Outside the Quiet III: far from the sun, passaging lunar through a window, to close in a naked sphere

There's a nod to music from Morocco in this edition of OtQ, in no small part due to Bachir Attar and the Master Musicians of Jajouka having visited this years Supersense Festival of the Ecstatic. The concert was a highlight of the line-up for me, indeed, I can strike this ensemble off my bucket list (...though I wouldn't half mind seeing them again!). Another act that appeared at the Festival was The Sai Anantam Singers featured on the previously reviewed album by Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda - I have featured a track by Alice later in the mix. Otherwise ambient/esque excursions are via Jasmine Guffond and Jordan DeLa Sierra. Enjoy!

Ruah (breath/spirit - Hebraic), opens the mix - its played by Joshua Abrams ( bass/guimbri/small harp ); Dave Rempis ( alto/baritone saxophones ) and Avreeayl Ra ( percussion ). The track reminds me of  Zimbabwean Mbira melodies, cycling hypnotically until Dave Rempis intones a radio interference tone on his sax, which then becomes a familiar intonation. This track was lifted from the 2013 Aphelion album released on the Chicago based, artist run, Aerophonic label.

We then transit Bachir Attar's Full Moon At the Window from his album released on the now defunct CMP label, The Next Dream. A Bill Laswell produced album from 1992, it features a frequent Laswell  collaborator Aiyb Dieng on various percussion.

Then we enter electro-acoustic realms through the music of Australian born Berlin composer/musician Jasmine Guffond. Say Yes, lifted from her current Traced album, kinda feels like a natural progression despite being a world apart (?!), looping vocal layers and spiraling drone lend a tranced journey into gently pulsing beats, and scalpeled guitar. The inspiration for the music on Traced is from digital surveillance technologies -  facial recognition technology no less, there's a whole load of technical conversion and intriguing musical origins right there.

The technology of Traced blends into the crackle, disjointed whistle and bell tones of Elephant, again from Jasmine Guffond. Lifted from her 2015 Yellow Bell album via Berlins Sonic Pieces label, this piece offers another more "organic" dreamscape. Layered vocal loops and the aforementioned sound sources evolve through ebbing drone and pitch tone, tweaking the journey with some extra texture for your mind-drift assistance.




Alongside being a means of showing appreciation, clapping may be a type of game, rhythmic fundamental or a means of calling attention. Its also a wonderful means of music making. Think flamenco, gamelan, Steve Reich...and Morocco, amongst others. Lifted originally from a UNESCO collection, Jellaba Titu and Saadiya were reissued on Rounder Records', Anthology of World Music: Music of Islam and Sufism in Morocco. Performed by a Gnawa Brotherhood, the percussive strikes on a guimbri are joined with a slow clap and a call and response chant. The vocal harmonies in the response, while perhaps "simple", create some really sublime layering and polyphony. They vary from subdued brief salutations to extended mirrors of hypnotic density. The clapping develops another layer of complexity to the track, similar to the vocal intricacies. I can't help but be reminded of the clapping in flamenco and its home in the former region of Al Andalus - remembering that the expulsions of Muslim and Jewish peoples from this region (modern day Spain), resulted in their populating North Africa and the neighbouring Mediterranean coastline.

Continuing on a Gnawa theme, we visit what has to be one of my favourite recordings of Gnawa musicians. Released on France's Accords Croises label, Gnawa Home Songs features recordings of some of the most famous and treasured musicians in the Gnawa tradition. Gnawa music is where the music of sub-saharan africa meets Islamic Sufism. It's about entering trance as a doorway to meditative states and transcending normal time/space through music. In these states understandings, healings and foresight can manifest and render the everyday a sublime excursion in paradise. The recording opens with the sound of a Muezzin, some buzzing flies and birdcall. Then a brief tumbling rhythmic melody on solo guembri played by Abdelkebir Amlil, it's a gentling to the next track.

From ancient Gnawa tradition through Egypt, the next track is a dedication to the Egyptian sun god Ra. Titled Er Ra it is divine simplicity, chanted by Alice Coltrane, accompanied by harp. This track was taken from the recent release through Luaka Bop, The Ecstatic Music of Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda. While many of us have been enjoying her music for years now, the recordings featured on this collection, were pretty much community distributed, limited edition cassettes. Alice Coltrane was both the musical director and spiritual leader of - The Vedantic Center, based in California.

We close the mix with the minimal, or is it serial, Sphere of Sublime Dances by Jordan de la Sierra, the fourth section of Jordan's musical offering, Gymnosphere: Song of the Rose. The album title sounds like a song as remembered by Gurdjieff from his travels. It's no wonder in his liner note dedications, he thanks Terry Riley and Lamont Young - both initiators and composers of/in the minimalist tradition - I can hear minimalist progression in this music no doubt. Jordan's music strikes me as a truly individual voice within the new-age canon. This was reissued via the Numero label who released the super funked psychedelic soul odyssey Soul Messages From Dimona - figures.

I've listened to OtQIII a number of times prior to posting and have found myself having traversed a number of sound worlds only to wonder where I'd been - I hope you get this too.