Tokyo 1972 - Teletopa splitrecCDX2 23 and LPX3 23

In the early 1970's, Sydney had a group at the forefront of musical experimentation with a unique take on free improvisation.

The discovery of a box of lost tapes hidden away in a garage for over four decades has led to the first ever release of substantial recordings from Teletopa – Tokyo 1972.

Teletopa was founded in Sydney in 1970 by the late David Ahern with Peter Evans and Roger Frampton.

Tokyo 1972 - The Triple LP or Double CD release - features two 50min improvisations from a radio session at NHK studios Tokyo.

In 1968 the young Sydney composer David Ahern studied in Germany with Stockhausen where he met Cornelius Cardew. The next year he travelled onto London attending Cardew's classes in 'Experimental Music' at Morley College and – in a mammoth seven-hour concert at the Roundhouse on 4 May – participated (with Cardew) in performances of La Monte Young's String Trio and also took part in the realisation of Paragraph 2 of Cardew's The Great Learning which proved to be the catalyst for the formation of the Scratch Orchestra. These were revolutionary and defining moments in C20th music.

Liner notes for the release include a manifesto by Ahern from a 1971 pamphlet, and a newly penned Potted History of Teletopa by Geoffrey Barnard, who had been a member of the group from September 1971 until July 1972.

"It's a great recording, sound wise and artistically," Jim Denley told Resonate Magazine. "It will, I hope, put Teletopa where it should be: as the most important development in 1970s Australian serious music."

This document is not just important for Australian music – it should establish them posthumously as one of the most interesting developments in experimental music anywhere in the world at this time.

LP Side A

Fragment of the second impro from Tokyo 1972 Splitrec 23

TELETOPA

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