Flash of the Spirit: 4. Welt-Klassiker von Jon Hassell und Farafina ercheint neu

Nach über dreißig Jahren erscheint die Kollaboration “Flash of the Spirit” des amerikanischen Komponisten und Trompeters Jon Hassell und der in Burkina Faso beheimateten Musik- und Performance-Combo Farafina, die seinerzeit von Brian Eno und Dainel Lanois ko-produziert wurde, neu und in allen gängigen Formaten bei Glitterbeat.

“Composer and trumpeter Jon Hassell has been an elusive, iconic musical figure for more than half a century. He’s best known as the pioneer and propagandist of “Fourth World” music, mixing technology with the tradition and spirituality of non-western cultures to create what he termed the “coffee-colored classical music of the future.” In 1987 he joined with Farafina, the acclaimed percussion, voice, and dance troupe from Burkina Faso, to record Flash of the Spirit. While the album is a natural extension of those “Fourth World” ideas, and a new strand of Possible Musics, it also a distinctive outlier in the careers of both artists; an unrepeated merging of sounds whose influence still reverberates today. Hassell arrived as the outsider, having to slide in and around Farafina, an established group that started in 1978 where the leader, as he told Music Technology, was “somewhat inflexible in terms of new things. They were suspicious at first… about what could happen and why this whole thing was going on.” But once settled in the studio, the musicians sparked off each other. The eight members of the band – who had also collaborated with the Rolling Stones and Ryuichi Sakamoto – brought their long apprenticed, virtuosic drumming and melodic textures (balafon, flute, voices) to the sessions. They built up layers and patterns of rhythm, while producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois (fresh off the phenomenal success of U2’s Joshua Tree) created a sonic atmosphere in which they could creatively intertwine with Hassell’s digitally processed trumpet and keyboards. Just the physical feel of the drums in the room was enough to inspire Hassell.”

Farafina

Jon Hassell