"In 1983 Sun Ra travelled to Egypt, a kind of spiritual homeland for Ra, to record two compositions by the godfather of Egyptian jazz, percussionist Salah Ragab.
Side A: Recorded at El Nahar Studio, Cairo/Heliopolis, May 1983
Side B: Recorded at Il Capo Jazz Club, Cairo/Zamalek, January 13, 1984
"In June 1971, I sent an invitation to Sun Ra from Cairo and six months later the Arkestra came to the land of the pharaohs in order to play for the first time at the foot of the pyramids. When Sun Ra and his Arkestra played in my living room in Heliopolis on December 12, 1971, Salah Ragab was one of my guests. It was their first personal contact.
Sun Ra set out again 12 years later to gaze into the eyes of Sphinx. In May 1983 he went into El Nahar Studio in Heliopolis with Salah Ragab in order to record side one of this record, two compositions of Salah Ragab. To my knowledge it had never happened before that Sun Ra and his Arkestra played compositions of a contemporary musician from outside. Maybe he was taken with the initials of Salah Ragab which were the same as in his own name, or he was fascinated with the fact that his own name was part of Ragab's name. To my knowledge, Salah was the only non Afro- American, apart from Leah Ananda from Kashmir and Roger Aralamon Hazoumè from Dahomey, to be documented on record with Sun Ra.
In 1984 Sun Ra came to Egypt for the third time. Also for this last visit Salah played the drums in the Arkestra when the band played at the small Jazz club Il Capo (later renamed as Il Boko) in Zamalek.
DAWN is based on an Islamic hymn people sing after leaving their houses at exactly 4:51 in the morning, the beginning of the Arabic month "Shawall". Sun Ra plays the main voice on a Hohner melodica.
WATUSA, recorded in 1984 in the intimate atmosphere of the El Capo Club in Cairo, is a composition for bigband, large percussion ensemble and dancers from the year 1967. During the long middle section all musicians of the Arkestra play percussion instruments. After Jacson's solo on the big "infinity drum" and Matthew Brown's conga-break, Salah Ragab takes an extensive drum solo.
The second drum solo is by Clifford Jarvis. The screams of the dancers Myriam Broche and Gregory Pratt can only give a vague impression of the visual aspects of this Egyptian March."
(Hartmut Geerken)from Discogs
386. [286] Sun Ra Arkestra
Sun Ra (syn, Ondioline); Tyrone Hill (tb); Marshall Allen (as); John Gilmore (ts); Danny Ray Thompson (bars); Leroy Taylor [Eloe Omoe] (bcl); James Jacson (bsn); Chris Henderson (d); Claude Broche (d); Samarai Celestial (d); Salah Ragab (cga).
El Nahar Studio, Heliopolis,
Cairo, May 1983
Cairo, May 1983
Egypt Strut (Ragab)
Dawn (Ragab)
Praxis CM 106, Sun Ra Meets Salah Ragab in Egypt, was issued in Greece in 1983. Side A features the Arkestra playing two Salah Ragab compositions. Side B is Ragab with the Cairo Jazz Band (recorded back in the 1970s, according to Hartmut Geerken). Information from the album jacket, except that Samarai Celestial says he was also present, and various sources indicate that Sun Ra was playing the Ondioline (a small portable keyboard of French manufacture, with dynamics alterable by blowing into a tube). This was the Arkestra's second tour of Egypt.
The Praxis LP was reissued in 1999 on CD on the "Golden Years of Free Jazz" label, an offshoot of Leo Records. The CD includes all the previously issued music from the LP, plus an 18-minute Watusi, and other material not featuring Sun Ra.
407. [304] Sun Ra Arkestra
Sun Ra (p, org, syn, voc); Ronnie Brown (tp, flg, tambourine); Marshall Allen (as, cl, fl, ob, kora, EVI); Eloe Omoe (as, bcl, cacl, fl, EVI); John Gilmore (ts, cl, timb, EVI, voc); Danny Ray Thompson (bars, as, fl, bgo, EVI); James Jacson (bsn, fl, ob, Inf-d, EVI, voc); James Glass (eg); Rollo Radford (standup eb); Matthew Brown (cga); Clifford Jarvis (d); Salah Ragab (cga, perc); Myriam Broche (dance); Greg Pratt (dance).
Il Capo / Il Buco, Cairo, Egypt,
January 13, 1984
January 13, 1984
Watusi (Pitts-Sherrill)
According to Danny Ray Thompson, this was the Arkestra's third and last trip to Egypt. Like the other two, it was "unannounced" and only the "hard core" of the Arkestra went. Personnel ct and rlc, with help from Thompson. Thanks to Samarai for a program from Il Capo, and Italian restaurant with an adjoining "show-bistro" area called Il Buco.
from The Earthly Recordings 2nd ed. Campbell/Trent |
| Click to enlarge |
Egypt Strut
1. Egypt Strut 6:41
2. Dawn 12:10
3. Watusa 18:50
or
These tracks are also available on the CD
thanks, yotte!
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As always, many many thanks.
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