HARTMUT GEERKEN / MICHAEL RANTA ‎– THE HELIOPOLAR EGG (QBICO, 2010)

Live in Teheran, Calcutta, Dacca, Manila, Seoul and Osaka in 1976


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K1. Excerpt From "Arrangements" (Toshi Ichiyanagi)
K2. Lonely Mountain (Shoko Shida)
L1. Same Trains
L2. Coda


Michael Ranta, mallet instruments, xylophone, marimba, metallophone, vibraphone, tabla, flexatone, castagnets, Japanese oboe, argool, gong, tamtams, short-wave receiver, Chinese violin, er-hu, jung-hu, wood block, echo machine, cup bells, Indian israj, voltage-controlled oscillator, voltage-controlled filter, vocals

Hartmut Geerken, piano, prepared piano, piano strings, Tibetan tingshak, water tingshak, waldteufel, mokkatam pot rattles, bells, water bells, sleigh bells, gongs, water gongs, Tibetan boo-chals, water boo-chals, musical clock, Tibetan horn, singing tube, maracas, wood block, temple block, Peking opera gongs, castagnets, lead camel bell, short-wave receiver, swarmandal, whistles, argool, monkey drum, toy xylophone, lion bell, gopichand, Egyptian cymbals & sagat, waterphone, voice, toy glockenspiele, thumb piano

José "Pepito" Bosch, congas [G,H]

Toshi Ichiyanagi, synthesizer [L2]



LP1 recorded on 25 November 1976 at Baghe Ferdows-Zafaranieh in co-op with Nirt, Teheran, Iran.

LP2 recorded on 3-4 December 1976 at Max Mueller Bhavan, Calcutta, India.

LP3 recorded on 8 December 1976 at the German Cultural Institute in co-op with the Academy of the Arts, Dacca, Bangladesh.

LP4 recorded on 13 December 1976 at Abelardo Inner Green (open air) in co-op with the U.P. College of Music, Manila, Philippines.

LP5 recorded on 15 December 1976 at the Korea Drama Center, Seoul, Korea.

LP 6 recorded on 18 December 1976 at the Goethe-Institute, Osaka, Japan.


Qbico ‎– QBICO 101

Vinyl Rip

TOSHI ICHIYANAGI, MICHAEL RANTA, TAKEHISA KOSUGI - IMPROVISATION SEP 1975

"Mind bending slice of drone improv from these three post-WWII heavyweights. Very reminiscent of Taj Mahal Travelers with layers of heavily reverbed ring-mod piano, percussion, and voices (in fact, just about everything in the mix seems ring-modded). Overall sheen resembles prime-era Nurse With Wound (although predating such by a few seasons). Toshi Ichiyanagi is one of the most well known Japanese composers of any era, a student of John Cage, Julliard graduate who returned to Japan in 1961 to spread Cage's Indeterminacy principles, Yoko Ono's former husband Fluxus artist. Michael Ranta is a well regarded contemporary repertoire percussionist, a familiar name to those in the know (close collaborator of Harry Partch, performed everything from Lachenmann pieces to tape music accompaniments), member of Wired (whose LP was included in the Deutsch Gramophone Free Improvisation boxset). And of course Takehisa Kosugi is the Group Ongaku founder who merged into the New York Fluxus artists before forming Taj Mahal Travellers, has since been composer-in-residence for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. (Review from Eclipse Records)


Very Rare & highly collectable LP. Essential for anyone into Avant Improv or Fluxus Artists, Ripped form Vinyl @ 256kbps.

http://rapidshare.com/files/26517472/Improv_75.rar