SAMSARA SOUND SYSTEM
1/ Olive Pyramids 9.04
2/ Elephant and Flea 3.50
3/ Scarlet Memories 8.44
4/ Zarathustra 4.47
5/ Safron Dreams 3.22
6/ Zot 4.36
7/ Serpent Waves 4.45
8/ I Who Am Thy 5.26
9/ Chai Massala 4.47
10/ Sho-ka 3.39
11/ Gatha 9.16
12/ Dhin, tha 5.52
Recorded at Orange Music Sound Studios, West Orange, New Jersey
Engineered by James Dellatacoma
Special Op: Sean Leonard
Produced by Alan Kushan, Professor Shehab and Fumio Toshiro
ADditional production on tracks 1,3 and 11 by Eraldo Bernocchi
Mastered by Michael Fossenkemper at Turtle Tone
Alan Kushan: santur; Professor Shehab: beats, sounds; Fumio Toshiro: bass, sounds;
Eraldo Bernocchi (1,3,11): mixes, computer generated sounds; Piki Chappell (1,2,5,7,10,11): cello,
scientific exploration; Saam Schlaminger (2,4): zarb, daf, rhythm; Charly Spark (5,8,9,10): mpc;
Dub Gabriel (4): sample; Mee (12): violin.
2003 - Baboon Records (USA), bab004 (CD)
thats what the makers of samsara sound system concider their latest projekct. Featuring production from alan
kushan, professor shehab,fumio toshiro. With three mixes from electronic magician eraldo bernocchi
(simm-ashes-sigillum s-equations of eternity-veve,chargeddd ex.....tracks 1,3,11also featuring piki chappell
on cello and scientific exploration tracks 1,2,3,5,7,19,11 saam schlaminger percussion 2,4 dub gabriel samples
track4 mee violin track 12.
dont just pass this off as an electronic or techno album with a world feel, no theirs something different, every
song has the lusciousness of a real band that actually listens and can flow all over and constantelly challenge
new rythems not just in the album but to everysong piece by pierce. almost every song features Alan Kushan on
the indian santuri box (like dulcimer), and fumio playing i thing all bass. Electric and acoustic guitar, tablas,
vocals,flutes, and electronic beats fill the sound pool. Im framilliar with shehab and im sure he and eraldo
bernocchi are responsible for some of the beats, some are straight electro some have a sampledtribal drum to
make the actual kit, and some are electro samples. Maybe those other sounds are some of shehabs samples from
his taptop. i hear faint acordian harmonium to complete the persian egyptian feel. But to sum up this record
when they say world music they mean it, features every style of music around, all over the world, styles mixed
sometimes up beat and down beat dub style, hypnotic with lots of persian egyptian, african, eastern feel.
Features beated songs and instrumental with ambient songes. kinda sounds like tabla beat science but more like
santuri beat science. a quote from the album liner notes "ancient persian melodies fuse with pulsing rhythms of
brooklyn and japan.Musical maps emerge from the great void.Vedic chants guide us to the shore.Tears are shed and
laughter fills the air. a new beginning is apon us-rejoice!
fans of bill laswell, jah wobble, cap. kowotchi, eraldo bernocchi,Papa Newguinea translations, nagial site,
sacred system,spectre, the eye, temple of sound, adrein sherwood,transonic,state of bengal, transglobal
underground,asian groves, new school dub headers in general,qaballah steppers,talvin singh, let the future soak
into us so we can breath new life. the future is hear are you listening?
5 out of 5
yajdubuddah (courtesy of the Amazon.com website)
..................................................
Samsara is the cyclical nature of humanity, governed, as taught by Buddhism, by Mara, lord of illusions (or Maya,
depending on the folklore). Nirvana is the way out, but after hearing this Sound System, you may not want to
escape. The brainchild of Brooklyn's Professor Shehab and led by master santur (a three - octave wooden -
hammered dulcimer with 72 strings) player Alan Kushan, their proclamation of "Middle Eastern ambient - dub"
(arabiant) is fitting, but I'd rather call it William - Gibson - and - Frank - Herbert - writing - Stanley -
Kubrick - esque - cinema - while - Bill - Laswell - drowns - the - Hindu - pantheon - in - bass - bass - bass
- and - 1001 - nights - becomes - every - day - as - we - fade - away - into - deep - dark - obscurity™.
That is, it's a damn amazing record.
Ritual of Carousel is a kaleidoscopic voyage through a crackhouse wonderland. Well, let's be fair, crack is
bad for you. Let's make that an Amsterdamian café, though Rotterdam has the best goods, along with Vancouver.
You get the point: this disc is smokin', smoked out, smoked, flame broiled and boiled with the blood of a
collective of Brooklynites bent on smoking you out, smoking your shit and leaving in a cloud. Forget Professor
Shehab, this is Professor Cheeba Cheeba, and you don't have to smoke anything to get it. You just have to know
how to groove. Those without rhythm need not apply.
Ritual follows the fine line of thought post - millennium globalistas have been trekking: turn up the bass,
play your ass off, and invite friends - lots of friends - because community is stronger than the puny orchestra
in your mind. The opening "Olive Pyramids" is a whirlwind of santur, Kushan's echoed vocals and a bassline so
righteous the big Hey - Zeus man would pull the three out his flesh to nail the four. "Zarathustra" spoke
Nietzsche and these cats get metaphysical, the rolling percussion line wrapped in an underwater rhythm explodes
in aural brilliance. It gets deep, yet all the while anyone listening is gladly wrapped into Ritual's fleshy
subterfuge and submitted to an eternity of purgatory dancing on hot coals while whisking away the clouds in their
head. Persia, Arab, Dub... fuck it, this is Earth at its finest and all the gods and demons are singing along.
Samsara runs cycles to set you free, and this Sonic Gospel of the new prophets tired of waiting for the G - man
to come down are calling Her by their own device.
Derek Beres (courtesy of the Ethno Techno website)