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C o l l a b o r a t i o n s / s e s s i o n s • S o u n d t r a c k s |
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FOURTH WORLD VOLUME TWO: Editions EG EEGCD-13 1981 36.25
1 Chor Moiré 2.21
Jon Hassell—trumpet, pottery drums, Prophet 5, bowl gongs
All titles by Jon Hassell Cover painting: 'Alexander's Dream' |
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Album notes: Dream Theory in Malaysia is titled after a paper by visionary anthropologist, Kilton Stewart, who in 1935 visited a remarkable highland tribe of Malaysian aborigines, the Senoi, whose happiness and well-being were linked to their morning custom of family dream-telling — where a child's fearful dream of falling was praised as a gift to learn to fly the next night and where a dream-song or dance was taught to a neighboring tribe to create a common bond beyond differences of custom. The Semelai are another tribe not far from the Senoi but who live in the largest swamp area of Malaysia. A recorded fragment of their joy-filled watersplash rhythm was restructured and became the generating force for the composition, Malay, as well as providing a thematic guide for the entire recording. Jon Hassell |
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A lesser artist would have spent years repeating the gestures of a record as good as Possible Musics but Hassell is an explorer not a colonist. The tone here is immediately different while at the same time seeking to further develop the Fourth World view. Chor Moiré is a frenetic chant, the trumpet being processed into overlapping rhythms by a digital delay, at the time a very new piece of studio equipment. (Hassell collaborator Richard Horowitz and Sussan Dehim used the same process to similar effect on their 1997 album, Majoun) The rest of the album continues the rhythmic attack, densely weaving gamelan loops, drums and seemingly endless layers of processed trumpet. The respite comes with Malay and These Times... where the trumpet is a lone voice calling from the distant heart of some dream forest. First JH association with Daniel Lanois and guitarist Michael Brook. |