Bledi

Released only as digital for Akuphone subscribers
Subscribe here : https://akuphone.bandcamp.com/subscribe

(🇬🇧 )
Akuphone presents to its loyal subscribers an exclusive digital reissue of the only known 45 rpm of the multi-faceted singer Chum Kem. Recorded in March 1962, these four pieces are of an incredible originality. Indeed, its author and interpreter of Cambodian origin but who "thinks in Chinese" according to the notes appearing on the original sleeve also expresses in Italian. Close to King Norodom Shihanouk, himself a singer who has released a few albums, he has his entrances to the Royal Palace where his songs are very popular. A surprising example of hybridization proper to the so-called exotica of the mid-20th century.

(🇫🇷 )
Akuphone présente à ses fidèles abonné.e.s une réédition digitale exclusive de l’unique 45 tours connu du chanteur aux multiples facettes Chum Kem. Enregistrés en mars 1962, ces quatre œuvres sont d’une incroyable originalité. En effet, son auteur et interprète d’origine cambodgienne mais qui « pense en chinois » suivant les notes figurant sur la pochette d’origine s’exprime aussi en italien. Proche du Roi Norodom Shihanouk, lui-même chanteur ayant sorti quelques albums, il a ses entrées au Palais royal où ses chansons font fureur. Un exemple surprenant d’hybridation propre à la musique dite exotique du milieu du 20ème siècle.

Chum Kem: Blliam Baliao - EP Sampler ***Bandcamp subscribers only***

Visit here : http://bit.ly/3yJWd0L

Under meters of concrete in central Cairo, a relentless buzz rebels and forms a melody. A tired man tunes his machines to catch a snatch of it, and accidentally creates a playground where these abandoned sounds can flourish. They develop a sense of humor and an acid tongue.

A few children with bent ears find their way to an alley with an entrance to the playground. They would later describe what they heard as a delicious hybrid: one part cream, one part bubble gum. So bend your ears and maybe you'll hear it too.

Mr. Dabbour can already hear some of you wondering with grimaced faces: "Is this… rebellion?"

No. Just a brand new dance.

****

This is the genesis story of Baskot Lel Baltageyya (which, loosely translated, means Cookies for Thugs), a project headed by musician Adham Zidan and poet Anwar Dabbour. On the Egyptian band’s debut album, Dabbour’s colloquial Arabic lyrics paint visions of a world spinning into chaos, where reality often veers into absurdity. Zidan, who produced the album in addition to writing the music, harnesses the madness with serpentine melodies that mingle and dance over hypnotic grooves like a psychedelic version of ring-around-the-rosie.

Zidan plays keyboards and sings in The Invisible Hands alongside Sublime Frequencies/Sun City Girls co-founder Alan Bishop. He honed his own style of lo-fi folk on Today Is Tomorrow, and is now expanding his horizons even further with Baskot Lel Baltageyya. Over the past decade, he has gained widespread recognition for his work as a musician, producer, recordist and mixer. Dubbed “Egypt’s musical renaissance man” by Scene Noise in 2019, he’s lent his keen ear to numerous other projects—such as Youssra El Hawary’s No’oum Nasyeen (2017), Tarkamt’s Live at the Necropolis (2018), Maurice Louca’s Elephantine (2019), Natik Awayez’s Manbarani (2020), and Nancy Mounir’s Nozhet El Nofous (2022)—and has collaborated with many of the biggest names in the region’s independent music scene, including Tamer Abu Ghazaleh, Nadah El Shazly, Raed Yassin and Sam Shalabi.

Baskot Lel Baltageyya started as an audiovisual project, and from the beginning, Zidan has resisted the idea of it being pinned down as any one thing. As he puts it, “You can think of Baskot as a genre of music, a name of a group, or as something to consume.” The album serves as an extension of Baskot’s phantasmagoric live show. With his voice slathered in vocoders, Dabbour weaves his fragmented rhyme schemes with surreal images, odd characters, pop-culture references and imperative prescriptions for managing everyday life. “I rose from under the earth, got tired of the dirt / I found out that what’s above is dirtier—what a fucking ruin,” he sings in “Ma3assalama” (Sayonara), his robotic murmurs blending in with the fever-dream funk of Zidan’s zig-zagging synth lines and Mellotron flutes.

Astute listeners can find links between the album and the dark absurdist humor that prominently featured in Egyptian popular culture before life became more absurd than the culture. You may perceive similarities to monologuist performances, or to the different shaabi musics of the region, or to old Egyptian TV scores, or to early electronic music, or to western psychedelia. Alternatively, however, you can choose not to want to view everything in relation to things you already know. Bridging the gap between experimentation and pop, Baskot Lel Baltageyya stands as a style, a sound, and an edible entity all its own.

Baskot Lel Baltageyya was produced, composed, arranged and mixed by Adham Zidan. All lyrics by Anwar Dabbour. Mastered by Heba Kadry. Design and illustration by Tarek Abdelkawi and 3D Artwork by Mostafa Elbaroody.

Baskot Lel Baltageyya

Buy here

Baskot Lel Baltageyya : Esh 3arrafak [You Know Nothing]

Visit here : http://bit.ly/402pU9m

An original instrumental music project led by composer and Oud player Aly Eissa. Featuring his diverse musical influences, Eissa’s compositions create versatile and twisted meditative atmospheres throughout the musical experience.Aly Eissa is a composer and Oud player based in Cairo, Egypt. He was mentored by legendary composer Abdo Dagher and Oud virtuoso Hazem Shahin. Eissa’s style is deeply-rooted in the Egyptian classical and folk traditions, and influenced by various western genres.

Since 2012, Eissa has been regularly performing his compositions with an ensemble for live audiences in Cairo, offering a meditative musical experience with a twist. One of Eissa’s musical approaches is the experimenting approach through a unique trio formation including the Belgian synthesizer player Jonas Cambien and the Egyptian percussion player Ayman Mabrouk. In this trio, Eissa is trying to explore a different sound and space in the originally composed Arabic music.

****

Aly Eissa (b. 1993) is a composer and self taught Oud player based in Cairo, Egypt. He was mentored by legendary composer Abdo Dagher and Oud virtuoso Hazem Shahin. Eissa’s style is deeply-rooted in the Egyptian classical and folk traditions, and influenced by various western genres. Eissa has performed more than 100 concert in Egypt, Arab countries and Europe.

Jonas Cambien (b.1985) is a Belgian pianist and improviser, based in Oslo since 2008, and active on the Norwegian scene for improvised and contemporary music. He has performed on major stages and Jazz festivals in Norway and abroad. Cambien has founded many bands dedicated to repertoire from the Arab world. in addition, he has performed regularly in Egypt, and participated on several recordings amongst several Egyptian artists.

Coming from the depths of Arabic culture, Ayman Mabrouk (b. 1983) grew up listening to and exploring many different music styles, which have formed the basis of his musical work today. Throughout his career, Mabrouk has been touring in more than 30 countries around the world and sharing the stage with numerous artists including legendary Brazilian singer, Gilberto Gil; Grammy & BBC award winner, Fathy Salama. He’s also a founder and a member in many bands in the Arabic world and Europe.

Gouda Bar

Aly Eissa: Barrel's Dance (From album Gouda Bar)

First release by Akuphone.
Vinyl, CD & Digital.

LILY CHAO - Chinese Folk Songs

"When Chinese folk songs meets rock"
Augmented reissue of her masterpiece released in 1968.
Includes lyrics, biography and 4 bonus tracks.

Side 1 (20’49)	
01. Whose Blooming Rose
02. Mountain Girl		
03. Rainbow Girl		
04. The Nostalgic Song		
05. A Carrying Pole		
06. Shepherd Girl	
07. In That Distant Land	
08. Lift Your Veil	
09. Little Cowherd	
   
Side B (19’56)	
01. Feeling Grieved	
02. Tea-­‐plucking and Catching Butterflies		
03. Youthful Dance Song		
04. Kangding Love Song	
05. Who Can Know My Heart	
06. I Smile Whenever I See You	
07. It’s Vexed To Talk About Love	
08. My Heart Is All For You		

AKU1001 // LILY CHAO - Chinese Folk Songs (medley)

Vinyl, CD and digital. 16 tracks.

A magic mixture of traditionnal Min'yo songs and latin jazz elements. Recorded in Japan between 1958 and 1962.

With its second release, Akuphone keeps exploring Asia with an original compilation of Japanese singer Chiemi Eri. This edition – which is available in vinyl record, CD and digital - includes exclusive liner notes and a rich calligraphed booklet containing the romanization of lyrics. It encourages to (re)discover Chiemi Eri’s recordings. On this compilation, Akuphone has brought together 16 songs from 10 inches albums originally released by King Records (Japan) between 1958 and 1962.

As the daughter of a musician father and a singer mother, Chiemi Eri (1937-1982) grew up in a musical environment. When she was still a teenager, she started a career as a singer on US military bases. She became famous by singing numerous classics from the post-war American musical repertoire. At the age of 14 she recorded the song Tennessee Waltz with King Records, which turned out to be an immediate success, the first of many others.

Chiemi Eri is considered as one of the most famous Japanese singers of the 20th century, more precisely of the Showa era (1926-1989), named after the Japanese emperor of the time, better known under his westernized name Hirohito. Both a singer and an actress – she played in more than 50 films, as well as many theatre plays – she definitely made a mark in the post-war Japanese cultural landscape, along with fellow singer-actresses Izumi Yukimura and Hibari Misora.

The success of these true national icons, who were nicknamed « the three sisters », can be connected to the specific context of the time, that is the cultural opening of Japan which, although initiated a century before, accelerated with the US military occupation of the archipelago (1945-1952). This period saw the import of popular musical styles of the time: jazz, be-bop, swing, mambo, etc, as well as the development of a hybrid musical style - the Kayokyoku - which consists of a delicious mix of so-called “western” music with Japanese music. 

Combining vocal jazz, Latino rhythms and Japanese folk, this new compilation of Chiemi Eri offers an original musical syncretism. Supported by Tadaaki Misago and the Tokyo Cuban Boys – the oldest and most prolific latin-jazz group in Japan – Chiemi Eri sings themes, in Japanese, that are mainly taken from the traditional folklore. Thus, the drums and brass of the Cuban arrangements are mixed with the Min’yo, which shows how rich these folk songs are: every region, every local tradition, every event is celebrated by a particular song or dance. Chiemi Eri also reveals the vocal prowess specific to the Min’yo, in particular the kobushi, a sort of melisma – this vocal technic that consists in singing a single syllable while moving between several different notes in succession.

This compilation, which surprisingly blends Min’yo and latin-jazz elements, invites to the discovery of the archipelago from a different perspective.

more information here : akuphone.com

Chiemi Eri : Otemo-Yan

Chiemi Eri : Okosa-Bushi

AKU1003 // V/A Sri Lanka
The Golden Era of Sinhalese & Tamil Folk-pop Music.
2LP/2CD/Digital. 30 Tracks.

While India and Pakistan’s respective musical heritage had already aroused interest among foreign audiences, Sri Lanka still remained one of the rare South Asian countries whose folk-pop music from the 1960-70s had not yet been compiled abroad. This gap is now to be filled with Sri Lanka. The Golden Era of Sinhalese and Tamil Folk-Pop Music. This double compilation is conceived as a panorama presenting the diversity of Sri Lankan musical styles between 1967 and 1979 through 30 titles. It comes along with a booklet depicting the country’s historical, cultural and musical context.

As a deeply multicultural society, largely based on religious affiliations (Buddhist Sinhalese, Hindus Tamils as well as Muslim and Christian minorities) Sri Lanka possesses a great variety of musical traditions and influences which have been shaped by centuries of regional and international exchanges. If Sri Lankan music is undeniably part of South Asian musical culture, its heritage is also a product of almost five centuries of European imperialism. 

Coming from an original form of creolization, as defined by Edouard Glissant, the Baila bears the trace of both the African diaspora and the Iberian influences on the country. The Kaffirs - African slaves deported by the Portuguese - introduced African sounds while the Portuguese brought their musical traditions and instruments (cavaquinho, mandolin, violin, tambourines). The baila, which is reminiscent of Caribbean calypso, became the ultimate popular music and dance, performed on every festive occasion. Although much more recent but similarly popular, the sarala gee (also called light classical music) is a combination of Indian inspired music, either classical or close to Bollywood productions, with Sinhalese lyrics and a slight pop accent. 

In the early 1960s, the country’s musical scene was very dynamic, partly under the influence of the music label Sooriya Records. Its founder Gerald Wickremesooriya was determined to put into light proper Sri Lankan music in opposition to poor copies of standards of the times. He then invented the « new sound of Ceylonese pop » with the help of a few composers, musicians and singers. Very quickly, the label’s hits came one after another. They were performed during concerts organized by the label, the “Sooriya Shows”, or broadcasted on Radio Ceylon, which remained the number one radio for a long time. Sooriya Records’ catalogue reflected the diversity of Sri Lankan musical styles of the times: Anglo-Saxon influenced Sinhalese pop stood next to the baila or the sarala gee. Traditional instrumental music, characterized by large drum ensembles called hevisi, or even nurthy music originating from theatrical tradition, were also edited by the label. 

This mosaic of musical styles is to be found in Sri Lanka. The Golden Era of Sinhalese and Tamil Folk-Pop Music. This selection, which is mainly constituted of titles from Sooriya Records’ catalogue, presents the most popular artists of the times: virtuoso sitar and violin player Pandit Amaradeva, singer Indrani Perera, Paul Fernando and his lively baila rhythms, the psychedelic touch of Tamil producer Paramesh, or even the Sinhalese pop of both Clarence Wijewardena and the Golden Chimes and Baby Shiromi.

This compilation ℗ and © 2016 AKUPHONE. AKULP1003. www.akuphone.com

SRI LANKA : The Golden Era of Sinhalese & Tamil Folk-pop Music

V/A SRI LANKA - Indrani Perera : Eka Dawasak

Ko Shin Moon
(LP/CD/Digital)
buy here : akuphone.com/catalog/1jKrxqUR#content

Mixing digital and instrumental compositions, contemporary electronic sounds, traditional music and samples from field recordings, Ko Shin Moon blurs the boundaries. This musical project maintains some mystery, it is disconcerting - which continent does it come from? Which period of time?

Ko Shin Moon - Zaffa

Kink Gong - Tibetan Buddhism Trip, Part 2 (Extract)

Akuphone AKU1006 (CD/LP/Digital)
buy here : https://akuphone.com/catalog/xlB4b2J#content

Psalmody, small bells, big cymbals, gongs and drums - this puzzling collage of Tibetan Buddhist rites recordings is hypnotizing. It opens the way to the state of trance. The slight electronic arrangement still reminds that reality is not so far. The two twenty-minute tracks instantly convey an unknown and fascinating universe. Mantra chanting accelerates, horns become more insistent and a mystical atmosphere arises. With Tibetan Buddhism Trip, Akuphone starts exploring ritual and ceremonial music, here with a subtle mix of field recordings and electronic handlings.

Over the years King Gong aka Laurent Jeanneau specialized in the recording of ethnic minorities, particularly from South East Asia. He has recorded over 160 albums and his work is now largely well-known around the globe. Such an impressive collection enables him to manipulate, assemble and reconstruct his field recordings in order to create new sound landscapes. 

Recorded in Tibet and Yunnan (China) between 2006 and 2013. Recomposed in Berlin in 2016.

Comes with insert and download card including live performance in Bristol and unseen pictures.

buy here : https://akuphone.com/catalog/xlB4b2J

Kink Gong - Tibetan Buddhism Trip, Part 1 (extract)

The Gamelan Of The Walking Warriors :
Gamelan Beleganjur and the Music of the Ngaben Funerary Ritual in Bali

AKU1007 (CD/LP/DI) 9 tracks
order here :  https://akuphone.com/catalog/2bzFVghZ#content

A fascinating immersion in the heart of a funeral ceremony live recorded in Bali, where gongs, cymbals, and drums give rhythm to the bewitching atmosphere of this mortuary procession.

Recorded in Bali by Vincenzo Della Ratta, 2011.
Produced by Akuphone, 2017.

The international audience’s interest into Balinese music and its gamelan orchestras dates back to the edition of large ethnographic series in the 1950s, 60s and 70s which largely encouraged the discovery of this music beyond Indonesia’s borders. Taking advantage of a more advanced technology compared to the vinyl golden era, the present field recordings produced in 2011 render at the closest the power of gamelans. They are presented here in two forms. The first one offers a display of Beleganjur music out of the ritual context, which can be differentiated by a more melodic form and a more dramatic and hypnotic aspect of the compositions. The second one presents the Beleganjur style in the ceremonial context of the Ngaben funerary rite in the village of Peliatan. The utmost vitality of these orchestras springs out throughout the different stages of these funerals, and the sound environment surrounding the musicians immerse the listener in the very heart of the procession following the corpse. 

With The Gamelan of The Walking Warriors, Akuphone carries on its exploration of ritual and ceremonial music with those materials of rare intensity. These recordings were collected by Vincenzo Della Ratta, PhD in Ethnomusicology from the Sapienza University (Rome). As a specialist of the gongs music from the Austronesian cultures of Southeast Asia, Vincenzo Della Ratta is the author of numerous articles on the subject. His field researches have already been edited as a vinyl entitled Kwangkay: Funerary Music Of The Dayak Benuaq Of Borneo (Sublime Frequencies, 2016).

The Gamelan of the Walking Warriors

Semut Megarang

Gamelan of the Walking Warriors : Semut Megarang by Dharma Shanti Orchestra

Provinces of CHAMPASAK, ATTAPEU, SEKONG & SARAVAN.
Recorded by Laurent Jeanneau, 2006-2013.

AKUPHONE. AKU1009. CD/LP/Digital
Release date : September 2018

Akuphone presents a collection of recordings of various musical practices from the Laotian provinces of Champasak, Attapeu, Sekong and Saravan. These documents are a perfect introduction to the traditional music of South Laos minority groups. Popular modern music is widely spread but visitors are barely ever exposed to ancient acoustic practices from villages. The most famous and typical one is the molam Lao, an art of singing accompanied with the khene, a mouth organ which is the symbol of Laos. This collection compels one to discover the brao gongs, the triang bamboo flutes, the Lao, Ta Oy, Alak, OI, Pacoh or Nyaheun mouth organs as well as the powerful singing accompanying these instruments. 

Caught on the spot, these outstanding testimonies were collected between 2006 and 2013 by Laurent Jeanneau, aka King Gong. Through his researches, this self-taught ethnologist has gradually become one of the specialists of the field, building up a collection of complete and fascinating sound archives which contribute documenting parts of this immaterial heritage. MUSIC OF SOUTHERN LAOS brings some light on a region of South East Asia still largely unknown from the general audience as well as the recently reborn ethnographic musical industry.

This compilation will delight both molam lovers and beginners unused to South East Asian sounds. Enclosed: liner notes in English, French and Japanese as well as a downloading code.

Music of Southern Laos

AKU1009 - V/A Music of Southern Laos (LP Preview)

Forthcoming on Akuphone (AKU1017)
Digital only
Buy: akuphone.com/catalog/NRer109T2eQ#content

SAMPLE: gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1285941.media

At the end of 2018, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Gallica (the digital archive of the Bibliothèque nationale de France), Akuphone and Ko Shin Moon were invited to create a piece from the library’s audio archives. After working on it for several weeks, a first version was presented during the anniversary ceremony. The project continued to develop over four months before arriving at a definitive version. 

The scope of the project was limited to audio recordings from the library’s collection that were free of legal restrictions, which meant: only 78 rpm records from the first half of the 20th century. The format is unique, left to specialists and forgotten by listeners and producers. 78 records are almost never used for sampling and it’s this application that makes Ko Shin Moon’s album stand out. Many factors needed to be considered, including white noise, breaths, the harshness of certain frequencies, and the production style from the era of the recordings. 

 Using these precious resources as a creative tool, Ko Shin Moon made substantial rearrangements, but he forced himself to respect the original tuning of the recordings by setting his analog synthesizers and instruments to the same microtonality as the records. 

 Most of the chosen samples were recorded between 1910 and 1940 and came from different parts of the world. These include: North Africa for “Gasba” and “The River,” The Middle East and Central Asia for “Segah,” “Bayati Chiraz,” and “Nava,” India for “Devi Sthothra” and “Narayan,” Mozambique for “I-XIII,” South Asia for “The Offering” and “Sabat Sabing,” Japan for “The Consonants,” and France for “The Offering.” 

 “We’re very thankful to have been able to have our work infused with such cultural heritage,” says Ko Shin Moon. “We thank the Bibliothèque nationale de France for their trust and above all, we want to show our respect to the musicians and singers present on these recordings. We hope to bring their voices to life with our music.” 

SAMPLE: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1285941.media

Ko Shin Moon - L'Offrande

Extract from "VA Seitō: In the Beginning, Woman Was the Sun"
Akuphone CD/LP/DL (AKU1016)
akuphone.com/catalog/1ks5VIGPKYSk#content

Recorded at office MIKADO, 2018
Engineered by Tamotsu Ide
Mikado Koko: Laptop, Korg Gadget, Sampling, Effects
Composed by Mikado Koko
Samples: Fukagawa Bushi by Fumikichi Fujimoto (1929)

Seitō gathers Japanese female artists from various electronic and experimental music fields. Like the « Tokyo Flashback » series issued by P.S.F. in the early 1990s, this collection recorded between 2017 and 2019 exposes the richness of the contemporary Japanese underground music scene. The title refers to a cult feminist magazine printed in Japan in the 1910s. All tracks issued for the first time.

Mikado Koko - Fukagawa Bushi

Forthcoming on Akuphone CD/LP/DL (AKU1016)
Extract from "VA Seitō: In the Beginning, Woman Was the Sun"
akuphone.com/catalog/1ks5VIGPKYSk#content

Recorded at home by Sarry 821, 2017
Fuji Yuki: Vocals, Synthesizer, Effects
Composed by Fuji Yuki

Seitō gathers Japanese female artists from various electronic and experimental music fields. Like the « Tokyo Flashback » series issued by P.S.F. in the early 1990s, this collection recorded between 2017 and 2019 exposes the richness of the contemporary Japanese underground music scene. The title refers to a cult feminist magazine printed in Japan in the 1910s. All tracks issued for the first time.

Fuji-Yuki - Blood Moon

Forthcoming on Akuphone (AKU1016)

feat: 
FUJI-YUKI - KIKI HITOMI - MIKADO KOKO - MIKI YUI 
KAKUSHIN NISHIHARA - KUUNATIC and KEIKO HIGUCHI.

DIGITAL  => JUNE, 14. 2019 
VINYL-CD  => JULY, 13. 2019

Seitō gathers Japanese female artists from various electronic and experimental music fields. Like the « Tokyo Flashback » series issued by P.S.F. in the early 1990s, this collection recorded between 2017 and 2019 exposes the richness of the contemporary Japanese underground music scene. The title refers to a cult feminist magazine printed in Japan in the 1910s. All tracks issued for the first time.

www.akuphone.com

AKU1016 // VA - Seitō: In the Beginning, Woman Was the Sun (Album preview)

Extract from "Leïla Nova" Akuphone AKU1022 (LP/Digital) 
https://akuphone.com/artists/KngrUBP#content

Ko Shin Moon third LP puts the use of samples on a background layer and asserts his place as an instrumentalist. Leïla Nova presents itself as a nocturnal digression where analogical synthesizer, rhythm box, vocal tinkering and colourful instrumentarium are mixed together. Psychedelia, electronic variations, dance music, synth folk and filmed approach blend with traditional Greek, Afghan, Lebanese-Syrian, Turkish and Indian revisited repertoires. The artwork is designed by Lebanese artist Raphaelle Macaron.

(fr)
Leïla Nova, troisième LP du groupe, est cette nuit de trance cosmique, brillante et soudaine. Dans cet album Ko Shin Moon met au second plan l’usage du sample et affirme sa place d’instrumentiste. Leïla Nova se présente comme une digression nocturne où se mêle synthétiseur analogique, boite à rythme, bricolages vocaux et instrumentarium coloré. Format pop, dance music, filmi music côtoient les répertoires traditionnels grec, afghan, syrien, turc et indien revisités. Une pochette conçue par l'artiste Libanaise Raphaelle Macaron.

Leïla Nova

Buy LP or Digital

Ko Shin Moon - Leïla Nova

Extract from "Leïla Nova" Akuphone AKU1022 (LP/Digital)
Buy: akuphone.com/catalog/OTbfAq2W8me#content

Ko Shin Moon third LP puts the use of samples on a background layer and asserts his place as an instrumentalist. Leïla Nova presents itself as a nocturnal digression where analogical synthesizer, rhythm box, vocal tinkering and colourful instrumentarium are mixed together. Psychedelia, electronic variations, dance music, synth folk and filmed approach blend with traditional Greek, Afghan, Lebanese-Syrian, Turkish and Indian revisited repertoires. The artwork is designed by Lebanese artist Raphaelle Macaron.

Lambaya Püf De

Ko Shin Moon - Lambaya Püf De

Forthcoming on Akuphone (AKU1018)
🕐 Digital: October 11
🕙 Vinyl: November 21

Buy: akuphone.com/catalog/tfS6imcYr6s#content

Akuphone presents "Saz Û Dilan", the second solo album of Rizan Said. After "King of Keyboards", released in 2016 by Discreapant, this new release brings you the most exciting Kurdish-Syrian dance music to your ears. Surrounded by young local singers, Rizan offers his own interpretation of the modern dabke through eight original uptempo compositions full of energy.

Rizan Said is a composer, musician and producer, responsible for hundreds of Syrian recording industry productions as well as compositions and themes for television and cinema. Hailing from Ras Al Ain, in northeastern Syria, Rizan was a musical prodigy from a young age – a gifted player of percussion and reed instruments before a wealth of synthesizers began flooding Syria in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Steadfast on the Syrian cassette album circuit at the time, Rizan was already sending his signals out from the Jazeera frontier, thanks to a partnership with local Syrian producer Zuhir Maksi. Later, he was the man behind Omar Souleyman’s music and have recorded and toured accross the world with him. Nowadays, he performes as a solo artist and brings the original dabke dance sounds of Syria to European festivals and concerts. 

Credits:
- Vocals: Kinana Alqasir, Mohammed Shikhmous,Yassin and Sabri Mohammed
- Zurna: Bave Karam - Amude 
- Arranged by Mahmoud Barazi
- Edited and Mixed by Sliman Dumyan 
- Mastering and Post Production: Mark Gergis
- Composed and performed by: Rizan Said

Format:
- Vinyl with download code
- Digital

Rizan Said - Kinana (AKU1018)

The King of Keyboards is back for a new album!

Forthcoming on Akuphone (AKU1019)
🕐 Digital: available now
🕙 Vinyl: November 21

Buy: akuphone.com/catalog/tfS6imcYr6s#content

Akuphone presents "Saz Û Dilan", the second solo album of Rizan Said. After "King of Keyboards", released in 2016 by Annihaya, this new release brings you the most exciting Kurdish-Syrian dance music to your ears. Surrounded by young local singers, Rizan offers his own interpretation of the modern dabke through eight original uptempo compositions full of energy.

Rizan Said is a composer, musician and producer, responsible for hundreds of Syrian recording industry productions as well as compositions and themes for television and cinema. Hailing from Ras Al Ain, in northeastern Syria, Rizan was a musical prodigy from a young age – a gifted player of percussion and reed instruments before a wealth of synthesizers began flooding Syria in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Steadfast on the Syrian cassette album circuit at the time, Rizan was already sending his signals out from the Jazeera frontier, thanks to a partnership with local Syrian producer Zuhir Maksi. Later, he was the man behind Omar Souleyman’s music and have recorded and toured accross the world with him. Nowadays, he performes as a solo artist and brings the original dabke dance sounds of Syria to European festivals and concerts. 

Credits:
- Vocals: Kinana Alqasir, Mohammed Shikhmous,Yassin and Sabri Mohammed
- Zurna: Bave Karam - Amude 
- Arranged by Mahmoud Barazi
- Edited and Mixed by Sliman Dumyan 
- Mastering and Post Production: Mark Gergis
- Composed and performed by Rizan Said
- Artwork by Ohran Ali
- Photo by Ana Viotti

Format:
- Vinyl & download card
- Digital

Saz Û Dilan

Yuma

Rizan Said (ريزان سعيد) - Yuma (AKU1018)

Extract from "The Totemist" (Akuphone AKU1023 LP/Digital)
Buy: akuphone.com/catalog/eDyW6yWZkAK#content

First vinyl release of Ak'chamel after a prolific cassette discography, The Totemist is a deep psychedelic-folk album hinted by mysticism, some of which was written and recorded in a ghost-town in the Chihuahuan Desert in far West Texas - a place where the dead outnumber the living. Various overdubs and field recordings were captured in the historic Terlingua cemetery : an ancient burial ground filled with small grottoes and graves made of sticks and stones. This being the final resting place for miners who succumbed from illnesses derived from the toxic rare-earth element known as mercury.

Ak’chamel, The Giver of Illness are fourth world post-colonial cultural cannibalists circumcising the foreskin of enlightenment. Performing in homemade costumes and masks, they have played festivals in various cities around the U.S gaining international attention from Vice, The Wire, Tiny Mix Tapes, Consequence of Sound, and many more. Enter the fourth world now !

All tracks composed, performed, recorded and produced by Ak'chamel, The Giver of Illness. Mastered by Mark Gergis.

The Totemist

PROTECTED BY THE EJACULATION OF SERPENTS

Buy LP/Digital

Ak'chamel, The Giver Of Illness - Protected By The Ejaculation Of Serpents

Extract from "The Totemist" (Akuphone AKU1023 LP/Digital)
Buy:  akuphone.com/catalog/eDyW6yWZkAK#content

First vinyl release of Ak'chamel after a prolific cassette discography, The Totemist is a deep psychedelic-folk album hinted by mysticism, some of which was written and recorded in a ghost-town in the Chihuahuan Desert in far West Texas - a place where the dead outnumber the living. Various overdubs and field recordings were captured in the historic Terlingua cemetery : an ancient burial ground filled with small grottoes and graves made of sticks and stones. This being the final resting place for miners who succumbed from illnesses derived from the toxic rare-earth element known as mercury.

Ak’chamel, The Giver of Illness are fourth world post-colonial cultural cannibalists circumcising the foreskin of enlightenment. Performing in homemade costumes and masks, they have played festivals in various cities around the U.S gaining international attention from Vice, The Wire, Tiny Mix Tapes, Consequence of Sound, and many more. Enter the fourth world now !

All tracks composed, performed, recorded and produced by Ak'chamel, The Giver of Illness. Mastered by Mark Gergis.

Ak'chamel, The Giver Of Illness - The Funeral Of A Woman Whose Soul Is Trapped In The Sun

Firedriver

Ak'chamel, The Giver Of Illness - Firedriver

Akuphone. AKUMS1003 (12''/DL)
https://bit.ly/2MHqnJR

🕐 Bandcamp Exclusive: June 12
🕙 Vinyl/Digital: September 11

Où cela commence-t-il ?
Where does cultural appropriation end and procreational fusion begin?
The answer to that depends on the perceiver.

For some, applying the structures of electronic music to folkloristic samples may seem de-contextualizing. Yet when considering the similarity between dancefloor compositions and the minimalism of Steve Reich and Terry Riley, the gap to traditional music begins to fade away. They remain distinct mostly by aesthetic characteristics of sound.

Nicolas Sheikholeslami’s premiere solo record as Çaykh is named after the French conjunction "Où" - meaning “where” - as this was the linking element during production. We witness an attempt to re-contextualize music that travelled from analog tapes - recorded in different localities along the Indian Ocean - to a hard-drive via 192kb youtube rips. The sample-based compositions were digitally arranged before regaining their warm sonic qualities in a vintage mixing studio.

This EP assembles three metamorphic 4th-world disco pulsations. Expect some heavily trancy and polyrhythmic analogue-fi jams.

Nicolas Sheikholeslami aka Çaykh is a Hamburg-born and Berlin-based DJ and producer. He is active as drummer & percussionist for the projects Spiritczualic Enhancement Center and Circuit Diagram.

Çaykh’s three earlier sound-collage cassette releases have already earned him a certain fame in the 4th-world and outsider-disco realms. His collection of pre-war Somali music called “Au revoir, Mogadishu“ paved the way for the Grammy-nominated “Sweet as Broken Dates“ compilation, which he co-curated.

Mixed at Studio Strom, Bremen, Germany
Mastering by Mark Gergis (1.1) and Michael Graves (2.1 & 2.2)
Artwork by Thomas Baldischwyler

Album Preview

Buy Vinyl/Digital

AKUMS1003 // ÇAYKH - Où (Preview)

Akuphone. AKU1025 (LP)
bit.ly/3cHRjUh

🕐 Bandcamp Exclusive: June 12
🕙 Vinyl/Digital: September 11

Musician, composer and one of the most revered figures for today’s younger generation of experimental and alternative Arabic music scenes, Kamilya Jubran (text, oud & vocals), collaborates with long standing musical partner, composer, accomplished trumpet player and seasoned electronic musician Werner Hasler (trumpet & electronics).

In Wa (Arabic for and), their third album together as a duo, Kamilya Jubran and Werner Hasler continue to interrogate their listening and their expression, their research and their desires, to unravel a musical universe of possibilities; “a unison of timbres, cultures complementing, the complicity of verses, and modes and languages confronting each other” in the duo’s own way of communicating respective origins and contemporaneity. Lyrical, within a sound full of contrast and ornamentation, they pursue an expansion of their repertoire with imaginative interpretation and improvisation.

* Originally released in CD and digital by Everest Records (Switzerland).
* Vinyl issued in collaboration with Akuphone
* Vinyl mastering by Mark Gergis

AKU1025 // Kamilya Jubran & Werner Hasler - Wa (Extract)

Raed Yassin: Archeophony
Akuphone. AKU1027. 2LP/Digital
👉  bit.ly/3lkjtsR
Archeophony takes us on a journey through time and space where traditional instruments and voices meet experimental electronic sounds in the most unique way. Raed Yassin has created the soundtrack to a psychedelic science-fiction movie that will unravel in your brain like a time travel machine from the future looking into the past. 
In a similar vein to an archeologist, Raed Yassin’s new album Archeophony takes us on a journey through sounds and voices excavated from collected sonic archives from the past, rearranged and reproduced through electronics, distortion, sampling and assembly. Drum machines, synthesizers and electronic sounds merge with solo traditional voices and instruments recorded in different parts of the world, coming together to create a contrarian yet magical sound unlike any other. Based on so-called ‘ethnic’ music recordings conducted between the 1950s and 80s by Western ethnomusicologists in true colonial fashion, the album attempts to achieve an archeology of sound that reflects both the course history and its continuous distortion by the powers that be. The result is a dizzying living archive of sonic history as well as the presentation of a unique experimental orchestration. By rereading musical history in this way, Raed Yassin strives to play the role of a conductor. The orchestra is history itself, and he selects, deconstructs, emphasizes, mutes and distorts it through this album.
As a musician, Raed Yassin has been a key member in the Lebanese underground music scene for many years. One of the organisers of the Irtijal Festival of Experimental Music from its early beginnings, he founded his concept music label Annihaya in 2009. He is a member of several bands and groups, including “A” Trio , @Praed among others. As a double bassist, he developed a personal and independent extended technique, by employing different preparations and objects on his instrument. His interest here relies heavily on textures, energies and vibrations, the density of volume and sound, rather than conventional melodic structures. Also an electronic musician and experimental turntablist, his approach to vinyl ranges from deconstructing Arab pop music, to reexamining the traditional music archives of countries from the global south. With his duo band Praed (along withPaed Conca ), he acts as the lead singer and synth player, merging free jazz with psychedelic rock and Egyptian Shaabi music

Arheophony

Archeophony

Buy Vinyl & Digital

Raed Yassin : The Rain Prophet (AKU1027)

Buy here: http://bit.ly/3iCSfOn

On Maza Gusu, Mikado Koko transforms into Mother Goose, hissing Charles Perrault's fairy tales from her native tongue in your ears. Her unsettling, regressive voice is backed up by a subtle and chilling electronic soundscape sprinkled with traditional Japanese instruments, creating a realm of sound that feels both weirdly familiar and deeply unknown. Mother Koko hurls you deep down the rabbit hole, back to your darkest childhood anguishes, before gently leading you by the hand to a joyful catharsis. As you slowly get used to its disturbing familiarity, Koko’s music feels like waking up in the pale morning light, shaky but relieved after a feverish dream. 

In summer 2017 Mikado Koko started her solo career as a club music producer with the elements of Japanese traditional music. After many releases, remixes and compilations such as Seitō: In the Beginning, Woman Was the Sun (AKU1016), she now focuses on avant-garde poetry reading related to feminism and gender equality.

Credits:

- Music and spoken word by Mikado Koko 
- Japanese rhymes from Maza Gusu (1921) by Hakushu Kitahara
- Recorded by Mikado Koko and Yasuna Ide at office MIKADO (2019/20)
- Mastered by Mark Gergis in London.
- Photo and effects by Mikado Koko and Yasuna Ide
- Original cover illustration Yuku Haru (1925) by Hasui Kawase
- Original label Illustration (1909) by Jessie Willcox Smith
- Layout by Akuphone

Format:
- Limited vinyl with uncoated sleeve, printed inner & redeem card (300 only)
- Audio Usb-Card (including one bonus track)
- Limited hand-numbered official CDr (100 only)
- Digital/streaming

Tags: Electronic, Experimental, Japan, Spoken word, Sound Poetry, Kids

© 2021 Mikado Koko ℗ 2021 Akuphone
AKU1029

Maza Gusu

Buy LP/digital

Mikado Koko - Two Birds (AKU1029)

Everything in between label founded in 2015 by @Cheb-Gero

Read more: akuphone.com/about/#content

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