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Aka/Darbari/Java: Magic Realism is a 1983 album by American trumpet player and composer Jon Hassell, released on the label Editions EG. It was co-produced by Daniel Lanois and features Abdou M’Boup on drums.[1]

Background

The album features Hassell manipulating and looping fragments of sampled sound.[2] In the liner notes, Hassell describes the album as “a proposal for a ‘coffee-colored’ classical music of the future.”[3]

The cover painting is by Mati Klarwein.[1]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusicStarStarStarStar[1]
The Village VoiceA−[3]

AllMusic‘s Brian Olewnick described the album as “an insinuating blend of early-’80s high tech with ancient Southeast Asia,” calling it “an early high-water mark at the juncture between world and ambient musics.”[1] For The Village Voice, Robert Christgau called it “dandy background music–more fluid and organic than Dream Theory in Malaya if also more amorphous than his first Eno collaboration.”[3]

In his 1995 book Ocean of Sound, David Toop writes that on Aka/Darbari/Java “the perfume of ethnopoetics was supplemented by parallels with literature and the advanced technology of hyperreality.”[2]

Tracklist

All tracks composed by Jon Hassell unless otherwise noted.

  1. “Empire I” – 2:00
  2. “Empire II” (Hassell, Daniel Lanois) – 4:53
  3. “Empire III” – 7:09
  4. “Empire IV” – 5:13
  5. “Empire V” – 3:40
  6. “Darbari Extension I” – 13:52
  7. “Darbari Extension II” – 7:23

Personnel

  • Jon Hassell – trumpet, keyed voices and instruments, treatments, producer
  • Daniel Lanois – recording engineer, mixing and treatments, co-producer
  • Abdou M’Boup – drums
  • Bob Lanois, Michael Brook, John Forbes – assistance (Toronto)
  • Bruno Planet – drum recording engineer (Paris)
  • Greg Calbi – mastering
  • Jean-Michel Reusser – project coordinator
  • Mati Klarwein – artwork
  • Paula Greif – design
  • Wynn Dan – design assistant

References

  1. ^ a b c d Olewnick, Brian. “Review: Aka/Darbari/Java – Jon Hassell”. AllMusic. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  2. ^ a b Toop, David (2018). Oceans of Sound: Ambient sound and radical listening in the age of communication. Serpent’s Tail. ISBN 9781788161046. Retrieved December 31, 2019.
  3. ^ a b c Christgau, Robert. “Christgau’s Consumer Guide: Aug. 30, 1983”. The Village Voice. Retrieved December 30, 2019.