★Akuphone
Gongs Of The Bahnar: A Buffalo Sacrifice Ceremony
The Buffalo sacrifice is a significant ritual among the Bahnar people, an ethnic group residing in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. It symbolizes a connection to ancestral spirits and the natural world. Prior to the sacrifice, the community gathers to prepare offerings and adorn the buffalo with symbolic decorations.
The ceremony typically involves prayers, chants, and dances led by village elders. The sacrifice is performed with reverence and gratitude, honoring the buffalo's sacrifice for the…
Ya Hasra: Jewish-Tunisian Jewels, Originals & Reworks
In 1940, over 100,000 Jewish men and women lived in Tunisia. Thirty years later, no more than 10,000 remained. Today, only a few of them have resisted the historical forces that dispersed their families and their neighbours. In spite of this exile, the thousand-year-old presence of Tunisian Jews has left an eternal and delightful imprint on the country’s landscapes and its heritage - cultural, culinary and, of course, musical. Habiba Msika, Louisa Tounsia, Raoul Journo and El Kahlaoui Tounsi, re…
Rawskulled
"A surreal mosaic of eerie chant processionals, tape-rot trickery, and panicked oud madness. These are sonic forgeries of atavistic heritages, recorded by analog means using esoteric techniques." They have been known by many names: The Givers of Illness; The Bandylegged Riders of the Ill-Promised Sun, etc… Honed and expanded through their travels, Ak’chamel’s singular sound comprising desert-scorched psychedelia, post-apocalyptic shamanism, and bizarre ritual folk is as unique as the physical th…
Rats Don't Eat Synthesizers
Akuphone in collaboration with Annihaya present Rats Don't Eat Synthesizers, the long-awaited second album by The Dwarfs Of East Agouza. Hailing from the Agouza district of Cairo, Egypt, this brilliant trio consists of Alan Bishop (acoustic bass, alto sax), Maurice Louca (keyboards, drum machine), and Sam Shalabi (electric guitar). Following their acclaimed first album Bes (NAWA 005CD, 2016), this new full-length is composed of two hypnotic journeys: "Rats Don't Eat Synthesizers" and "Ringa Mas…
Agua Larga: Traditional & Imaginary Cimarron Music
Agua Larga offers an immersion into the Afro-Ecuadorian culture of the province of Esmeraldas. The authors have captured how music is part of the daily life of the inhabitants, and how it interacts with the other sound elements that surround it. The musical material is thus accompanied by stories, poems and scenes of everyday life captured on the spot, far from aseptic studios, in public spaces, on river banks or by the sea. The guiding theme is water ("agua" in Spanish), in all its forms. It wa…
Boîte Boîte
"Boîte Boîte" is the latest collection from French trumpeter Jac Berrocal. Composed of rare and previously unreleased tracks, it plunges the listener into the fascinating world of this unclassifiable and timeless avant-garde artist. Recorded between Paris, New York, Berlin and Riga, the works are received like postcards from an unknown sender and enjoyed without moderation. The selection, devised by Jac Berrocal himself, oscillates between experimental tracks such as the eponymous 'Boîte Boîte' …
Baskot Lel Baltageyya
Under meters of concrete in central Cairo, a relentless buzz rebels and forms a melody. A tired man tunes his machines to catch a snatch of it, and accidentally creates a playground where these abandoned sounds can flourish. They develop a sense of humor and an acid tongue.
Gouda Bar
Gouda Bar is an original instrumental music project led by composer and Oud player Aly Eissa. Featuring his diverse musical influences, Eissa’s compositions create versatile and twisted meditative atmospheres throughout the musical experience. Aly Eissa is a composer and Oud player based in Cairo, Egypt. He was mentored by legendary composer Abdo Dagher and Oud virtuoso Hazem Shahin. Eissa’s style is deeply-rooted in the Egyptian classical and folk traditions, and influenced by various western g…
Kaf Afrit
Swiss/Lebanese experimental duo Praed (Raed Yassin & Paed Conca) is back with a new blast. A band whose musical oeuvre can be described as a mixture of Arabic popular music, free jazz, and electronics. Following Doomsday Survival Kit previously released in 2019 (Akuphone, AKU1011), Kaf Afrit keeps the listener in suspense by imposing its cataclysmic universe. An album inspired by Shams al-Ma'arif, a 13th century esoteric and magic book from Egypt composed of four furious pieces that don't leave …
A Mournful Kingdom of Sand
*In process of stocking* The cabalistic duo Ak’chamel strikes again with a second record called A Mournful Kingdom of Sand. Following the publicly and critically acclaimed The Totemist (AKU1023) released in 2020, this album sucks the listener into another esoteric journey which - according to the band - is a perfect soundtrack for the desertification of our world. Ak’chamel, The Giver of Illness is an enigmatic duo from a border state. Fourth World Post-Colonial Cultural Cannibalists Circumcisin…
Sharav
*In process of stocking* Akuphone is proud to present the Jerusalem-based improvisational trio Leviot and its hypnotizing debut album. Leviot (Hebrew for “Lionesses”) is the brainchild of the multifaceted musician and composer Yael Lavie. She is accompanied by classically trained percussionist and music teacher Cnaan Canetti, and synth enthusiast Yishay Seroussi. The project is a result of Lavie’s explorations beyond the restraints of classical kanun and her fascination for electronic sounds and…
One Butoh
Akuphone is proud to present Fuji-Yuki’s latest masterpiece, "One Butoh". A musical immersion into the most exciting avant-garde dance style of the past century. Created in Japan in the 1960s by Tatsumi Hijikata, butō is the "dance of the obscure body". It broke with the traditions of classical Noh and Kabuki Theater, which, at the time, seemed outdated in the national context. Nourished by a European artistic avant-garde, butō stands out as a mirror of the socio-political turmoil of a post-Worl…
Healing of the Nation
Eka Faune offers a surprising mix of Asian cultures, shamanism and post-punk in the form of a record called Healing of the Nation. The band merges dark mantras, hypnotic rhythms, ethnic samples and the acid sounds of Seika Faune. Delphine Poupard's voice and Robin Plastre's sax are added to produce a haunting music, dark and luminous at the same time, alternating dance and trance, taking the listener far inside... Similarly to the other albums by Eka Faune, Seika first recorded his drums and sou…
Diva of Deva Loka
Kadef Abgi came together in a serendipitous way. Devin Brahja Waldman was walking up St. Laurent borough in Montreal when he heard an otherworldly voice emanating from the venue Divan Orange. He walked in and listened to the singer on stage. When he was done, Devin walked over to him. After a short exchange about playing a house show in a couple of days, Ziad Qoulaii told Devin that he was available for all his projects. Shortly thereafter, Devin and Ziad met up at Mathieu Pelletier-Gagnon’s stu…
Transcodex
Jac Berrocal, David Fenech and Vincent Epplay are back with a true gem of an album: Transcodex. Turning more towards pop than in their beginnings, this fourth record follows the footsteps of their previous album, Exterior Lux. The trio seems limitless: they experiment with a large variety of styles (pop, dub, electronica, dark jazz), always colored by their very own touch. Jac Berrocal’s trumpet, richer than ever, plays over an ever-changing sonic landscape engineered by the duet of musicians/pr…
Balkan Express
*In process of stocking* Contrarily to the rest of Tasos Stamou’s experimental discography, the musician’s latest album “Balkan Express” has a more obscure electro-folk approach. It consists of seven pieces, all recorded with seven different vintage electric keyboards from Stamou’s own collection, blended with oriental acoustic solos.
Since Stamou grew up in the Balkans in the ‘80s, he wanted to pay homage to the essence of the sound of the era that unintentionally shaped a whole culture. It was…
Arkaoda
As a traveler-without-age, Damo Suzuki has been touring all over space-time. Presenting the light of “instant composing” to new generations, he refers to his makeshift collaborators as sound-carriers. Exactly fifty years after the release of the profoundly iconic Ege Bamyası, we can hear his voice on yet another fantastic album, as in “derived from fantasy.” Manifested from the meeting with Spiritczualic Enhancement Center -- an eight-piece group of self-proclaimed disciples from the CAN Univers…
Essentials 1996 - 1998
Akuphone is pleased to present the first compilation dedicated to musician John Bolloten, aka The Rootsman. As a precocious punk, he formed his first band, State Oppression, in his teens. Yet he is best known for his dub music, a genre that gave him international recognition. Largely influenced by the rhythms of North Africa and the Middle East, he built his musical identity around samples from these regional repertoires. His encounter with Bryn Jones — better known as Muslimgauze — further defi…
Où
** 2021 Stock ** For some, applying the structures of electronic music to folkloristic samples may seem de-contextualizing. Yet when considering the similarity between dancefloor compositions and the minimalism of Steve Reich and Terry Riley, the gap to traditional music begins to fade away. They remain distinct mostly by aesthetic characteristics of sound. Nicolas Sheikholeslami’s premiere solo record as Çaykh is named after the French conjunction "Où" - meaning “where” - as this was the linkin…
Innéisme
Tip! *Limited vinyl with uncoated sleeve, printed inner and download card (300 only)* Inspired by Noam Chosmky's "universal grammar", it refers to man's innate ability to develop language. It is that English, Occitan, French patois, Hindi, Pygmy or French cohabit on this record, juxtaposing on rhythms and beats that appear as a fantasized primordial tradition. If My Jazzy Child aka Damien Mingus, questions languages about Innéisme, he also questions musical languages, mixing Asian rites and free…