Wednesday 25 May 2016, 8pm
Musician, mystic and laughter meditation practitioner, Laraaji, returns to OTO for two days spanning the breadth of his sonic output. On this, the second night, Laraaji delves deep into his repertoire of inspirational songs and vocal tone meditations.
“Like Eno, the simplicity of the sound created by Laraaji here is deafening in its complexity. Layer upon layer of looped and repeated melodies create a wondrous cavalcade of near angelic sounds.” – Louder Than War
Laraaji is a musician, mystic and laughter meditation practitioner based in New York City. He began playing music on the streets in the 1970s, improvising trance-inducing jams on a modified autoharp processed through various electronic effects. Brian Eno saw him playing one night in Washington Square Park and invited him to record an album for his seminal Ambient series (Ambient 3: Day Of Radiance, released 1980). Laraaji went on to release a prolific series of albums for a wide variety of labels, many of which he recorded himself at home and sold as cassettes during his street performances.
In September 2017 All Saints release a stunning pair of LPs of new studio recordings by the celestial music pioneer.
Bring On The Sun is an epic double album that runs the full gamut of ‘Laraaji music’, from blissed-out percussive jams to reflective vocal hymnals to trance-inducing drones. A perfect Laraaji entry-point on his never-ending creative journey through inner light. The record is recorded by Davey Jewell (Peaking Lights/Flaming Lips) and mixed by Carlos Niño (Leaving Records).
Sun Gong is a major new self-contained work experimenting with gong micro-tonalties processed through various electronic effects. The results are unlike any music he has made before - two side-long long-form pieces that evoke the sound of a shimmering metallic eternal wave.
